From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother
Not too long ago, the TV series Band of Brothers was mentioned on a forum I visit. I never gave it much thought, but as time went on there were lots of references made to it that I didn’t get. It seemed like a point was being made that I was out of the loop with, so I looked into watching the series to see what it was all about.
I really liked it. So much so that after every episode, I’d describe what happened to the Mr.
One night when I was watching a little bit of it, he walked through the room and paused for a moment to watch. He ended up staying and decided he’d like to see the entire series, too.
Not long after that, I started watching them over…but with him. He really liked them, too.
For those that don’t know, it’s a TV series based in fact about Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division. It follows the men from basic training in Toccoa, Georgia through Normandy, the Battle of Bastogne, and on through the surrender of Germany and then the surrender of Japan.
Each episode is highlighted at the beginning with clips of interviews conducted with the veterans of Easy.
There are ten parts.
It starts off with “Currahee”. Easy has a captain who is a terrible leader. He’s unjust and has no ability in the field. He punishes the men repeatedly for trumped up infractions before finally getting reassigned away from Easy.
In “Day of Days”, the men make their jump into Normandy in the cover of darkness behind enemy lines. When their commander is killed, the 1st Lieutenant becomes the leader and he forms a strategy to take out some of the big guns that are killing the men landing on the beach.
In “Carentan”, there’s a private who is so afraid, his fear causes him to temporarily go blind. Once his sight is recovered, he is still under siege of his own debilitating fear until his commander forces him to confront it head on when they are under attack.
“Replacements” is the episode when the men who have fallen are replaced by newcomers who find it hard to be accepted. They don’t have the bond that time helped forge between the original Easy members. During a battle when they are forced to fall back, one sergeant is cut off from the company and has to fend for himself hiding and fighting alone until the enemy leaves the next day. I bet it was the longest night of that man’s life.
“Crossroads” finds Easy stumbling into an attack that wasn’t planned. Thinking that they’ve stumbled on to a few snipers, Easy starts to take position to take them out. But when they start firing, dozens upon dozens of Germans come running over the ridge.
“Bastogne” is the Battle of the Bulge and finds Easy with no supplies, little food, scant ammo. A medic tries to help as much as possible, but with no supplies he’s forced to try to scrounge what he can from the aid station. And that’s not much.
During “The Breaking Point” Easy loses probably the most men under the bad command of their new Lieutenant. He’s indecisive, gives bad orders (or no orders) and disappears for hours at a time alone. In the middle of the battle in Foy, Belgium, he gets called out and replaced by a new leader who has the men’s best interests at heart.
“The Last Patrol” centers around a previously wounded member of Easy who rejoins the group…but he’s not readily accepted back in because some of the other members that met the same fate went AWOL from the hospital to rejoin the unit and he didn’t. It makes him more of an outsider like the replacements.
“Why We Fight” was one of the hardest to watch when the men stumble upon a concentration camp. They’re bewildered and horrified, not knowing what exactly it is until one of the men can translate what the prisoners are saying. After they arrange for food, water, and medicine, it’s feared by the general that the camp prisoners will scatter before they are all properly cared for and he orders them all to be locked back up until arrangements are made. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the guy’s shoes who had to look them in the eye and tell them that.
In “Points”, Easy finds out that although the men have been through battle after battle and been wounded over and over, most of them don’t have the required 85 points to go home. The fighting decreases, but with an abundance of weapons, ammo, alcohol, and disgruntled tired men…lives are still lost from infighting and accidents.
Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest is found and captured and the war comes to an official end.
There’s a scene where they’re playing baseball and a narrator tells what’s become of each man and what he’s gone on to do.
There’s an extra bit with full length interviews that tie today’s men together with yesterday’s memories. All these years later and you can see in the eyes of those men that they see it like it was just yesterday. Their pains and losses are fresh hurts…their joys are newly lived. It’s incredibly touching.
If you haven’t ever seen Band of Brothers, I recommend doing so.
