Honouring History

Happy 101st birthday to a man who was well liked by everyone in Easy Company, Sgt. Warren "Skip" Muck.

Today I’d like to share with you Skip and Malarkey’s friendship. Skip was the one who was always by Malarkey’s side throughout training. Together, they served as mortarmen. Malarkey notes in his book, “We were a team, Skip and I. I’d sight. He’d drop the rounds down the tube. We bunked in the same barracks, and when we’d run Currahee, we usually wound up side by side” (Easy Company Soldier 45). They were similar in many ways. They both had an adventurous spirit and a love for big band music such as Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman.

Malarkey spoke fondly of his friend often. He mentions Skip's personality: “Unassuming and yet had a personality that drew people to him like cold hands to a fire. He was the barracks peacekeeper on occasion. Not the guy who demanded to be in the spotlight but probably the best-liked man in the company. A guy who could make each of us feel as if he were his best friend. Deep down, I felt honored that he even had time for a maverick like me” (Easy Company Soldier 48).

During the march to Atlanta, Malarkey’s legs were starting to bother him from pounding the pavement constantly, as well as carrying the large mortar tube. His legs got so bad at one point he could barely stand up and almost started crawling to the chow line. Skip stopped him and helped him. Malarkey recalls of this in his memoir as such: “I started to literally crawl on my hands and knees through the woods to the chow line. Skip stopped me, grabbed my mess kit, and said, ‘No friend of mine crawls anywhere.’ He filled both our plates and came back to eat with me” (Easy Company Soldier 52).

's dedication and going above and beyond to bring Skip to life on screen is such a wonderful and heartfelt experience to watch. You can feel how much love and respect he has for the soldier whom he portrayed, especially in the speech he gave in his hometown of Tonawanda.

Thank you Skip for your service.♠️-Rachel

📸: Don Malarkey and Skip Muck at Camp Toccoa. 1942.

Happy birthday !! 🥳🥳

Thank you for continuing to honor Shifty Powers's legacy in the best way possible.

I hope you have a blessed day filled love and happiness for you my friend. ❤️❤️

Currahee!♠️-Rachel

📸:

What are some of your favorite Eugene "Doc" Roe quotes?

They don't have to necessarily be from the miniseries itself, they can be things the men of Easy Company have said about him in real life as well!

Please remember I do not allow negativity, spam or disrespectful comments of any kind on my page. They will be removed immediately. ♠️-Rachel

Who is one man from Easy Company you wished you could've met?

I think you all know who the man I would have liked to have met would be since he's the reason I started this page in the first place. I still have the promise to myself to go back to Louisiana and pay my respects to his grave properly again and the same man who helped make my trip to NOLA memorable. ❤️

I'd love to hear which man you would've most liked to meet.

Remember to keep the conversations civil and respectful.

No negativity, spam or disrespectful comments of any kind allowed on my page. Those comments will be removed immediately. ♠️-Rachel

What makes Band of Brothers re-watchable for you?

I've shared what makes BOB re-watchable for me, I'd love to hear how it's re-watchable for you!

Remember no spam, negativity or disrespectful comments are allowed on my page. They will be deleted immediately. ♠️-Rachel

After skimming through Winters's memoir again, I'm impressed with how much a lot of the quotes and script that was said in Band of Brothers were things that were really said in real life.

I watched the miniseries first before going into the books and seeing those words printed within the pages it certainly was an interesting experience reading them through the first few times.

Reading the pages of the books again and then rewatching the series, it really does make you think about things differently.

Did this happen to any of you during your first few read throughs of any of the books as well? ♠️-Rachel

📸: The Breaking Point-Band of Brothers (2001)

Happy birthday to Major Richard D. Winters who would have been 105 years old today.

It’s no secret that Winters was known for his leadership skills. His first taste of leadership was when he was in junior high school and served as a school crossing guard. Winters recalls in his memoir: “I was scared to death to go to school and of strangers around me. By the time I attended junior high school, I had finally adjusted to my changing environment and began to exhibit some leadership talent” (Beyond Band of Brothers 4). He also had developed a work ethic that stemmed from his heritage and affiliations to the Mennonite and Amish backgrounds about striving to do your best every day, an ethic that would help him in his service during WWII and for the rest of his life.

On June 6th, 1944 Winters temporarily took over as company commander after Lieutenant Thomas Meehan’s whereabouts were unknown. He led the Attack on Brécourt Manor, his first battle he would be involved with. There was a four gun battery of 105s firing down onto the causeways at Utah Beach. The mission for Easy Company: “silence the battery” (Beyond Band of Brothers 84). Brécourt Manor was Winters’s first successful mission in combat. For his actions at Brécourt, Winters was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Omar Bradley.

Winters would continue to lead Easy Company until October 10th, 1944. His last shots he fired throughout the war was on October 5th at The Island. Winters cared a great deal about his men and often spoke fondly of them. The men whom he had served with spoke the same of Winters. Bill Guarnere notes of his former CO in his book with Babe as such: “Winters turned out to be a great leader in combat…He was smart, quick, efficient, resourceful, intuitive, fearless. Very good officer. I had a lot of respect for him…we had a good commander leading us. You knew you could follow Winters anywhere” (Brothers in Battle: Best of Friends 70-71). ♠️- Rachel

“If you are a leader, a fellow who other fellows look to, you have to keep going."

📸: Winters at the end of training at Toccoa.

The end of the month is quickly approaching and soon it will be February. I have a couple more posts to help finish up the month.

Two of those posts are birthday posts: one of them for Richard Winters on the 21st and the other for Warren "Skip" Muck on the 31st.

I'm also thinking about making a set of rules for my page as well (probably should've done that when I first started but better late than never, plus I've been feeling down in the dumps lately and I need to get myself out of the funk.)

Also started getting back into working on the Easy Company men of Honor tribute last night now that I've upgraded to a newer version of DaVinci Resolve and it won't crash every five minutes everytime I try editing something, nor will it lag anymore.

Not sure when that's coming up but in the coming months for sure. ♠️-Rachel

📸: The Last Patrol-Band of Brothers (2001)

Relieved from the Line.

Luz: “Hey, look. 1st Battalion.” *He leans over the side of the truck.* “Hey, hey!”

1st Battalion Soldier: “Whaddya want?”

Luz: “Yeah, thanks for crapping in our foxholes, ya sh*theads.”

1st Battalion Soldier: *raising his fist in triumph* “Hey, it’s our pleasure.”

Bull: “Enjoy the walk, boys!”

Soldier: *in the distance* “There they go! Easy Company riding out again!”

Easy Company was relieved by the 17th Airborne Division from front line duties. The fight in Bastogne was finally over for the 101st and would be headed towards Alsace to help hold the line there.

Richard Winters notes in his memoir, “The Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division had written the brightest chapter in its combat history. It had been a costly campaign, but the American Army learned valuable lessons in conducting winter warfare. One of the most valuable lessons was the importance of keeping your ears tuned to the sounds of the night” (Beyond Band of Brothers 191).

The company had suffered from incredible losses during the Battle of the Bulge, but were able to get through because of their shared experiences together. Stephen Ambrose notes that “They got through the Bulge because they became a band of brothers. The company held together at the critical moment in the snow outside Foy because 1st Sergeant Lipton and his fellow N.C.O.s, nearly all Toccoa men, provided leadership, continuity and cohesiveness. Despite a new C.O and new officers and enlisted recruits, the spirit of E Company was alive thanks to the sergeants” (Band of Brothers 221).

This would be an experience the men would carry with them for the rest of their lives and an experience none of them would forget. Winters states: “I am not sure anyone who lived through Bastogne doesn’t carry the scars of that ferocious campaign…Again, the performance of the American paratrooper in the war’s deadliest campaign was the factor that kept Easy Company troopers, and by extension the remainder of the division, bonded so unusually close” (Beyond Band of Brothers 191-192). ♠️-Rachel

📸: The Breaking Point-Band of Brothers (2001)

The Final Attack in Belgium.

Lipton: *voiceover* “We spent our night in Rachamps at a convent. It was the first time we spent the night indoors in a month. The sisters there brought in their choir to sing for us. It was heaven. The mood of the men was relaxed. We were finally being relieved and would soon be in Mourmelon. Course in the morning, we found out Mourmelon would have to wait. Hi**er had launched a counteroffensive in Alsace, and we were bound for the town of Haguenau to help hold the line. But at least for that night, we didn’t know it yet.”

January 16th marked the final attack in Belgium for Easy Company. In Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose describes the events of Rachamps as such:"Rachamps was off the highway, over to the right (east). It was in a valley...The 2d Battalion attacked from the south and southwest, while 1st Battalion, on the left came down from north of the village. The men were well-spread and advanced steadily. The Germans put up some resistance, mainly artillery…But as the men of the 506th got to the outskirts of the village, most of the German defenders fled. As the Americans moved in, the Germans began bombing the village” (218).

This would also mark the end of major combat engagements for Easy Company. In his book Beyond Band of Brothers, Richard Winters reflected upon this realization. He notes: “Though we would routinely conduct combat patrols to establish contact with the enemy, never again would the battalion conduct large scale attacks against determined enemy resistance” (191).

Speirs set up the company CP in the convent. Stephen Ambrose states that “It was the first time the CP had been in a building since Easy left Mourmelon earlier...The nuns brought into the large hall of the convent a group of twelve-thirteen year old girls to sing a serenade for E Company. The program included French and Belgian songs, several in English, and the German marching song, ‘Lili Marlene’” (Band of Brothers 220).

The next day, Easy Company would be relieved and on their way to Alsace.♠️-Rachel

📸: The Breaking Point- Band of Brothers (2001)

Lipton: *voiceover* "We'd been looking down at the town of Foy for the better part of the month. Knowing that's where we had to go. It was a great relief to have done it. I guess a lot of the men thought once we had taken Foy, they'd get us off the line. Ship us back to Mourmelon for a breather. But that wasn't to be. Two days later, we took Noville and after that, Rachamps."

Winters remembers what happened when word was given to continue the attack to "seize the high ground at Noville" (Beyond Band of Brothers 189).

He notes: "When word came down for this attack, it pi**ed me off. I could not believe that after what we had gone through and accomplished, after all the casualties that we had suffered, that Colonel Sink was ordering us to lead another attack...This was another point of not using good judgment by regiment or division command. Why would you send men across one and a half miles of wide-open fields to Recogne-Cobru-Noville, through snow almost knee-deep in the middle of a bright sunny day?" (Beyond Band of Brothers 189).

There was a deep shoulder in the terrain on the southwest side of Noville. Winters thought "If I sent the column straight for it, I could pick up more cover as we approached Noville" (Beyond Band of Brothers 189). The plan was a success. He said: "I placed the entire Battalion in single file to cut through the snow. It was a highly dangerous and not very tactical formation" (Beyond Band of Brothers 189). Winters glanced at the men to see how they were doing. He remembers how they were being "cut up by direct fire from the Germans 88s…The enemy fire was striking their line with devastating effect" (Beyond Band of Brothers 190).

Getting into position was like a cat-and-mouse game, but accomplished without any casualties. Winters remembers how "The night was the coldest night of my life and I think the same went for every other man in the outfit" (Beyond Band of Brothers 190). The attack on Noville began at first light and was met with light resistance.

The next day, Easy Company would head to Rachamps for their final attack in Belgium. ♠️-Rachel

📸: The Breaking Point-Band of Brothers (2001)

Happy belated birthday to you ! 🥳
It was a pleasure meeting you at the symposium back in August.

Thank you for keeping Joe Liebgott's memory alive and for preserving his legacy. Thank you for also telling me about your film, A Violent Man as well. I look forward to giving it a watch along with your film, About Us. ☺️

Thank you for being an absolute gentleman at the symposium and for helping me create a lovely video for my friends Hannah and Debby. They loved it and it made them smile!

Hope you had a fantastic day yesterday. Currahee! ♠️-Rachel

📸: A lady in line who wanted to meet Ross.