''Band of Brothers'', subtitled, ''E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest'', by Stephen E. Ambrose is an examination of a parachute infantry

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

in the

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

in the

European Theater The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. While the book treats the flow of battle, it concentrates on the lives of the soldiers in and associated with the company. The book was later adapted into a 2001

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

, Erik Jendreson, and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

, also titled '' Band of Brothers.''

Background

The book rests upon interviews Ambrose conducted with former members of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. The veterans were having a reunion at a hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana; the interviews were conducted as part of a project to collect oral histories of

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

for the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans. Ambrose was intrigued with the bonds that had developed among the members of

Easy Company E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is a company in the United States Army. The company was referred to as "Easy" after the radio call for "E" in the ph ...

. He circulated his drafts among the surviving members of the company, asked for input, and incorporated their ideas into later drafts. Ambrose wrote of the finished product, "We have come as close to the true story of Easy Company as possible."

Notable people

* Lynn "Buck" Compton * William "Wild Bill" Guarnere * C. Carwood Lipton * Don Malarkey * Salve H. Matheson *

Warren Muck E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is a company in the United States Army. The company was referred to as "Easy" after the radio call for "E" in the p ...

* Lewis Nixon *

Shifty Powers Staff Sergeant Darrell Cecil "Shifty" Powers (13 March 1923 – 17 June 2009) was a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Powers was ...

Robert Sink Robert Frederick Sink (April 3, 1905 – December 13, 1965) was a senior United States Army officer who fought during World War II and the Korean War, though he was most famous for his command of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the ...

Herbert Sobel Herbert Maxwell Sobel Sr. (26 January 1912 – 30 September 1987) was an American commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Sobel was portraye ...

Ronald Speirs Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Charles Speirs (20 April 1920 – 11 April 2007) was a United States Army officer who served in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. He was initially assigned as a p ...

* Ed Tipper * David Webster *

Richard D. Winters Richard Davis Winters (January 21, 1918January 2, 2011) was an American businessman and decorated war veteran who served as a U.S. Army officer during World War II. He is best known for having commanded Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th ...

* Robert "Popeye" Wynn * Eugene "Doc" Roe

The book consists of a

foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...

, epigraph, and a maps section, followed by 19 chapters. There is an

afterword An afterword is a literary device that is often found at the end of a piece of literature. It generally covers the story of how the book came into being, or of how the idea for the book was developed. An afterword may be written by someone other ...

and a brief author's bio after the chapters. After the table of contents, the book's dedication reads:

''To all those members of the Parachute Infantry
United States Army, 1941-1945
who wear the Purple Heart not as a decoration
but as a badge of office.''

The epigraph is a quotation from

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

'', from which the title of the book is derived:

From this day to the ending of the World,
...we in it shall be remembered ...we few, we happy few,
...we band of brothers.

The chapters are: * One – "We Wanted Those Wings";

Camp Toccoa Camp Toccoa (formerly Camp Toombs) was a basic training camp for United States Army paratroopers during World War II west of Toccoa, Georgia. Among the units to train at the camp was the 506th Infantry Regiment. The regiment's Company E ("Easy ...

, July–December 1942 * Two – "Stand Up and Hook Up"; Benning, Mackall, Bragg, Shanks, December 1942-September 1943 * Three – "Duties of the Latrine Orderly"; Aldbourne, September 1943-March 1944 * Four – "Look Out Hitler! Here We Come!"; Slapton Sands, Upottery, April 1 – June 5, 1944 * Five – "Follow Me"; Normandy, June 6, 1944 * Six – "Move Out!"; Carentan, June 7 – July 12, 1944 * Seven – Healing Wounds and Scrubbed Missions; Aldbourne, July 13 – September 16, 1944 * Eight – "Hell's Highway"; Holland, September 17 – October 1, 1944 * Nine – The Island; Holland, October 2 – November 25, 1944 * Ten – Resting, Recovering, and Refitting; Mourmelon-le-Grand, November 26 – December 18, 1944 * Eleven – "They Got Us Surrounded—The Poor Bastards"; Bastogne, December 19–31, 1944 * Twelve – The Breaking Point; Bastogne, January 1–13, 1945 * Thirteen – Attack; Noville, January 14–17, 1945 * Fourteen – The Patrol; Haguenau, January 18 – February 23, 1945 * Fifteen – "The Best Feeling in the World"; Mourmelon, February 25 – April 2, 1945 * Sixteen – Getting to Know the Enemy; Germany, April 2–30, 1945 * Seventeen – Drinking Hitler's Champagne; Berchtesgaden, May 1–8, 1945 * Eighteen – "The Soldier's Dream Life"; Austria, May 9 – July 31, 1945 * Nineteen – "Postwar Careers"; 1945-1991

References

{{Band of Brothers (miniseries) 1992 non-fiction books Books about World War II Non-fiction books adapted into television shows Books by Stephen Ambrose Non-fiction books about the United States Army

Background

Notable people

Contents

References