Table of Contents
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CONTRIBUTORS
Rod Bain
Don Bond
Roy Gates
Forrest Guth
Ed Joint
Joe Lesniewski
Dewitt Lowrey
Clancy Lyall
Al Mampre
Earl One Lung McClung
Norman Neitzke
Ed Pepping
Frank Perconte
Darrell Shifty Powers
Frank Soboleski
Herb Suerth Jr.
Amos Buck Taylor
Ed Tipper
Bill Wingett
Henry Zimmerman
With the families of:
George Luz Sr.
Robert Burr Smith
Herbert Sobel
The contributors wish to dedicate this book
To the men of the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division,
many of whose acts will never be known
To those who made the supreme sacrifice and never came home
And to the men and women of the American Armed Forces, all generations,
who have served, and continue to serve, to uphold our freedoms
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have come to light had it not been for author Robyn Post, who, while completing her book about Bill Guarnere and Babe Heffron, began to contact men to discuss another project about the remaining members of Easy Company. Simultaneously, Robyn was busy researching a different book. She knew the clock was against the Easy Company projects success, so she phoned my agent, Greg Johnson, knowing he had championed Buck Comptons and Don Malarkeys memoirs, and asked if he knew a writer who would be able to develop the project. I had just worked with Buck Compton on his book and jumped at the chance.
Editor Natalee Rosenstein at the Berkley Publishing Group saw the strength of this project immediately and contracted the book based on a simple, five-page pitch sheet, which Im ever grateful to her for doing. Thanks are also due to assistant editor Michelle Vega, who was her usual terrific self in keeping things organized and smooth, and to all the team at Penguin, including Peter Horan and Catherine Milne.
When the project began, I had three men who wanted to tell their stories, with hope of four others. I knew their stories would be intrinsically valuable even if the book was only about seven men, yet because the war chronology of Easy Company had been covered already in several books and the Band of Brothers DVD series, I wasnt certain how this book would be unique.
Over time, my vision for this book began to form. I didnt want to create another book that focused on what the company did as a whole. Rather, I wanted to spotlight the men as individuals: who they were when they were young, why they enlisted, what situations each encountered in combat, what lives they made for themselves after the war. I knew the strength of the story would emerge as readers imagined sitting down in living rooms with these men, listening to their stories, hearing their voices, grammar, and word choices, experiencing living history firsthand.
I contacted Herb Suerth Jr., president of the Men of Easy Company Association. He liked the idea, particularly the angle of giving voice to the men who hadnt told their stories yet. Through Easy Company rosters, my agent and I began to cold-call and write letters to the men asking if they were interested in participating.
Some of the men were hesitant at first, even skeptical. A few phoned Buck, wondering if I was legit. Humility also played a role in the mens decisions: the men didnt want to talk about themselves. Health and age prevented several from participating. Over time, trust won out.
I was helped and encouraged by several of the adult children of Easy Company members. Thanks go to Susan Finn, George Luz Jr., Lana Luz Miller, Donna Bain Farquhar, Dr. Nancy Crumpton, Garry and Grace Alley, Tracy Compton, Syndee Compton, Tracy Gordon Goff, Michael Sobel, Gary and Marcy Carson, and Ann and Bruce Winegarden. Thanks also go to Janet Jacobsen, Rod Bains sister.
At the end of this book, I invited three adult children of deceased Easy Company members to tell about their fathers. Many similar essays could be written, yet I felt that Herbert Sobel, Robert Burr Smith, and George Luz Sr. comprised a good cross representation of the company. They are key in understanding more about the men: Sobel, because he continues to be a controversial figure; Smith, because of the life of adventure he led after the war; and Luz, because he was so universally admired.
I was privileged to talk with many of the wives of the Easy Company men. Renee Soboleski was fabulous in organizing her husbands materials. Thanks also go to Grayce (Peg) Wingett, Donelle Bain, Patricia Bond, Lucille Clark, Sally Joint, Phyllis Lesniewski, Isabel Lyall, Virginia Mampre, Rose Maynard, Jean McClung, Lucille Neitzke, Dorothy Powers, Monna Suerth, Elaine Taylor, Rosalina Tipper, Mildred Zimmerman, Delvina Luz, and the late Harriet Guth.
Rich Riley, a World War II 101st Airborne historian and friend of Easy Company, proved a great resource. Thanks go to historian Jake Powers for his dedication to Easy Company, and to attorney Vance Day, who cares deeply for the troops.
I gratefully acknowledge that this project stands on the shoulders of those who first brought Easy Company to light, including Stephen Ambrose and Ronald Drez, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Merav Brooks at HBO (the men all speak highly of you).
Thanks extend to Major Dick Winters and Colonel Cole Kingseed, the late David Kenyon Webster, Larry Alexander, Don Malarkey and Bob Welch, Christopher Anderson, Forrest Guth and Michael de Trez, and many other authors, writers, and historians for faithfully chronicling Easy Company and the 101st throughout the years. Included in this list are Donald Burgett, George Koskimaki, Charles Whiting, Mark Bando, Michael Haskew, Lance Jones, Robin Sink McClelland, James D. Sutton, John Taylor, Arthur Northwood Jr., and Leonard Rapport. Special thanks extend to Ross S. Carter, author of Those Devils in Baggy Pants (504th PIR, 82nd), a truly exceptional book.
Thanks go to the administrators of tribute Web sites who work to preserve the history and community surrounding Easy Company, including Peter van de Wal in Holland, Valor Studios, www.majordickwinters.com, www.wildbillguarnere.com, www.frankdeangelis.com, www.carwoodlipton.com, www.davidkenyonwebster.com, www.menofeasycompany.com, www.joetoye.com, and more.
Gratitude is expressed to the late Walter Gordon, a neighbor of Stephen Ambroses. Gordon is credited with being the vital link in birthing the current renown of Easy Company. Much credit goes to Bill Guarnere, the catalyst behind organizing company reunions for so many years and compiling and maintaining rosters.
I am ever grateful to my wife, Mary Margaret Brotherton, for her strong support in this project and her love always, to journalists Dorothy Brotherton and H. C. Jones, my readers on this project, to intern Ty Johnson from Seattle Pacific University, and to David Kopp, my mentor and friend.
PREFACE
An Elite, Experimental Fighting Unit
Someone had driven a bulldozer up the side of Mount Currahee, the three-and-a-half-mile-long incline at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. In the bulldozers wake lay a jagged swath of gulley. Rocks and furrows pressed up into the cut. Whenever rain fell, which wasnt often in the summer heat, a creek gushed down Camp Toccoas newest running track.
