Band of Brothers: Legacy (2026) Movie Script
PLAYTONE PRESENTS
[gunfire]
[helicopter passes amid gunfire]
A NEW WAR PRODUCTION
[thunder rumbling]
Think of being surrounded as
something unusual, horrible.
This should never happen.
No, that was normal.
[warplanes flying overhead]
[footsteps and rustling]
You fight to the north,
you fight to the south,
you fight to the east,
you fight to the west.
Youre surrounded.
[birds chirping]
The poor bastards thats
on the other side has the
problem. You dont.
[soldiers screaming]
Lets go!
This is the story
of Easy Company.
It was formed in 1942.
[plane engine rumbling]
506 Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Part of the 101st airborne.
It was the best.
This is not Dog Company.
This is not Fox Company.
This, this is Easy Company.
[explosion]
[explosion]
Our country was attacked.
Its a different-- It wasnt
like Korea or Vietnam.
We was attacked.
Theres a feeling that
maybe were just dumb
country people, but
we had a lot of us volunteering.
Two okay!
One okay!
[music]
I never thought Id
get through D-Day,
let alone the next phase
or the next phase.
[music continues]
Chances of survival is very,
very slim.
Extremely slim.
[gunfire]
Move out, move out, move it out!
[gunfire]
Easy Companys actions on D-Day.
How did that happen?
Theres the magic of that
chemistry again.
I cant explain.
Lets hope it lives forever.
[music playing]
We were a group of actors.
We were just all ready
to go there.
Young.
Serious.
Bit earnest maybe.
Just really wanting
to do good work,
wanting to do the thing right.
[music playing]
We were blessed and fortunate
enough
to be able to portray
the lives of
absolutely true heroes.
Every single one of them.
Just everything was so big,
so explosive,
and then you get these small
little intimate moments with us.
I dont know.
It made me realize
just how special it was to
be a part of this thing.
- The daredevil. - Its
a very sacred thing
to carry someones legacy.
And I think there was
that secret sauce
that we were all doing
it for something
other than our careers.
When we got into it,
we didnt know what it was.
It wasnt until we really
started getting
into it, you know, like,
oh, shit, this is...
This is intense.
Its very important
to us that the men
had their legacy intact.
Because what they
did for the world
should be recognized fully.
[gunfire and explosion]
Its...
a very unusual feeling
and its a very unusual bonding.
[singing] A hell
of a way to die!
If you want to call this
story that were
putting together
a band of brothers,
this is about as clear
as you can make it.
BAND OF BROTHERS LEGACY
Am I all right here?
- Youre doing great.
- Oh, yeah.
I dont know.
Dont forget Im short,
so I can stand.
Maybe it would be better.
[laughter]
Uncle Paduche they used
to call me.
What does that mean?
Well, thats the sort of respect
for the elderly people.
We were taught
actually from the day
you were born,
you respect your elders
no matter what.
We werent lacking
in confidence.
We felt that
whatever we came up against,
we could take care of.
Now, what was it about
jumping out of an
airplane that appealed to you?
$50 a month.
[laughter]
We were pretty much
in the middle of
things most of the time.
But the whole company was...
You know, was...
Very, very special.
[reflective, uplifting music]
I had always promised
myself that someday,
someday, Ill write my memories
of World War II.
And like everybody else,
you keep putting it off.
But Ambrose came along, and
he requested this
for the purpose of writing
a book.
He would interview me, share
questions.
One thing led to another, and...
It happened.
Easy Company!
Gather up around me.
The Easy Company story
works because
if you look at all the sort of
big plot points of World War II,
they happen to be there
for a bunch of them.
Theyre in Normandy.
Battle of the Bulge.
[explosion]
They were there at the
Eagles Nest at the end.
It was just this sort
of confluence of
you could tell the whole story
with just this group of people.
[people shouting indistinctly]
Youll be okay.
There was no flinching
in Band of Brothers.
It had a docu-drama style to it.
That was its brilliance.
Really gets you among the men.
Thats why its endured so well.
Band of Brothers is different.
Its about supporting
each other,
loving each other,
and going from some guys
who at one point
didnt know each other at all.
At the end of this
10 episode arc
being guys who would die
for one another
because they love each
other so much.
You dont get to see that often.
You know, every young
actor in the world,
theyd gone casting
in Australia,
London, New York, LA.
Hundreds and hundreds
of 20-something lads
just thinking, "Oh God, I want
to be in this thing."
Knowing this was World War II
and knowing the history
that I had
with my dad talking
about World War II,
and all the wars
for that matter,
I was really prepared for it.
Seven of my great uncles
served in World War II.
They were all
first generation
Jewish New Yorkers.
Every one of them,
their families had escaped.
It was very personal.
Good luck.
When this project
came to me,
I was all in.
My father was in the Army,
so it was
subconsciously always
right under the
surface and something
I really wanted to
explore if I had
the opportunity.
Good evening, Easy Company.
Good evening, sir.
Ambrose gave me a call.
Hes all excited.
And he said he has some
wonderful news.
And he says, "Dick, I
sold the rights of
Band of Brothers to Tom Hanks
under one condition.
That he does not play your part,
because hes too old."
I was another, you know,
British punk actor trying to
get his next job.
And
everyone just had a couple
of sides,
which is very typical, you know,
in a big Hollywood production.
They just give you a couple
of pages of scripts.
You learn that. You dont
know what its about.
After the very first
one that I read,
I just started reading this guy.
They kept giving me scripts,
a guy called Dick Winters.
And I still wasnt sure who Dick
Winters was at that point.
But then the next audition,
it was Dick Winters again.
The next audition,
and I thought,
I should probably ask
at this point.
They said, "Well, hes the lead
of the series."
I remember thinking,
"Wow, this could be real."
I didnt put a lot
of energy into it,
because I kind of judged it.
I was like, World
War II officer.
Its a certain type.
Theres a look.
Im not going to get that part.
And I get the book,
and in that same actor way,
you just open it to the index,
because you know...
"This is fine, wheres me?"
And I saw my first picture
of Lewis Nixon in the bed,
surrounded by the wine bottles,
you know, shitty grin
on his face,
and a
big hangover, Im sure.
And something clicked,
and I was like,
"Oh, Im going to...
Im going to get this."
Cheers.
[scoffs]
I think that it was a very
slow burn
on getting to know
how important this was.
I think the real
impact of all that
started happening
when we actually
started contacting the men
individually.
Buck was just bigger than life.
And we were so similar
in so many ways that
he wasnt a chatterbox.
He was very kind of close
to the vest.
He was so proud to
be an American.
More grenade!
I remember a lot of shooting,
a lot of artillery,
a lot of things happening.
And I always felt like I was
somehow...
As I look back on it,
I thought I was damn lucky.
To jump into those shoes
was the most daunting
task I could
ever possibly imagine.
You wont need it.
Were jumping low. Take
the belly back.
Some guys called him Bull, some
guys called him The Bull.
You know, I think
Babe and Bill, The Bull!
[chuckles]
Always The Bull.
Not Bull, but The Bull.
And when I initially
reached out to him,
he was
very non-talkative.
Had you ever been in an airplane
before?
Nope.
So first time up, you
had to jump out.
Yeah.
Which created a situation where
I wound up speaking with
his wife, Vera,
for a good hour, hour and a half
after I spoke with him.
And got
just incredible, incredible,
information from her.
We lost F Company.
Again?
After reading the book and
learning what they went through
and educating myself
on the unit,
I just was in awe of these guys.
We spoke mostly about
family and life,
and he became sort
of a mentor to me.
And when he wanted
to speak about the war
he spoke about it.
I never pronged him or
poked him for any information.
In fact, the way it worked
on Band of Brothers,
none of the guys ever,
ever spoke about themselves.
Youd talk to him
for three hours,
and they would tell you about
everything
everyone in the company
did but themselves.
And for them, youd have to go
to a different person.
Hey, fellas.
What do you hear?
What do you say?
I called him and I said,
"Hey, is this Mr..."
I didnt even know how
to pronounce his name.
I was making it much
more Italian.
They had Americanized it a
little bit with Guarnere.
And he answered, "Yowza!"
And I said, "Hi, is
this Mr. Guarnere?"
And he said, "It is.
Whos this?"
And I said, "My name
is Frankie Hughes.
Im auditioning to play you.
Mr. Guarnere, is there any
advice you would give me
to play you?"
And he said,
"Yeah, I was a paid killer.
I was a 19-year-old paid killer.
Dont forget that."
I said, "I wont, sir."
And he said, "Good luck."
When I jumped on D-Day,
I swore
I swore I was going
to kill every
damn German I came across.
And thats why I think
they nicknamed me
Wild Bill, because I did
a lot of killing D-Day.
[gunshot]
Joe!
Im Ross McCool, and I
play Joe Liebgott.
Im a Scotsman
who sounds English,
whos Catholic,
playing an American Jew
who spoke German.
So I had a lot to
sink my proverbial teeth into.
Earlier on, I kept getting
told from the men,
"Its a scrappy guy."
But he had a sharpness in him.
He knew how to soldier.
Skinny little guy?
You got pink to the neck
in Holland.
Sometimes you cant really
see too much.
You just get a sense of maybe,
you know,
what they look like,
the way they carry themselves,
the hair.
[chuckles]
They carried themselves
like goddamn men.
This is my favorite here.
This is
Winters and Nixon.
Devillish rascal, huh?
- Webbing? - Webbing, please.
Can I have a name, please?
Livingstone playing Nixon.
Looking good.
Lewis had passed,
so it was never really on
the table to meet him.
I reached out to Grace Nixon,
who was
really wonderful
and really open,
as far as inviting me
kind of into her life
and sharing Lewis
the way that she knew him.
- Thats a good picture.
- Hes so handsome.
[laughter]
I think so too.
This guy was handsome. Yes.
Hes got a handsome face.
[indistinct chatter]
[music]
I met Dick,
and I remember a man that was
suspicious of Hollywood.
He had a very interesting
combination of
a good strong ego,
but he had this amazing
humility as well.
As an actor,
what you want always
is you want behavioral.
You want to hear from
someone if something hurt.
You want to hear if something
was joyful, something was sad.
Whatever it was, you can find
ways of
exploring the psychology
of the person
youre going to play.
To the gang, as we were sitting
there,
I said, "Well, when I
get in the Army,
Im not going to volunteer
for anything.
B.S. IN ECONOMICS
Just going to do whatever
they tell me
and put my ear in and get out."
And the foreman,
who was a World War I veteran
he jumped on my hind butt good,
and he said, "No, you dont.
You get in the Army,
and you do your best
each and every day."
I didnt answer him,
but I never forgot it,
and I havent forgotten
it today.
[suspenseful music builds]
WAR DEPARTMENT FILM BULLETIN
THIS FILM IS CONFIDENTIAL
There were people
who thought that trying
to insert people
into combat via parachute
cant be done.
Its suicide.
And it was strictly
a volunteer thing.
You didnt get drafted and told,
"Youre going to go
be a paratrooper."
And what happened
was it took you out of the
standard pool,
made you something special.
Well, at ease, paratroopers.
I got a couple of phone
calls from
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
They wanted to say, "Look,
how would you approach this?"
I said, "Well, look.
Youre going to hire young men
with no military experience.
And the only thing they really
know about
World War II is the last
bad movie they saw."
And I believe that the way
to fix it
was to give actors
some fleeting acquaintance
with what a soldiers
life is really about.
And I thought, "Look,
heres a chance
to do it right."
The first thing they did for us
was they set up
a 10-day actor boot camp.
They train us in the same
way that they
train military people.
From here on out,
youre no longer called
by your civilian name.
Whats up, yo, dog?
All that stuffs gone.
1940s, right?
We are so f---ed.
Name?
Luz, George.
Dirt in the rear sight aperture.
Pass revoked. [rifle clicks]
George was from Providence,
Rhode Island,
and so he was a tough guy,
and he
and he made people laugh,
and a lot of people loved him.
Are those dusty jump wings?
How do you expect to slay
the Huns with
dust on your jump wings?
I got a chance to talk
to Bill and Babe
and Carwood, and Bill said to me
constantly, wed be sitting
around,
hes like, "I hope youre funny,
kid."
So Id be like, "Oh,
man, oh, man,
Im going to ruin this thing."
How you cut that fence
and get this
goddamn platoon on the move!
[cow mooing]
Yes, sir!
[fly swatted] My grandpa Ron,
he told me when I first
told him that I
got this job, and they were
going to send us to a boot camp.
I remember him saying,
"Start running now.
The rest of its a duck walk,
but just
make sure you can run
your dick off."
You know? I was like, "Okay."
[laughing]
What company is this?
Easy Company!
What do we do?
We stand alone!
[singing] Hey young punk,
dont you be so fooled.
[singing] Im an instructor
at the Airborne School.
[singing] Im an instructor
at the Airborne School.
And everybodys a little
apprehensive
about meeting Captain Dale Dye,
military advisor to the movies.
You have three tries.
Snap, and surge of power.
You can make it.
I snuck into platoon
when I was 10 years old.
I saw Dale Dye up
on that screen.
Im like, "I want to work with
these people someday."
And I knew it right then.
And then 13 years later,
there I was.
I think its looking good,
Webster.
I was cast to play this role,
who clearly
was a man who questioned
authority.
This guy was going to Harvard.
He had his ticket
out of the war.
He didnt have to go.
I knew David Websters
spirit was a powerful one.
Perconte.
[rousing patriotic music]
I was ready.
I will say, physically,
I was ready.
I couldnt have been any
more ready.
It was trying to understand
the chain of command,
and who people were.
He just couldnt understand that
Captain Dye was just a captain.
He was such a force
over our lives that
youve got to be a general.
Like, youve got--
And he meant it.
And hed go, "General,
I was just trying--
Hed go, "What?
Perconte, get down and give
me 50."
And Jim could just do push-ups
till youre tired.
Like, hed just-- Hed go--
[mimics push-ups rapidly]
"Okay, what were you saying?"
"General, I was saying--"
"50 more."
Like he would just start. You
know, he was unbreakable.
[rousing patriotic music]
Dale did a really
smart thing where
he put Damian and I
in the same squad.
He made me the squad leader.
And then at a certain
point it shifted.
And then he got sort
of promoted past me.
And Dale was like,
"You know,
I think it probably,
always really
stuck in Lewis Nixons craw.
I think there was probably
a little
competitive thing between
these guys a little bit."
And I found that really helpful.
I moved up from a private
to a sergeant
almost immediately.
Not even knowing what I
was doing.
And theyre like, "Oh, take
charge of your platoon."
The hell does that mean?
Halt!
Platoon Sergeant, take charge.
I mean, you could have read
it in a book
and you wouldnt have gotten it.
You could have been told
it six times and
you would have messed it up.
And you realize, "Oh my gosh,
this full immersion
is how boot camp works."
People came and asked
me for advice.
What are we to do, sir?
It was like a crash course
in leadership.
People want your authority.
They want you to be Dick
Winters.
They want you to be in charge,
so youve got to deliver.
I want concentrated bursts
of machine gun fire.
Do not waste your ammo.
Go, runner, go. Cover him.
You get scared a little bit,
and youre like,
"I dont know what Im doing.
I dont know what this is."
And then the second
thought I have
after that was like,
"Well, neither did they."
[military drumbeat]
Now, this is a brand new idea.
It was the first time
that it had been tried.
It becomes a very easy decision
to make later on.
"Im going to volunteer
for the paratroopers."
Your parents say, "No, please
dont do that.
Thats the wrong thing to do."
And so forth.
But you want to be
with the best.
Every one of the
requirements was
something to conquer because
we wanted to be in the 506.
There were all kinds of
exercises that you had to pass.
The ones who couldnt measure up
were moved out of the company.
This training at Toccoa,
which lasted roughly 13 weeks,
lets start off with
physical training.
Learning left face, right face
and you get them in shape.
Some of them lost as much
as 40 pounds.
But I didnt have nothing
to lose.
I weighed about 130.
If Id have lost 40 pounds,
I wouldnt have been big
enough to stay.
[military drumbeat continues]
[indistinct chatter]
[whistle blows]
Orders changed.
Get up!
Lectures are cancelled.
Easy Company is running
up Currahee.
Move! Move! [chairs and tables
scraping]
[inspiring music builds]
Currahee.
That was the big obstacle.
To be able to run that.
And I shouldnt say run.
You get the wrong impression.
We didnt run it.
You did a parachute shuffle,
which is a small shuffling step.
You couldnt possibly
run that thing.
Nobody could.
Come on, you can make
it up there.
Come on. Come on up. Lets go.
Come on, Guarnere. Christenson,
come on.
Come on.
They put the fear of the devil
in me
when they started
telling me about
that mountain, you know.
That youre going to have to run
that mountain.
You run that mountain
or youre not
going to be, you wont
be in this outfit.
You have 50 minutes
to the top and back
and I will be watching you.
What are you waiting for?
The way he trained them,
an unforgiving way,
hardened them.
Hi-Ho, Silver!
[multiple footsteps running]
Now when we talk about
our original company commander,
Captain Sobel,
he did his best,
but he was in the wrong job.
Theyre right out
there somewhere.
Lets just get them.
Sir, we have perfect cover here.
Lieutenant, deploy your troops.
I mean, heres a Jewish, urban,
like an older guy,
in the Deep South,
training a bunch
of 18-year-olds, and...
You know, there was a lot of
anti-Semitism at the time.
He knew he was
beating the shit out of them
at times.
You look tired.
Theres an ambulance
waiting for you at
the bottom of the hill.
It can all be over right now.
No more pain,
no more Currahee,
no more Captain Sobel.
He was a horses ass.
[chuckles]
Lieutenant Sobel does not hate
Easy Company, Private Randleman.
[multiple footsteps]
He just hates you.
[soldiers chuckle]
Thank you, sir.
His message to us is
that you lead men
by fear.
You lead men by strict
discipline.
I said, "No, you lead
it by example."
And we had two different
philosophies.
I performed my duty as I
was ordered, sir.
And I disagree.
So,
your options are quite simple,
Lieutenant.
What is it about Winters that
makes him such a good leader?
Well, he takes his duty
a heck far ahead of
his privilege.
And you give your life to
make him look good
instead of doing
what youre told or ordered
to do.
Dick Winters was a very
good leader, excellent leader.
The men would follow him
in the name of it.
Sobel, they wouldnt.
Easy Company, you passed
your final field test.
Bootcamp was arguably
the pivotal point
because it was a group of men
who just understood the mission.
And by understanding
the mission,
it became a brotherhood.
Through your eyes, through
your actions,
through your gestures,
through your
handling of weapons,
through your wearing
of the uniform, everything.
The truth is there.
Let it shine, boys.
Make the world proud
of Easy Company
and the world will celebrate
our forefathers.
Lets not f--- it up.
Yes, sir.
Not bad for a bunch of actors.
[chuckles]
H-Hour.
D-Day.
We were thoroughly prepared.
The men were
trained, hardened,
Physically and mentally,
and they were ready to jump.
[rousing patriotic music]
[military aircraft
engine roaring]
Confidence depends
on the success of
whatever youre trying to do.
Courage
is what inspires you
to do the things
that are needed to get
the things done.
Ive always said courage
is not the absence of fear.
Courage is going ahead
and doing what
needs to be done, even
if you feel fear.
[rousing patriotic
music continues]
D-Day was not an accident
that had worked,
it had been prepared for.
We just didnt know what we
were doing at the time.
We found that out later.
[aircraft engines roaring,
suspenseful music builds]
When you reach that point that
youre standing in the door,
youre asking yourself,
"What the hell am I doing here?"
Its only one thing to
do and thats to go.
[indistinct radio chatter,
tense music]
The routine was the pilot
would turn on a
red light by the door
and that was supposed
to indicate
that you had, I dont
know whether
it was five minutes
or three minutes.
When you got the red light,
you would
stand up and hook up.
Hook up!
See out the door
and I could see the flak,
the tracer boards and
the stuff in the air coming up.
And then he said to me, "Red
light."
Well, by the time I
had to go through
that thought process,
he says, "Green light."
And Im still sitting
there on the deck
of the plane
and all the guys
are sitting down
and so I said, "Oh God,
lets go."
[wind rushing, gunfire
whizzing past]
We were sort of the guinea pigs.
Everyone wanted to get
out of the planes.
Lets go, lets go, lets go!
Does that light look
green to you?
Lets go, lets go, lets go!
No matter where youre
at, get them out.
The flak was terrible.
And the aircraft was
absolutely horrendous.
It was like a
July the 4th celebration
ten times over.
[aircraft engine roaring]
I was the first to jump.
Lets go!
[dramatic music swells]
And Randleman was the last
to jump.
[wind rushing]
I was supposed to push
everybody out.
It was like jumping
off a two-story
building where it was.
There was nobody landing
where they were supposed to.
I was ten miles from where
we jumped.
[footsteps rustling through
tall grass, gunfire]
We were just scattered
from one end of the peninsula
to the other,
men as far as
30 kilometers from their drop
zone.
So theyre on their own.
But somehow or another
those fellas,
individuals of
Joe Toye,
Popeye Wynn,
they found the objective
and they found it on time.
We were all lost,
but we got to the objective
and we took the objective.
[music swells]
Well, on the next morning
after daylight,
Im in this group, were
moving up along
this road, and I run
into Winters.
Whats going on?
Whats the holdup? Not sure.
[distant explosion]
Fivell get you ten its got
something to do with that.
So Winters is telling
me, he says
theres some guys out here,
some Germans out here
firing some artillery pieces.
He said,
"Wed like to find out
whats going on out there
and see what we can do about
it."
Theres some Kraut Eighty-Eights
up ahead,
up ahead and to the right
about what?
300 yards?
Up through those gardens.
Now theyre right between us
and causeway number two.
Firing onto the boys
landing at Utah.
Think Easy can handle it?
Yes, sir.
There are two guns
that we know of,
firing on Utah beach
[distant explosion continues]
and planning on a third
and a fourth
here and here.
The Germans are in the trenches
with access to the entire
battery.
How many Krauts do you think
were facing?
No idea.
No idea.
Nothing in the manual
tells you how to
react to how to attack
these guns.
You have no idea whats there,
how many people are there.
All you know is theres
a battery of guns
firing at these beaches.
If you knew at the time,
you would not do what youd
done.
There couldve been 200 men
there.
It couldve been 10 there.
You dont have no idea.
Captain, second squad.
- Yes, sir. - All right,
you heard the word.
Lets move, lets move.
[explosion, tense music builds]
I divided the group
into two units.
Lieutenant Compton was with me.
I gave him half the men
and I took half the men.
Gave instructions, I went,
"Compton, crawl through
the grass.
And as you throw your grenades,
Ill charge up with the rest
of the guys."
[tense music continues]
[rapid gunfire begin,
soldier scream]
I get out through this hedge,
and I peek.
I look up and I peek
through the bushes
and I see a couple of Germans
over here
about 30, 50 yards away.
And about that time,
Guarnere comes running across
and he jumps in beside me.
[rapid gunfire continues]
[grunts]
[explosion]
Buck Compton, yes.
Him and I were tossing some
grenades, just attacking.
Its stupid when you look
at it, but we were lucky.
Very fortunate.
I think the Germans were very,
very surprised
that we attacked them.
They thought they were being
attacked by a greater force.
Lets go! Lets go!
Follow me!
[explosion]
[rapid gunfire continues]
Compton, covering fire!
You know, when Popeye was hit
on D-Day morning, he was right
beside me.
So I can speak firsthand
on this.
And when he was hit and he
went down, he was hit hard.
[Popeye screams]
After I got hit,
[grunts and screaming]
and I didnt want to leave him,
you know.
Im sorry, sir!
I screwed up!
You dont want to get in another
situation with people
you dont know.
And Id been with these
people for
going on three years.
He said, "Im sorry, Lieutenant.
I goofed.
Im sorry."
For the simple reason
that in crawling
across that field of grass,
he had got his butt
a little too high
and he got one right
through both cheeks.
And he was hurt hard.
But he said, "Im sorry,
I goofed."
He didnt say, "Help."
That is a man.
Oh shit.
Hey Popeye, how bad is it?
Im sorry sir, I didnt mean...
He did all the rest of it.
He is a good man.
One, two, three.
[grunts]
Get down.
Get down.
I needed to get
this guys journey across,
you know?
I needed to tell Popeyes story
for his family
and not mess it up.
He felt like hed
let people down.
Its just a testament to...
to these guys and
the...
the brotherhood they had, I
guess.
Dont that make
you our commanding officer, sir?
Yeah, it does.
Your big fear is the fact
that you dont
want to let your buddy down.
You dont want to let the fellow
down beside you.
And if youre a leader,
you dont want to
let your men down.
I think we had made a decision.
Lets not make this guy
Superman
from episode one.
Lets see him become Superman.
Lets see him do incredible
things.
But theres still doubt.
Hes a young man.
Hes just jumped in to
liberate Europe
out of an airplane.
Hes 26 years old.
Hes got control of 50 men.
And lets just see him grow.
And I dont think
Dick liked that.
He wanted to characterize
him thinking,
growing into the role.
He said, "I just knew."
I came back to him after
hed seen the whole thing.
I said, "Now what do you think?"
He put his hand in my shoulder
and went,
"Kid, you nailed it."
[airplane engine roars overhead]
This is called "Operation
Market Garden".
In terms of airborne
divisions involved,
this ones even bigger
than Normandy.
Were dropping deep into
occupied Holland.
Winters came out when
we were shooting
episode four, and we get
ambushed.
[gunshot, body thuds]
Jump off when one of our other
lieutenants
gets shot, and guys
jump off the tanks.
[gunfire]
Dick Winters left.
He went home.
He said, "Ive seen enough."
They couldnt watch it.
It was too real for them
to watch what we were doing.
That was the biggest
compliment that we
could have been given.
[rapid rifle fire, indistinct
shouting]
Were people shooting
you when you--
Oh, yeah, thats
when I found out
that when you can hear
bullets sing,
it aint going to touch you.
But when they snap like
that around your ears
ears, theyre getting close.
[chuckles]
And were they whistling
or snapping?
Snapping.
[tank approaching]
[grenade explodes]
Fall back!
Fall back!
Fall back!
Lets go, lets go, lets go!
Keep moving, keep moving!
In Holland...
Lets go!
And we have a tough, tough
battle there
so that
as far as the regiments
concerned,
yes,
we survived it and we won it.
But we lost many engagements.
[somber music]
Come on!
Quiet!
Elements of the first and sixth
SS Panzer Division
have broken through in
the Ardennes Forest.
Wed been in Normandy.
Wed been in Holland.
We knew that we were a
capable fighting outfit.
When we left for Bastogne,
we were short of equipment.
We didnt have enough
ammunition.
We didnt have enough
warm clothes.
But we had confidence.
Hey, pal.
Hey, pal. Hey, pal.
What happened?
Where the hell are you going?
They came out of nowhere.
They slaughtered us.
Youve got to get out of here.
We just got here. Get your ammo.
The soldiers that we saw
as we went in
were completely demoralized.
I mean, they were just
trying to get out of there.
[honks]
Make a hole! Hey!
Make a hole!
I got ammo!
Grab what you can!
Lieutenant, youre a godsend.
I played Lieutenant George C.
Rice.
He made nine runs,
which is unbelievable.
Ill try to make another
ammo run if I can
but dont count on anything.
Thank you, sir.
Ill take this guy.
Panzer division is about
to cut the road south.
[engine starts]
Looks like you guys are going
to be surrounded.
Were paratroopers, Lieutenant.
Were supposed to be surrounded.
I remember my grandfather
didnt really
talk about the war, what he went
through.
Even my own dad didnt
talk much.
Just that generation, just
theyre just pretty humble
and theyre just quiet.
And so to get these
stories is rare.
Its a gem, and it really
happened.
And I think, you know,
when you look at this, its like
its a history lesson.
And you go, "Whew!
Can you just imagine?"
Good luck.
Thanks.
[clattering]
Really, when youre into it,
you kind of start feeling
how young everyone was
in World War II and how you go,
"Wait, these were kids."
I dont remember whether it was,
the coldest winter on record,
the coldest in
30 years or 50 years.
But it was a terribly
cold winter.
[sombre music]
I mean, I cant imagine what
these guys went through.
I would guess that
the glaring part of Bastogne
would be how vulnerable you are.
[anticipatory music builds]
As they start to surround us,
and the defense continued
to build,
until we had this 16-mile
perimeter
around Bastogne,
which we ended up holding.
We got a man down!
We referred to this later
as the hole in the donut.
They got donuts. They got
a hole in the middle.
Theres no way you can miss
that hole.
Youre surrounded.
All they do is just
keep shelling you.
Theres no way you can miss
shelling.
[explosion, indistinct screams]
Get your boys out of here!
Pull him back!
-[explosion] -Lets go!
I remember up in Bastogne,
I was wondering, "Guarnere
and I would
share this hole together."
And we got very close.
And you, wild Bill.
Ive invested too
much goddamn time
-shaping you into something
useful. -[chuckles]
Guarnere, no question
about Guarnere, is
that tough, hard...
type of guy.
There were others, Im sure.
Well, a guy by the name
of Joe Toye, I remember.
He was a tough guy, you know.
And I dont mean that in a
pejorative. I mean tough...
in terms of fiber.
[explosion]
Incoming!
Take cover!
[explosion continues]
Take cover!
[explosion continues]
Shit!
You know, in Episode 7, Bill
and Joe Toye lose their legs.
[explosion]
Shit!
-Come on, Joe. -[screaming]
Come on, buddy. Come on!
Hold on! Ill be there!
Ill be there!
[explosion, soldiers yelping]
No!
[explosion continues]
I wanted to know how Bill
handled that.
He talked about how horrible
Bastogne was
and how that constant
bombardment was really terrible.
But
he said, he wouldnt--
"Yeah, I got hit. And I
was, you know."
He really played it down down,
so I called Carwood.
And I talked to Mr. Lipton
and he said
I said, "When he got hit..."
And he got very quiet
and I realized he was upset.
And I said, "You know what,
Mr. Lipton, we dont have
to talk about it.
I know it was so raw."
I went over to Guarnere.
He was sitting on the ground.
His leg was badly mangled.
He was holding his leg and
it was jerking like that.
And...
He said, "Lip,
They got old Guarnere
this time."
He had been hit before, but
they really got him there.
[emotional, somber music]
-[grunts] -I got you.
I didnt save Joe Toyes life.
Maybe I did. I dont know.
But like I say, hes my buddy.
Id have done it for anyone.
It helped so much as an actor
when you had the practical
trees blowing up.
It wasnt on a green screen.
It was...
You know, I really felt like
Buck was with me on that moment.
[indistinct shouting]
[shaky breathing]
Medic!
And to see my buddies getting
blown up in front of me,
I felt like Buck.
And I think thats why that
moment was so truthful, because
we were a band of brothers.
[sighing]
We were meant to survive.
All right.
And we mourn and grieve
in a bunch of
different ways, and we hold
the weight of
a situation with us.
And these men held the weight of
the situation with them for
the rest of their lives.
And they only know the
thoughts they had in their head.
And they only know how difficult
it was
to go to sleep or not
for them.
That was deeply personal
to them.
[grunts, explosion continues]
To lose those two men, it...
It shook him up.
Winters decided he
was shaking...
shaken up too much to stay
in the company,
so we transferred him out.
Compton was a fine officer.
A fine soldier.
It just happened to hit him
at the wrong time there.
You know, he would never say,
"This is how I felt when
this happened."
It would be like that
thousand-yard stare
when Id ask him
what it was like on that day.
Guys like that
speak volumes by saying
very little.
[mournful violin music]
He got to know his men really
well and cared for his men,
which, of course, Dick
Winters was like,
"You cant get too close
to your men."
But that just wasnt
who Buck Compton was.
If he loved something,
he loved all in.
And I admire that so much
about Buck
and thats why it was so hard
for him in the end.
There wasnt a thing called
PTSD back then.
[mournful hymn]
101st Airborne had been made
famous by what it did in
the Battle of the Bulge.
The newspapers called them
the battered bastards
of Bastogne.
These were ghosts for these men.
When you call yourself Penkala
or Muck or Luz,
these were not character names.
They had deep, intimate
relationships with these guys.
They loved these guys, and
you were representing them.
[car speeds along highway
as mournful music fades]
We toured
in the footsteps
of Easy Company.
We bonded, Frank and I.
So this is the only
original house?
No, at the other
side in the road
at the headquarters
of the Germans-
I remember the minute we all
got off the bus in Bastogne.
We all started to walk in.
A lot of these men have never
been back,
most of them have never
been back.
And...
we kind of pulled back.
Okay.
Home sweet home, Bill.
Yes, it is.
Yes, sir.
Who knows who laid in this hole
today?
[coughing]
So walking through there,
you would just see them.
"Well, I would...
Well, if he would have been
right here, well...
Well, yeah, I probably would
have been right here.
I would have been right here."
And youd just go, "Wow."
We had our foxholes
right over here,
and the other area,
and the other area.
Wherever we had to move
out and dig in again.
Because the Krauts had plenty
of artillery.
Most intentional-
That went through right here.
Shelling.
Most intentional one of them.
You couldnt believe it.
You had to be here.
You just dove in the hole
and just pray, thats it.
If it comes in, you aint
going to know it.
A couple of arms
went around each other.
Crying, some of them
were crying,
and some of them would make
a joke,
and thered be a laugh cry.
This is where you cant believe
that shells going, sir.
-Yeah. -Shelling, I dont
remember no shelling.
[chuckles]
-Or no Snow, I said. -[laughing]
-You dont believe this guy.
-[laughing]
[melancholy music]
It was just so impactful
for a young man
for me, and I know
its not about me,
to be there and witness that,
because it changes you.
[melancholy music continues]
[rapid footsteps, crow cawing]
He said, "Come with me, sir."
What, what, what, what?
Frank, Frank, what is it?
[breathing heavily]
I dont know, sir.
I dont know.
Took me up to this fence, and
I was looking at some victims.
Were in a concentration camp.
And this was, of course,
turned out
to be called a Holocaust.
And they had killed them,
starve them to death, and
buried them like we do garbage
in this country.
Make a ditch and push them all,
wad them all in there
and cover them up.
So you opened the gates
and went in?
[nods]
Theres no words to describe it,
but as you looked at them
in the eye,
they would drop their head,
they would drop their eyes.
And it would remind you of a,
a dog that
was mistreated and been beaten.
And frankly to myself
I said, "Now I know
why Im here."
Youve been starving to death,
youve been freezing to death,
people have been shooting
at you.
Why am I here?
And after you looked at that,
youd say, "I know."
[sombre music continues]
Nobody had any concept or idea
that we would see anything
like this.
Ask them what kind of campuses,
what, uh...
So when we...
Saw it for the first time,
it was a shock.
But uh...
I had no idea what to do.
And... [inhales]
Our mission
was to push on to end this war.
By design,
production hid that set from us.
We were not allowed to see it.
We didnt even know
it was being built.
It was built on the other side.
So when we got to that episode,
David Frankel,
who directed the episode,
he had family on both sides
in camps.
So it was really, really
personal to him.
You know, that episode
in particular was
a very, very tough episode
for everybody.
And I think its because
its the one that
really hits home, and again,
the clues in the title,
"Why We Fight".
Theyre Jews.
You just really recognize
the weight of the series,
and what its gonna mean
to an audience.
[sombre music continues]
Its very difficult
to find a war
where there was a clear
cut right
and a clear cut wrong.
And...
The Second World War
is that.
I think there is a real sense
that if we had not won it,
we would be living in
a different world.
[soldiers cheering and running]
[hopeful music swells]
We took Berchtesgaden
May the 5th.
Had no fighting, no shooting.
The war was over May the 8th.
Throughout the world,
throngs of people
hailed the end of the war
in Europe.
The only thing we cared about,
Easy Company was gonna watch it.
If this thing won every
award and they went,
"I dont know.
I dont know."
"Very Hollywood."
It would mean nothing.
[upbeat, anticipatory music]
I dont think you can
get anything bigger in life
than to be on Normandy Beach
for the premiere of Band
of Brothers
with the actual Easy
Company men.
Even more important than what
we thought of it, was gonna be
what these guys thought of it.
And I remember just being like,
"I hope we did them proud."
I think all the actors
are a little nervous
waiting to see
how the veterans will respond
to the
portrayal of that man.
Immediately after the screening
and they saw it,
immediately half of them were
like, "You son of a bitch."
You know? [chuckles]
It was so visceral for them.
Id never seen Buck
get emotional.
And to get a bear hug
from Buck Compton was...
[sighs heavily]
You can keep the Academy Awards.
You can keep the Emmys, keep
all that stuff, but...
That was my greatest award.
You never know.
You can look around the room
at the cast and crew screening.
You can go and slap backs
with the executive producers.
And they were like, "This
is quite good."
But you never know how the
market is gonna respond.
Well, it was crazy.
We premiered on
9/9,
and then two days later
the towers came down.
A few moments ago, something,
believed to be a plane, crashed
into the south tower
of the World Trade Center.
And smashed directly
perhaps purposefully, into...
-Oh my goodness. -Oh, God.
-Theres another one.
-[clears throat]
So wed only aired one episode.
HBO took a big breath
and was like,
"Well, were gonna
let it air out and
then we have bigger things
to focus on."
Tipper!
Answer me! Tip!
-Hang in there, buddy.
-[breathing heavily]
Okay, were gonna get you fixed
up, all right?
-Okay. -Is this the last thing
people want to see?
Other people dying
when the countrys
grieving so deeply for whats
happening?
But it kind of became
this rallying point to kind
of unite people.
Thats when I heard
the explosion.
Thats when the second
tower came down again.
I would always ask Bill,
"If it happened today,
do you think todays generation
would do the same thing?"
And he said,
"If it happened today,
kids would do the same thing."
[sombre music]
And 9/11 happened.
My phone rang and it was Bill.
And I picked it up and he said,
"See what I mean, kid?
Theyre doing it.
Theyre just dressed like
firemen and cops now.
And EMTs.
Theyre going right into those
buildings.
Same thing."
[indistinct overlapping
radio chatter]
All of us were glued
to the television
and we had it on
and there was a
firefighter that came on.
And they were asking
him a question
and he said, "I dont
know if you guys are
watching that series,
Band of Brothers,
but thats who we are. We
are a band of brothers."
And we were all just
floored by that.
Something like that really
hits home
and you realize, "Man,
this project is doing
more things than I could ever
imagine."
[truck rumbling, mournful music]
I dont think anyone
realized that it was
going to sort of become the
sort of warm hug that
that the country was going
to need,
especially the military
families and
specifically the moms
and dads who were
sending their kids off to war.
In a weird way,
I think
it let them know that
they were going to be
taken care of by each other,
even if they couldnt take
care of them anymore.
And knowing that they wouldnt
be alone,
knowing that they would have
found family with them.
[indistinct chatter as hopeful
music builds]
[engine rumbling]
A good friend of mine said,
"Hey, have you seen this book
called Band of Brothers?"
And I said, "No, I
havent seen it."
So I read it and
absolutely clearly
fell in love with the story,
but in particular, incredible
respect for
Dick Winters.
I started getting
all these letters
from all the members
of Easy Company.
One of the last letters
I got was
actually from Dick Winters.
He was just a really good guy.
He became like almost
the grandfather I never had.
And whenever I read that book,
I took my book
and I gave it around
to everybody
and said, "Hey, you have to read
this book.
This guys the model
for who we have to become."
-[bullets whizzing past]
-Get them going, Buck!
Follow me!
Move up!
Move out, men!
Go!
They knew
that he loved them.
His way of showing
love to them was
he treated them
as men.
He treated them with respect,
but he held them accountable.
Understand?
Yes, sir.
And it wasnt just
in World War II
where they got
the moniker of the Greatest
Generation, right?
Its what they did after
the war as well.
Nobody has ever asked
me that question.
About...
About adjusting to civilian
life.
Nobody has brought
that thing up.
Trying to get adjusted
to civilian life
was very difficult.
To go out and
communicate and talk to people.
It was up to me to make the
adjustment, not them.
I was the one who
was out of line.
They werent out of line.
But it was very, very difficult.
Lewis was around.
So from time to time,
maybe once or twice,
Id get to see him
and I could sit and talk to him.
And he could talk to me.
That was a big help.
But it took time.
I think were all looking for
heroes right now, arent we?
I think we could all say that
the world needs a hero.
[chuckles]
And these guys were our heroes.
They were all our heroes.
I dont think Im a hero.
Because part of that time,
what I have done is
saving my own hide first.
[chuckles]
Well, unless you were running
out into
-...a rain of fire to go get
your friend... -Yeah.
to throw him over your back.
I mean, you did some
heroic things.
Two Bronze stars
would argue with you.
[chuckles]
I just figured Id done
what needed to be
done at the time
and had done it.
I think, and this is my personal
feeling,
that accomplishing something
is what makes a man a hero.
Not what happens to him,
but what he gets done.
And so, as I say,
I think the word "hero"
is overused.
How can they say youre a hero
or you did what you...
Nah, its...
Them kids that didnt come back.
Theyre the guys.
Theyre the guys.
They didnt have to make
a judgment call.
Their judgments were already
being made.
Thats...
I dont want to get
sentimental, but
this is what you live with.
And its not easy.
Believe me.
[rousing, inspiring music]
We were ready to hear
the stories
of our veterans.
We were ready to
allow them to be
not flawed, I would say, but
hurt and in need of things.
This came along at the time
when it was needed.
It was an honor. It was a
privilege and an honor.
[hopeful music]
The show is never
about celebrity.
Were honoring them.
It was about
a legacy
of a company who
saved the world.
Im proud to have served
with each and every one of you.
We lost all the guys now.
So, I guess we are
the guys that keep that little
fabric,
that little through
line to them.
We wear it as a badge of honor.
[solemn music begin]
When I got the news,
it was...
It was heartbreaking
because this
incredible energy had left
the world.
It was not a tragedy
in that sense.
You couldnt have lived your
life fuller than this guy did.
Its hard to put into words
how much Buck means to me
and still means to
me and how much
I think about him
all the time and
all the guys and everything else
and how much I draw from that
as an artist.
But even more importantly,
how much
I draw from that as a man.
I was just asked, you know,
"What does Dick mean to me now?"
13 years, 14 years
after he died.
I...
I think about him a lot.
A lot.
I defy anybody
not to get a lump in the throat
at the end of episode ten.
We cut to all the veterans
after every episode
and then you cut to Dick
and he tells the story.
Do you remember
the letter that Mike
Ranney wrote me?
You do.
Do you remember how I ended it?
I cherish
the memories of a question
my grandson asked
me the other day
when he said,
"Grandpa, were you a hero
in the war?"
Grandpa said, "No."
But I served in a company
of heroes.
Its the most moving thing.
And his mouth goes to the side
and he just
so you can just see
him hanging on.
I remember our chats.
You know, those two
days in Hershey.
I remember thinking,
exactly as the men
must have thought
that fought with him,
"I dont want to let him down.
Weve got to honor him
the right way."
[music swells]
Ive lived through the day
that I did my job.
I didnt leave my men down
and my men are in pretty
good shape.
Im very thankful.
Do your best.
And the ones that
did their best,
you never forget them.
Youll never forget them for
the rest of your life.
[music swells and fades]
[bittersweet, hopeful
music begins]
[gunfire]
[helicopter passes amid gunfire]
A NEW WAR PRODUCTION
[thunder rumbling]
Think of being surrounded as
something unusual, horrible.
This should never happen.
No, that was normal.
[warplanes flying overhead]
[footsteps and rustling]
You fight to the north,
you fight to the south,
you fight to the east,
you fight to the west.
Youre surrounded.
[birds chirping]
The poor bastards thats
on the other side has the
problem. You dont.
[soldiers screaming]
Lets go!
This is the story
of Easy Company.
It was formed in 1942.
[plane engine rumbling]
506 Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Part of the 101st airborne.
It was the best.
This is not Dog Company.
This is not Fox Company.
This, this is Easy Company.
[explosion]
[explosion]
Our country was attacked.
Its a different-- It wasnt
like Korea or Vietnam.
We was attacked.
Theres a feeling that
maybe were just dumb
country people, but
we had a lot of us volunteering.
Two okay!
One okay!
[music]
I never thought Id
get through D-Day,
let alone the next phase
or the next phase.
[music continues]
Chances of survival is very,
very slim.
Extremely slim.
[gunfire]
Move out, move out, move it out!
[gunfire]
Easy Companys actions on D-Day.
How did that happen?
Theres the magic of that
chemistry again.
I cant explain.
Lets hope it lives forever.
[music playing]
We were a group of actors.
We were just all ready
to go there.
Young.
Serious.
Bit earnest maybe.
Just really wanting
to do good work,
wanting to do the thing right.
[music playing]
We were blessed and fortunate
enough
to be able to portray
the lives of
absolutely true heroes.
Every single one of them.
Just everything was so big,
so explosive,
and then you get these small
little intimate moments with us.
I dont know.
It made me realize
just how special it was to
be a part of this thing.
- The daredevil. - Its
a very sacred thing
to carry someones legacy.
And I think there was
that secret sauce
that we were all doing
it for something
other than our careers.
When we got into it,
we didnt know what it was.
It wasnt until we really
started getting
into it, you know, like,
oh, shit, this is...
This is intense.
Its very important
to us that the men
had their legacy intact.
Because what they
did for the world
should be recognized fully.
[gunfire and explosion]
Its...
a very unusual feeling
and its a very unusual bonding.
[singing] A hell
of a way to die!
If you want to call this
story that were
putting together
a band of brothers,
this is about as clear
as you can make it.
BAND OF BROTHERS LEGACY
Am I all right here?
- Youre doing great.
- Oh, yeah.
I dont know.
Dont forget Im short,
so I can stand.
Maybe it would be better.
[laughter]
Uncle Paduche they used
to call me.
What does that mean?
Well, thats the sort of respect
for the elderly people.
We were taught
actually from the day
you were born,
you respect your elders
no matter what.
We werent lacking
in confidence.
We felt that
whatever we came up against,
we could take care of.
Now, what was it about
jumping out of an
airplane that appealed to you?
$50 a month.
[laughter]
We were pretty much
in the middle of
things most of the time.
But the whole company was...
You know, was...
Very, very special.
[reflective, uplifting music]
I had always promised
myself that someday,
someday, Ill write my memories
of World War II.
And like everybody else,
you keep putting it off.
But Ambrose came along, and
he requested this
for the purpose of writing
a book.
He would interview me, share
questions.
One thing led to another, and...
It happened.
Easy Company!
Gather up around me.
The Easy Company story
works because
if you look at all the sort of
big plot points of World War II,
they happen to be there
for a bunch of them.
Theyre in Normandy.
Battle of the Bulge.
[explosion]
They were there at the
Eagles Nest at the end.
It was just this sort
of confluence of
you could tell the whole story
with just this group of people.
[people shouting indistinctly]
Youll be okay.
There was no flinching
in Band of Brothers.
It had a docu-drama style to it.
That was its brilliance.
Really gets you among the men.
Thats why its endured so well.
Band of Brothers is different.
Its about supporting
each other,
loving each other,
and going from some guys
who at one point
didnt know each other at all.
At the end of this
10 episode arc
being guys who would die
for one another
because they love each
other so much.
You dont get to see that often.
You know, every young
actor in the world,
theyd gone casting
in Australia,
London, New York, LA.
Hundreds and hundreds
of 20-something lads
just thinking, "Oh God, I want
to be in this thing."
Knowing this was World War II
and knowing the history
that I had
with my dad talking
about World War II,
and all the wars
for that matter,
I was really prepared for it.
Seven of my great uncles
served in World War II.
They were all
first generation
Jewish New Yorkers.
Every one of them,
their families had escaped.
It was very personal.
Good luck.
When this project
came to me,
I was all in.
My father was in the Army,
so it was
subconsciously always
right under the
surface and something
I really wanted to
explore if I had
the opportunity.
Good evening, Easy Company.
Good evening, sir.
Ambrose gave me a call.
Hes all excited.
And he said he has some
wonderful news.
And he says, "Dick, I
sold the rights of
Band of Brothers to Tom Hanks
under one condition.
That he does not play your part,
because hes too old."
I was another, you know,
British punk actor trying to
get his next job.
And
everyone just had a couple
of sides,
which is very typical, you know,
in a big Hollywood production.
They just give you a couple
of pages of scripts.
You learn that. You dont
know what its about.
After the very first
one that I read,
I just started reading this guy.
They kept giving me scripts,
a guy called Dick Winters.
And I still wasnt sure who Dick
Winters was at that point.
But then the next audition,
it was Dick Winters again.
The next audition,
and I thought,
I should probably ask
at this point.
They said, "Well, hes the lead
of the series."
I remember thinking,
"Wow, this could be real."
I didnt put a lot
of energy into it,
because I kind of judged it.
I was like, World
War II officer.
Its a certain type.
Theres a look.
Im not going to get that part.
And I get the book,
and in that same actor way,
you just open it to the index,
because you know...
"This is fine, wheres me?"
And I saw my first picture
of Lewis Nixon in the bed,
surrounded by the wine bottles,
you know, shitty grin
on his face,
and a
big hangover, Im sure.
And something clicked,
and I was like,
"Oh, Im going to...
Im going to get this."
Cheers.
[scoffs]
I think that it was a very
slow burn
on getting to know
how important this was.
I think the real
impact of all that
started happening
when we actually
started contacting the men
individually.
Buck was just bigger than life.
And we were so similar
in so many ways that
he wasnt a chatterbox.
He was very kind of close
to the vest.
He was so proud to
be an American.
More grenade!
I remember a lot of shooting,
a lot of artillery,
a lot of things happening.
And I always felt like I was
somehow...
As I look back on it,
I thought I was damn lucky.
To jump into those shoes
was the most daunting
task I could
ever possibly imagine.
You wont need it.
Were jumping low. Take
the belly back.
Some guys called him Bull, some
guys called him The Bull.
You know, I think
Babe and Bill, The Bull!
[chuckles]
Always The Bull.
Not Bull, but The Bull.
And when I initially
reached out to him,
he was
very non-talkative.
Had you ever been in an airplane
before?
Nope.
So first time up, you
had to jump out.
Yeah.
Which created a situation where
I wound up speaking with
his wife, Vera,
for a good hour, hour and a half
after I spoke with him.
And got
just incredible, incredible,
information from her.
We lost F Company.
Again?
After reading the book and
learning what they went through
and educating myself
on the unit,
I just was in awe of these guys.
We spoke mostly about
family and life,
and he became sort
of a mentor to me.
And when he wanted
to speak about the war
he spoke about it.
I never pronged him or
poked him for any information.
In fact, the way it worked
on Band of Brothers,
none of the guys ever,
ever spoke about themselves.
Youd talk to him
for three hours,
and they would tell you about
everything
everyone in the company
did but themselves.
And for them, youd have to go
to a different person.
Hey, fellas.
What do you hear?
What do you say?
I called him and I said,
"Hey, is this Mr..."
I didnt even know how
to pronounce his name.
I was making it much
more Italian.
They had Americanized it a
little bit with Guarnere.
And he answered, "Yowza!"
And I said, "Hi, is
this Mr. Guarnere?"
And he said, "It is.
Whos this?"
And I said, "My name
is Frankie Hughes.
Im auditioning to play you.
Mr. Guarnere, is there any
advice you would give me
to play you?"
And he said,
"Yeah, I was a paid killer.
I was a 19-year-old paid killer.
Dont forget that."
I said, "I wont, sir."
And he said, "Good luck."
When I jumped on D-Day,
I swore
I swore I was going
to kill every
damn German I came across.
And thats why I think
they nicknamed me
Wild Bill, because I did
a lot of killing D-Day.
[gunshot]
Joe!
Im Ross McCool, and I
play Joe Liebgott.
Im a Scotsman
who sounds English,
whos Catholic,
playing an American Jew
who spoke German.
So I had a lot to
sink my proverbial teeth into.
Earlier on, I kept getting
told from the men,
"Its a scrappy guy."
But he had a sharpness in him.
He knew how to soldier.
Skinny little guy?
You got pink to the neck
in Holland.
Sometimes you cant really
see too much.
You just get a sense of maybe,
you know,
what they look like,
the way they carry themselves,
the hair.
[chuckles]
They carried themselves
like goddamn men.
This is my favorite here.
This is
Winters and Nixon.
Devillish rascal, huh?
- Webbing? - Webbing, please.
Can I have a name, please?
Livingstone playing Nixon.
Looking good.
Lewis had passed,
so it was never really on
the table to meet him.
I reached out to Grace Nixon,
who was
really wonderful
and really open,
as far as inviting me
kind of into her life
and sharing Lewis
the way that she knew him.
- Thats a good picture.
- Hes so handsome.
[laughter]
I think so too.
This guy was handsome. Yes.
Hes got a handsome face.
[indistinct chatter]
[music]
I met Dick,
and I remember a man that was
suspicious of Hollywood.
He had a very interesting
combination of
a good strong ego,
but he had this amazing
humility as well.
As an actor,
what you want always
is you want behavioral.
You want to hear from
someone if something hurt.
You want to hear if something
was joyful, something was sad.
Whatever it was, you can find
ways of
exploring the psychology
of the person
youre going to play.
To the gang, as we were sitting
there,
I said, "Well, when I
get in the Army,
Im not going to volunteer
for anything.
B.S. IN ECONOMICS
Just going to do whatever
they tell me
and put my ear in and get out."
And the foreman,
who was a World War I veteran
he jumped on my hind butt good,
and he said, "No, you dont.
You get in the Army,
and you do your best
each and every day."
I didnt answer him,
but I never forgot it,
and I havent forgotten
it today.
[suspenseful music builds]
WAR DEPARTMENT FILM BULLETIN
THIS FILM IS CONFIDENTIAL
There were people
who thought that trying
to insert people
into combat via parachute
cant be done.
Its suicide.
And it was strictly
a volunteer thing.
You didnt get drafted and told,
"Youre going to go
be a paratrooper."
And what happened
was it took you out of the
standard pool,
made you something special.
Well, at ease, paratroopers.
I got a couple of phone
calls from
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
They wanted to say, "Look,
how would you approach this?"
I said, "Well, look.
Youre going to hire young men
with no military experience.
And the only thing they really
know about
World War II is the last
bad movie they saw."
And I believe that the way
to fix it
was to give actors
some fleeting acquaintance
with what a soldiers
life is really about.
And I thought, "Look,
heres a chance
to do it right."
The first thing they did for us
was they set up
a 10-day actor boot camp.
They train us in the same
way that they
train military people.
From here on out,
youre no longer called
by your civilian name.
Whats up, yo, dog?
All that stuffs gone.
1940s, right?
We are so f---ed.
Name?
Luz, George.
Dirt in the rear sight aperture.
Pass revoked. [rifle clicks]
George was from Providence,
Rhode Island,
and so he was a tough guy,
and he
and he made people laugh,
and a lot of people loved him.
Are those dusty jump wings?
How do you expect to slay
the Huns with
dust on your jump wings?
I got a chance to talk
to Bill and Babe
and Carwood, and Bill said to me
constantly, wed be sitting
around,
hes like, "I hope youre funny,
kid."
So Id be like, "Oh,
man, oh, man,
Im going to ruin this thing."
How you cut that fence
and get this
goddamn platoon on the move!
[cow mooing]
Yes, sir!
[fly swatted] My grandpa Ron,
he told me when I first
told him that I
got this job, and they were
going to send us to a boot camp.
I remember him saying,
"Start running now.
The rest of its a duck walk,
but just
make sure you can run
your dick off."
You know? I was like, "Okay."
[laughing]
What company is this?
Easy Company!
What do we do?
We stand alone!
[singing] Hey young punk,
dont you be so fooled.
[singing] Im an instructor
at the Airborne School.
[singing] Im an instructor
at the Airborne School.
And everybodys a little
apprehensive
about meeting Captain Dale Dye,
military advisor to the movies.
You have three tries.
Snap, and surge of power.
You can make it.
I snuck into platoon
when I was 10 years old.
I saw Dale Dye up
on that screen.
Im like, "I want to work with
these people someday."
And I knew it right then.
And then 13 years later,
there I was.
I think its looking good,
Webster.
I was cast to play this role,
who clearly
was a man who questioned
authority.
This guy was going to Harvard.
He had his ticket
out of the war.
He didnt have to go.
I knew David Websters
spirit was a powerful one.
Perconte.
[rousing patriotic music]
I was ready.
I will say, physically,
I was ready.
I couldnt have been any
more ready.
It was trying to understand
the chain of command,
and who people were.
He just couldnt understand that
Captain Dye was just a captain.
He was such a force
over our lives that
youve got to be a general.
Like, youve got--
And he meant it.
And hed go, "General,
I was just trying--
Hed go, "What?
Perconte, get down and give
me 50."
And Jim could just do push-ups
till youre tired.
Like, hed just-- Hed go--
[mimics push-ups rapidly]
"Okay, what were you saying?"
"General, I was saying--"
"50 more."
Like he would just start. You
know, he was unbreakable.
[rousing patriotic music]
Dale did a really
smart thing where
he put Damian and I
in the same squad.
He made me the squad leader.
And then at a certain
point it shifted.
And then he got sort
of promoted past me.
And Dale was like,
"You know,
I think it probably,
always really
stuck in Lewis Nixons craw.
I think there was probably
a little
competitive thing between
these guys a little bit."
And I found that really helpful.
I moved up from a private
to a sergeant
almost immediately.
Not even knowing what I
was doing.
And theyre like, "Oh, take
charge of your platoon."
The hell does that mean?
Halt!
Platoon Sergeant, take charge.
I mean, you could have read
it in a book
and you wouldnt have gotten it.
You could have been told
it six times and
you would have messed it up.
And you realize, "Oh my gosh,
this full immersion
is how boot camp works."
People came and asked
me for advice.
What are we to do, sir?
It was like a crash course
in leadership.
People want your authority.
They want you to be Dick
Winters.
They want you to be in charge,
so youve got to deliver.
I want concentrated bursts
of machine gun fire.
Do not waste your ammo.
Go, runner, go. Cover him.
You get scared a little bit,
and youre like,
"I dont know what Im doing.
I dont know what this is."
And then the second
thought I have
after that was like,
"Well, neither did they."
[military drumbeat]
Now, this is a brand new idea.
It was the first time
that it had been tried.
It becomes a very easy decision
to make later on.
"Im going to volunteer
for the paratroopers."
Your parents say, "No, please
dont do that.
Thats the wrong thing to do."
And so forth.
But you want to be
with the best.
Every one of the
requirements was
something to conquer because
we wanted to be in the 506.
There were all kinds of
exercises that you had to pass.
The ones who couldnt measure up
were moved out of the company.
This training at Toccoa,
which lasted roughly 13 weeks,
lets start off with
physical training.
Learning left face, right face
and you get them in shape.
Some of them lost as much
as 40 pounds.
But I didnt have nothing
to lose.
I weighed about 130.
If Id have lost 40 pounds,
I wouldnt have been big
enough to stay.
[military drumbeat continues]
[indistinct chatter]
[whistle blows]
Orders changed.
Get up!
Lectures are cancelled.
Easy Company is running
up Currahee.
Move! Move! [chairs and tables
scraping]
[inspiring music builds]
Currahee.
That was the big obstacle.
To be able to run that.
And I shouldnt say run.
You get the wrong impression.
We didnt run it.
You did a parachute shuffle,
which is a small shuffling step.
You couldnt possibly
run that thing.
Nobody could.
Come on, you can make
it up there.
Come on. Come on up. Lets go.
Come on, Guarnere. Christenson,
come on.
Come on.
They put the fear of the devil
in me
when they started
telling me about
that mountain, you know.
That youre going to have to run
that mountain.
You run that mountain
or youre not
going to be, you wont
be in this outfit.
You have 50 minutes
to the top and back
and I will be watching you.
What are you waiting for?
The way he trained them,
an unforgiving way,
hardened them.
Hi-Ho, Silver!
[multiple footsteps running]
Now when we talk about
our original company commander,
Captain Sobel,
he did his best,
but he was in the wrong job.
Theyre right out
there somewhere.
Lets just get them.
Sir, we have perfect cover here.
Lieutenant, deploy your troops.
I mean, heres a Jewish, urban,
like an older guy,
in the Deep South,
training a bunch
of 18-year-olds, and...
You know, there was a lot of
anti-Semitism at the time.
He knew he was
beating the shit out of them
at times.
You look tired.
Theres an ambulance
waiting for you at
the bottom of the hill.
It can all be over right now.
No more pain,
no more Currahee,
no more Captain Sobel.
He was a horses ass.
[chuckles]
Lieutenant Sobel does not hate
Easy Company, Private Randleman.
[multiple footsteps]
He just hates you.
[soldiers chuckle]
Thank you, sir.
His message to us is
that you lead men
by fear.
You lead men by strict
discipline.
I said, "No, you lead
it by example."
And we had two different
philosophies.
I performed my duty as I
was ordered, sir.
And I disagree.
So,
your options are quite simple,
Lieutenant.
What is it about Winters that
makes him such a good leader?
Well, he takes his duty
a heck far ahead of
his privilege.
And you give your life to
make him look good
instead of doing
what youre told or ordered
to do.
Dick Winters was a very
good leader, excellent leader.
The men would follow him
in the name of it.
Sobel, they wouldnt.
Easy Company, you passed
your final field test.
Bootcamp was arguably
the pivotal point
because it was a group of men
who just understood the mission.
And by understanding
the mission,
it became a brotherhood.
Through your eyes, through
your actions,
through your gestures,
through your
handling of weapons,
through your wearing
of the uniform, everything.
The truth is there.
Let it shine, boys.
Make the world proud
of Easy Company
and the world will celebrate
our forefathers.
Lets not f--- it up.
Yes, sir.
Not bad for a bunch of actors.
[chuckles]
H-Hour.
D-Day.
We were thoroughly prepared.
The men were
trained, hardened,
Physically and mentally,
and they were ready to jump.
[rousing patriotic music]
[military aircraft
engine roaring]
Confidence depends
on the success of
whatever youre trying to do.
Courage
is what inspires you
to do the things
that are needed to get
the things done.
Ive always said courage
is not the absence of fear.
Courage is going ahead
and doing what
needs to be done, even
if you feel fear.
[rousing patriotic
music continues]
D-Day was not an accident
that had worked,
it had been prepared for.
We just didnt know what we
were doing at the time.
We found that out later.
[aircraft engines roaring,
suspenseful music builds]
When you reach that point that
youre standing in the door,
youre asking yourself,
"What the hell am I doing here?"
Its only one thing to
do and thats to go.
[indistinct radio chatter,
tense music]
The routine was the pilot
would turn on a
red light by the door
and that was supposed
to indicate
that you had, I dont
know whether
it was five minutes
or three minutes.
When you got the red light,
you would
stand up and hook up.
Hook up!
See out the door
and I could see the flak,
the tracer boards and
the stuff in the air coming up.
And then he said to me, "Red
light."
Well, by the time I
had to go through
that thought process,
he says, "Green light."
And Im still sitting
there on the deck
of the plane
and all the guys
are sitting down
and so I said, "Oh God,
lets go."
[wind rushing, gunfire
whizzing past]
We were sort of the guinea pigs.
Everyone wanted to get
out of the planes.
Lets go, lets go, lets go!
Does that light look
green to you?
Lets go, lets go, lets go!
No matter where youre
at, get them out.
The flak was terrible.
And the aircraft was
absolutely horrendous.
It was like a
July the 4th celebration
ten times over.
[aircraft engine roaring]
I was the first to jump.
Lets go!
[dramatic music swells]
And Randleman was the last
to jump.
[wind rushing]
I was supposed to push
everybody out.
It was like jumping
off a two-story
building where it was.
There was nobody landing
where they were supposed to.
I was ten miles from where
we jumped.
[footsteps rustling through
tall grass, gunfire]
We were just scattered
from one end of the peninsula
to the other,
men as far as
30 kilometers from their drop
zone.
So theyre on their own.
But somehow or another
those fellas,
individuals of
Joe Toye,
Popeye Wynn,
they found the objective
and they found it on time.
We were all lost,
but we got to the objective
and we took the objective.
[music swells]
Well, on the next morning
after daylight,
Im in this group, were
moving up along
this road, and I run
into Winters.
Whats going on?
Whats the holdup? Not sure.
[distant explosion]
Fivell get you ten its got
something to do with that.
So Winters is telling
me, he says
theres some guys out here,
some Germans out here
firing some artillery pieces.
He said,
"Wed like to find out
whats going on out there
and see what we can do about
it."
Theres some Kraut Eighty-Eights
up ahead,
up ahead and to the right
about what?
300 yards?
Up through those gardens.
Now theyre right between us
and causeway number two.
Firing onto the boys
landing at Utah.
Think Easy can handle it?
Yes, sir.
There are two guns
that we know of,
firing on Utah beach
[distant explosion continues]
and planning on a third
and a fourth
here and here.
The Germans are in the trenches
with access to the entire
battery.
How many Krauts do you think
were facing?
No idea.
No idea.
Nothing in the manual
tells you how to
react to how to attack
these guns.
You have no idea whats there,
how many people are there.
All you know is theres
a battery of guns
firing at these beaches.
If you knew at the time,
you would not do what youd
done.
There couldve been 200 men
there.
It couldve been 10 there.
You dont have no idea.
Captain, second squad.
- Yes, sir. - All right,
you heard the word.
Lets move, lets move.
[explosion, tense music builds]
I divided the group
into two units.
Lieutenant Compton was with me.
I gave him half the men
and I took half the men.
Gave instructions, I went,
"Compton, crawl through
the grass.
And as you throw your grenades,
Ill charge up with the rest
of the guys."
[tense music continues]
[rapid gunfire begin,
soldier scream]
I get out through this hedge,
and I peek.
I look up and I peek
through the bushes
and I see a couple of Germans
over here
about 30, 50 yards away.
And about that time,
Guarnere comes running across
and he jumps in beside me.
[rapid gunfire continues]
[grunts]
[explosion]
Buck Compton, yes.
Him and I were tossing some
grenades, just attacking.
Its stupid when you look
at it, but we were lucky.
Very fortunate.
I think the Germans were very,
very surprised
that we attacked them.
They thought they were being
attacked by a greater force.
Lets go! Lets go!
Follow me!
[explosion]
[rapid gunfire continues]
Compton, covering fire!
You know, when Popeye was hit
on D-Day morning, he was right
beside me.
So I can speak firsthand
on this.
And when he was hit and he
went down, he was hit hard.
[Popeye screams]
After I got hit,
[grunts and screaming]
and I didnt want to leave him,
you know.
Im sorry, sir!
I screwed up!
You dont want to get in another
situation with people
you dont know.
And Id been with these
people for
going on three years.
He said, "Im sorry, Lieutenant.
I goofed.
Im sorry."
For the simple reason
that in crawling
across that field of grass,
he had got his butt
a little too high
and he got one right
through both cheeks.
And he was hurt hard.
But he said, "Im sorry,
I goofed."
He didnt say, "Help."
That is a man.
Oh shit.
Hey Popeye, how bad is it?
Im sorry sir, I didnt mean...
He did all the rest of it.
He is a good man.
One, two, three.
[grunts]
Get down.
Get down.
I needed to get
this guys journey across,
you know?
I needed to tell Popeyes story
for his family
and not mess it up.
He felt like hed
let people down.
Its just a testament to...
to these guys and
the...
the brotherhood they had, I
guess.
Dont that make
you our commanding officer, sir?
Yeah, it does.
Your big fear is the fact
that you dont
want to let your buddy down.
You dont want to let the fellow
down beside you.
And if youre a leader,
you dont want to
let your men down.
I think we had made a decision.
Lets not make this guy
Superman
from episode one.
Lets see him become Superman.
Lets see him do incredible
things.
But theres still doubt.
Hes a young man.
Hes just jumped in to
liberate Europe
out of an airplane.
Hes 26 years old.
Hes got control of 50 men.
And lets just see him grow.
And I dont think
Dick liked that.
He wanted to characterize
him thinking,
growing into the role.
He said, "I just knew."
I came back to him after
hed seen the whole thing.
I said, "Now what do you think?"
He put his hand in my shoulder
and went,
"Kid, you nailed it."
[airplane engine roars overhead]
This is called "Operation
Market Garden".
In terms of airborne
divisions involved,
this ones even bigger
than Normandy.
Were dropping deep into
occupied Holland.
Winters came out when
we were shooting
episode four, and we get
ambushed.
[gunshot, body thuds]
Jump off when one of our other
lieutenants
gets shot, and guys
jump off the tanks.
[gunfire]
Dick Winters left.
He went home.
He said, "Ive seen enough."
They couldnt watch it.
It was too real for them
to watch what we were doing.
That was the biggest
compliment that we
could have been given.
[rapid rifle fire, indistinct
shouting]
Were people shooting
you when you--
Oh, yeah, thats
when I found out
that when you can hear
bullets sing,
it aint going to touch you.
But when they snap like
that around your ears
ears, theyre getting close.
[chuckles]
And were they whistling
or snapping?
Snapping.
[tank approaching]
[grenade explodes]
Fall back!
Fall back!
Fall back!
Lets go, lets go, lets go!
Keep moving, keep moving!
In Holland...
Lets go!
And we have a tough, tough
battle there
so that
as far as the regiments
concerned,
yes,
we survived it and we won it.
But we lost many engagements.
[somber music]
Come on!
Quiet!
Elements of the first and sixth
SS Panzer Division
have broken through in
the Ardennes Forest.
Wed been in Normandy.
Wed been in Holland.
We knew that we were a
capable fighting outfit.
When we left for Bastogne,
we were short of equipment.
We didnt have enough
ammunition.
We didnt have enough
warm clothes.
But we had confidence.
Hey, pal.
Hey, pal. Hey, pal.
What happened?
Where the hell are you going?
They came out of nowhere.
They slaughtered us.
Youve got to get out of here.
We just got here. Get your ammo.
The soldiers that we saw
as we went in
were completely demoralized.
I mean, they were just
trying to get out of there.
[honks]
Make a hole! Hey!
Make a hole!
I got ammo!
Grab what you can!
Lieutenant, youre a godsend.
I played Lieutenant George C.
Rice.
He made nine runs,
which is unbelievable.
Ill try to make another
ammo run if I can
but dont count on anything.
Thank you, sir.
Ill take this guy.
Panzer division is about
to cut the road south.
[engine starts]
Looks like you guys are going
to be surrounded.
Were paratroopers, Lieutenant.
Were supposed to be surrounded.
I remember my grandfather
didnt really
talk about the war, what he went
through.
Even my own dad didnt
talk much.
Just that generation, just
theyre just pretty humble
and theyre just quiet.
And so to get these
stories is rare.
Its a gem, and it really
happened.
And I think, you know,
when you look at this, its like
its a history lesson.
And you go, "Whew!
Can you just imagine?"
Good luck.
Thanks.
[clattering]
Really, when youre into it,
you kind of start feeling
how young everyone was
in World War II and how you go,
"Wait, these were kids."
I dont remember whether it was,
the coldest winter on record,
the coldest in
30 years or 50 years.
But it was a terribly
cold winter.
[sombre music]
I mean, I cant imagine what
these guys went through.
I would guess that
the glaring part of Bastogne
would be how vulnerable you are.
[anticipatory music builds]
As they start to surround us,
and the defense continued
to build,
until we had this 16-mile
perimeter
around Bastogne,
which we ended up holding.
We got a man down!
We referred to this later
as the hole in the donut.
They got donuts. They got
a hole in the middle.
Theres no way you can miss
that hole.
Youre surrounded.
All they do is just
keep shelling you.
Theres no way you can miss
shelling.
[explosion, indistinct screams]
Get your boys out of here!
Pull him back!
-[explosion] -Lets go!
I remember up in Bastogne,
I was wondering, "Guarnere
and I would
share this hole together."
And we got very close.
And you, wild Bill.
Ive invested too
much goddamn time
-shaping you into something
useful. -[chuckles]
Guarnere, no question
about Guarnere, is
that tough, hard...
type of guy.
There were others, Im sure.
Well, a guy by the name
of Joe Toye, I remember.
He was a tough guy, you know.
And I dont mean that in a
pejorative. I mean tough...
in terms of fiber.
[explosion]
Incoming!
Take cover!
[explosion continues]
Take cover!
[explosion continues]
Shit!
You know, in Episode 7, Bill
and Joe Toye lose their legs.
[explosion]
Shit!
-Come on, Joe. -[screaming]
Come on, buddy. Come on!
Hold on! Ill be there!
Ill be there!
[explosion, soldiers yelping]
No!
[explosion continues]
I wanted to know how Bill
handled that.
He talked about how horrible
Bastogne was
and how that constant
bombardment was really terrible.
But
he said, he wouldnt--
"Yeah, I got hit. And I
was, you know."
He really played it down down,
so I called Carwood.
And I talked to Mr. Lipton
and he said
I said, "When he got hit..."
And he got very quiet
and I realized he was upset.
And I said, "You know what,
Mr. Lipton, we dont have
to talk about it.
I know it was so raw."
I went over to Guarnere.
He was sitting on the ground.
His leg was badly mangled.
He was holding his leg and
it was jerking like that.
And...
He said, "Lip,
They got old Guarnere
this time."
He had been hit before, but
they really got him there.
[emotional, somber music]
-[grunts] -I got you.
I didnt save Joe Toyes life.
Maybe I did. I dont know.
But like I say, hes my buddy.
Id have done it for anyone.
It helped so much as an actor
when you had the practical
trees blowing up.
It wasnt on a green screen.
It was...
You know, I really felt like
Buck was with me on that moment.
[indistinct shouting]
[shaky breathing]
Medic!
And to see my buddies getting
blown up in front of me,
I felt like Buck.
And I think thats why that
moment was so truthful, because
we were a band of brothers.
[sighing]
We were meant to survive.
All right.
And we mourn and grieve
in a bunch of
different ways, and we hold
the weight of
a situation with us.
And these men held the weight of
the situation with them for
the rest of their lives.
And they only know the
thoughts they had in their head.
And they only know how difficult
it was
to go to sleep or not
for them.
That was deeply personal
to them.
[grunts, explosion continues]
To lose those two men, it...
It shook him up.
Winters decided he
was shaking...
shaken up too much to stay
in the company,
so we transferred him out.
Compton was a fine officer.
A fine soldier.
It just happened to hit him
at the wrong time there.
You know, he would never say,
"This is how I felt when
this happened."
It would be like that
thousand-yard stare
when Id ask him
what it was like on that day.
Guys like that
speak volumes by saying
very little.
[mournful violin music]
He got to know his men really
well and cared for his men,
which, of course, Dick
Winters was like,
"You cant get too close
to your men."
But that just wasnt
who Buck Compton was.
If he loved something,
he loved all in.
And I admire that so much
about Buck
and thats why it was so hard
for him in the end.
There wasnt a thing called
PTSD back then.
[mournful hymn]
101st Airborne had been made
famous by what it did in
the Battle of the Bulge.
The newspapers called them
the battered bastards
of Bastogne.
These were ghosts for these men.
When you call yourself Penkala
or Muck or Luz,
these were not character names.
They had deep, intimate
relationships with these guys.
They loved these guys, and
you were representing them.
[car speeds along highway
as mournful music fades]
We toured
in the footsteps
of Easy Company.
We bonded, Frank and I.
So this is the only
original house?
No, at the other
side in the road
at the headquarters
of the Germans-
I remember the minute we all
got off the bus in Bastogne.
We all started to walk in.
A lot of these men have never
been back,
most of them have never
been back.
And...
we kind of pulled back.
Okay.
Home sweet home, Bill.
Yes, it is.
Yes, sir.
Who knows who laid in this hole
today?
[coughing]
So walking through there,
you would just see them.
"Well, I would...
Well, if he would have been
right here, well...
Well, yeah, I probably would
have been right here.
I would have been right here."
And youd just go, "Wow."
We had our foxholes
right over here,
and the other area,
and the other area.
Wherever we had to move
out and dig in again.
Because the Krauts had plenty
of artillery.
Most intentional-
That went through right here.
Shelling.
Most intentional one of them.
You couldnt believe it.
You had to be here.
You just dove in the hole
and just pray, thats it.
If it comes in, you aint
going to know it.
A couple of arms
went around each other.
Crying, some of them
were crying,
and some of them would make
a joke,
and thered be a laugh cry.
This is where you cant believe
that shells going, sir.
-Yeah. -Shelling, I dont
remember no shelling.
[chuckles]
-Or no Snow, I said. -[laughing]
-You dont believe this guy.
-[laughing]
[melancholy music]
It was just so impactful
for a young man
for me, and I know
its not about me,
to be there and witness that,
because it changes you.
[melancholy music continues]
[rapid footsteps, crow cawing]
He said, "Come with me, sir."
What, what, what, what?
Frank, Frank, what is it?
[breathing heavily]
I dont know, sir.
I dont know.
Took me up to this fence, and
I was looking at some victims.
Were in a concentration camp.
And this was, of course,
turned out
to be called a Holocaust.
And they had killed them,
starve them to death, and
buried them like we do garbage
in this country.
Make a ditch and push them all,
wad them all in there
and cover them up.
So you opened the gates
and went in?
[nods]
Theres no words to describe it,
but as you looked at them
in the eye,
they would drop their head,
they would drop their eyes.
And it would remind you of a,
a dog that
was mistreated and been beaten.
And frankly to myself
I said, "Now I know
why Im here."
Youve been starving to death,
youve been freezing to death,
people have been shooting
at you.
Why am I here?
And after you looked at that,
youd say, "I know."
[sombre music continues]
Nobody had any concept or idea
that we would see anything
like this.
Ask them what kind of campuses,
what, uh...
So when we...
Saw it for the first time,
it was a shock.
But uh...
I had no idea what to do.
And... [inhales]
Our mission
was to push on to end this war.
By design,
production hid that set from us.
We were not allowed to see it.
We didnt even know
it was being built.
It was built on the other side.
So when we got to that episode,
David Frankel,
who directed the episode,
he had family on both sides
in camps.
So it was really, really
personal to him.
You know, that episode
in particular was
a very, very tough episode
for everybody.
And I think its because
its the one that
really hits home, and again,
the clues in the title,
"Why We Fight".
Theyre Jews.
You just really recognize
the weight of the series,
and what its gonna mean
to an audience.
[sombre music continues]
Its very difficult
to find a war
where there was a clear
cut right
and a clear cut wrong.
And...
The Second World War
is that.
I think there is a real sense
that if we had not won it,
we would be living in
a different world.
[soldiers cheering and running]
[hopeful music swells]
We took Berchtesgaden
May the 5th.
Had no fighting, no shooting.
The war was over May the 8th.
Throughout the world,
throngs of people
hailed the end of the war
in Europe.
The only thing we cared about,
Easy Company was gonna watch it.
If this thing won every
award and they went,
"I dont know.
I dont know."
"Very Hollywood."
It would mean nothing.
[upbeat, anticipatory music]
I dont think you can
get anything bigger in life
than to be on Normandy Beach
for the premiere of Band
of Brothers
with the actual Easy
Company men.
Even more important than what
we thought of it, was gonna be
what these guys thought of it.
And I remember just being like,
"I hope we did them proud."
I think all the actors
are a little nervous
waiting to see
how the veterans will respond
to the
portrayal of that man.
Immediately after the screening
and they saw it,
immediately half of them were
like, "You son of a bitch."
You know? [chuckles]
It was so visceral for them.
Id never seen Buck
get emotional.
And to get a bear hug
from Buck Compton was...
[sighs heavily]
You can keep the Academy Awards.
You can keep the Emmys, keep
all that stuff, but...
That was my greatest award.
You never know.
You can look around the room
at the cast and crew screening.
You can go and slap backs
with the executive producers.
And they were like, "This
is quite good."
But you never know how the
market is gonna respond.
Well, it was crazy.
We premiered on
9/9,
and then two days later
the towers came down.
A few moments ago, something,
believed to be a plane, crashed
into the south tower
of the World Trade Center.
And smashed directly
perhaps purposefully, into...
-Oh my goodness. -Oh, God.
-Theres another one.
-[clears throat]
So wed only aired one episode.
HBO took a big breath
and was like,
"Well, were gonna
let it air out and
then we have bigger things
to focus on."
Tipper!
Answer me! Tip!
-Hang in there, buddy.
-[breathing heavily]
Okay, were gonna get you fixed
up, all right?
-Okay. -Is this the last thing
people want to see?
Other people dying
when the countrys
grieving so deeply for whats
happening?
But it kind of became
this rallying point to kind
of unite people.
Thats when I heard
the explosion.
Thats when the second
tower came down again.
I would always ask Bill,
"If it happened today,
do you think todays generation
would do the same thing?"
And he said,
"If it happened today,
kids would do the same thing."
[sombre music]
And 9/11 happened.
My phone rang and it was Bill.
And I picked it up and he said,
"See what I mean, kid?
Theyre doing it.
Theyre just dressed like
firemen and cops now.
And EMTs.
Theyre going right into those
buildings.
Same thing."
[indistinct overlapping
radio chatter]
All of us were glued
to the television
and we had it on
and there was a
firefighter that came on.
And they were asking
him a question
and he said, "I dont
know if you guys are
watching that series,
Band of Brothers,
but thats who we are. We
are a band of brothers."
And we were all just
floored by that.
Something like that really
hits home
and you realize, "Man,
this project is doing
more things than I could ever
imagine."
[truck rumbling, mournful music]
I dont think anyone
realized that it was
going to sort of become the
sort of warm hug that
that the country was going
to need,
especially the military
families and
specifically the moms
and dads who were
sending their kids off to war.
In a weird way,
I think
it let them know that
they were going to be
taken care of by each other,
even if they couldnt take
care of them anymore.
And knowing that they wouldnt
be alone,
knowing that they would have
found family with them.
[indistinct chatter as hopeful
music builds]
[engine rumbling]
A good friend of mine said,
"Hey, have you seen this book
called Band of Brothers?"
And I said, "No, I
havent seen it."
So I read it and
absolutely clearly
fell in love with the story,
but in particular, incredible
respect for
Dick Winters.
I started getting
all these letters
from all the members
of Easy Company.
One of the last letters
I got was
actually from Dick Winters.
He was just a really good guy.
He became like almost
the grandfather I never had.
And whenever I read that book,
I took my book
and I gave it around
to everybody
and said, "Hey, you have to read
this book.
This guys the model
for who we have to become."
-[bullets whizzing past]
-Get them going, Buck!
Follow me!
Move up!
Move out, men!
Go!
They knew
that he loved them.
His way of showing
love to them was
he treated them
as men.
He treated them with respect,
but he held them accountable.
Understand?
Yes, sir.
And it wasnt just
in World War II
where they got
the moniker of the Greatest
Generation, right?
Its what they did after
the war as well.
Nobody has ever asked
me that question.
About...
About adjusting to civilian
life.
Nobody has brought
that thing up.
Trying to get adjusted
to civilian life
was very difficult.
To go out and
communicate and talk to people.
It was up to me to make the
adjustment, not them.
I was the one who
was out of line.
They werent out of line.
But it was very, very difficult.
Lewis was around.
So from time to time,
maybe once or twice,
Id get to see him
and I could sit and talk to him.
And he could talk to me.
That was a big help.
But it took time.
I think were all looking for
heroes right now, arent we?
I think we could all say that
the world needs a hero.
[chuckles]
And these guys were our heroes.
They were all our heroes.
I dont think Im a hero.
Because part of that time,
what I have done is
saving my own hide first.
[chuckles]
Well, unless you were running
out into
-...a rain of fire to go get
your friend... -Yeah.
to throw him over your back.
I mean, you did some
heroic things.
Two Bronze stars
would argue with you.
[chuckles]
I just figured Id done
what needed to be
done at the time
and had done it.
I think, and this is my personal
feeling,
that accomplishing something
is what makes a man a hero.
Not what happens to him,
but what he gets done.
And so, as I say,
I think the word "hero"
is overused.
How can they say youre a hero
or you did what you...
Nah, its...
Them kids that didnt come back.
Theyre the guys.
Theyre the guys.
They didnt have to make
a judgment call.
Their judgments were already
being made.
Thats...
I dont want to get
sentimental, but
this is what you live with.
And its not easy.
Believe me.
[rousing, inspiring music]
We were ready to hear
the stories
of our veterans.
We were ready to
allow them to be
not flawed, I would say, but
hurt and in need of things.
This came along at the time
when it was needed.
It was an honor. It was a
privilege and an honor.
[hopeful music]
The show is never
about celebrity.
Were honoring them.
It was about
a legacy
of a company who
saved the world.
Im proud to have served
with each and every one of you.
We lost all the guys now.
So, I guess we are
the guys that keep that little
fabric,
that little through
line to them.
We wear it as a badge of honor.
[solemn music begin]
When I got the news,
it was...
It was heartbreaking
because this
incredible energy had left
the world.
It was not a tragedy
in that sense.
You couldnt have lived your
life fuller than this guy did.
Its hard to put into words
how much Buck means to me
and still means to
me and how much
I think about him
all the time and
all the guys and everything else
and how much I draw from that
as an artist.
But even more importantly,
how much
I draw from that as a man.
I was just asked, you know,
"What does Dick mean to me now?"
13 years, 14 years
after he died.
I...
I think about him a lot.
A lot.
I defy anybody
not to get a lump in the throat
at the end of episode ten.
We cut to all the veterans
after every episode
and then you cut to Dick
and he tells the story.
Do you remember
the letter that Mike
Ranney wrote me?
You do.
Do you remember how I ended it?
I cherish
the memories of a question
my grandson asked
me the other day
when he said,
"Grandpa, were you a hero
in the war?"
Grandpa said, "No."
But I served in a company
of heroes.
Its the most moving thing.
And his mouth goes to the side
and he just
so you can just see
him hanging on.
I remember our chats.
You know, those two
days in Hershey.
I remember thinking,
exactly as the men
must have thought
that fought with him,
"I dont want to let him down.
Weve got to honor him
the right way."
[music swells]
Ive lived through the day
that I did my job.
I didnt leave my men down
and my men are in pretty
good shape.
Im very thankful.
Do your best.
And the ones that
did their best,
you never forget them.
Youll never forget them for
the rest of your life.
[music swells and fades]
[bittersweet, hopeful
music begins]