Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters, Dick Winters and Cole C. Kingseed

The dis-oriented author is from a generation that did not know war. I was too young for Viet Nam and too old for the first Gulf War. All I know of war I have learned vicariously from books like Dick Winters' Beyond Band of Brothers. Band of Brothers is the private memoirs of Caption Dick Winters. Winters became commander of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne. Easy Company was immortalized in Stephen E. Ambrose's excellent Band of Brothers and the HBO mini-series of the same name.

Reading this book did not help me to understand war — nothing short of experience could do that — it did however, give me a good start in understanding the men who who went to war.

Winters tells the story of Easy Company from his unique perspective. It is a story of his transition from civilian life to the army, from training to the parachute jump on D-Day, through Market Garden, to the Ardennes forest, to Hitlers Alpine Fortress.

Winters describe the decisions he had to make as a leader of men in combat. He details what it was like to face battle under the most extreme conditions. Winters' story is the story of the men who answered the call and saved the world.

This is one of the best war memoirs I have ever read.

Beyond Band of Brothers gets 5 of 5 dis-oriented smileys

Purchase Beyond Band of Brothers  from Amazon.com.