Richard “Dick” Winters, the Army officer who was the heart of Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers and the HBO miniseries of the same name (in which he was portrayed by Damian Lewis, inset), passed away last week at the age of 92. No cause of death was given, but it must have been some terrible disease or accident to strike down a man so young.
Mr. Winters, who separated from the Army at the rank of major, and his men fought together through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge and later occupied Adolf Hitler’s mountainside retreat, the Eagle’s Nest, near Berchtesgaden.
A charismatic officer who led by example, Mr. Winters received the Distinguished Service Cross, the country’s second highest decoration for valor, while conducting combat operations on D-Day. [WaPo]
I think we can all agree when I say, “Shoulda been you, guy who was played by David Schwimmer.”
(Actually, Herbert Sobel died in 1987. But I stand by my joke.)
