"It was more than three years since Lewis Nixon and I decided to join the paratroops." "And more than a year since we'd first gone to war not knowing what would happen to us." "How long we'd be fighting where we'd end up." "I certainly didn't expect to find myself in a place like this." "'Morning." "I heard reports about a red-headed Eskimo." "Thought I'd check it out." "Come to join me for a morning swim?" "Yeah." "You know me so well." "Here, it's from Zielinski." "Oh, great." "What is that?" "Ran into the regimental photographer." "Said he had all these photographs of the 506th going all the way back to Toccoa." "I traded them for a couple of Lugers." "That's a bargain." "What do you think you'll do after this?" "Get some breakfast." "No, after, after." "Well, it's funny you should mention it 'cause I had a meeting with Colonel Sink." "Really?" "Yeah." "Yeah, he and I discussed the possibility of staying." "In the Army?" "Yeah." "Yeah, as a career." "What'd you say?" "I said I'd think about it." "What do you think about New Jersey?" "New Jersey?" "There's a company in Nixon, New Jersey." "It's called Nixon Nitration Works." "Sounds picturesque." "Yeah, well, oddly enough I know the owners." "Probably gonna expect me to make something of myself." "I thought maybe I'd drag you with me." "Are you offering me a job?" "We'll see how you do in your interview but, you know, a man of your qualifications I think we can probably scrape something up." "Commensurate with your current salary level." "Yeah, I'll think about it." "I really appreciate it." "Yeah, just think about it." "Yeah." "Job offers." "Hard to fathom." "And the war wasn't even over." "I was still getting used to hot showers and morning swims." "We'd entered Bavaria in early May with the hopes of capturing Berchtesgaden." "This famous town, high in the Alps was the Nazi party's symbolic home and all the heads of the Third Reich had houses there." "Although Hitler was dead he had apparently ordered the SS to make it their last stand from which to mount a guerrilla resistance against the Allied advance." "The first step was blocking the roads." "When are we expecting the engineers to arrive?" "Half an hour ago." "We're stuck here until they do, Nix." "Well, if you're the SS you're not gonna let us waltz into Hitler's house." "Probably throw a few rocks at us yourself." "If you want someone to find a way up that mountain Easy Company is ready." "Duly noted." "I already recommended you to Colonel Sink." "Let's go find out where Hitler lived." "Ron, we're not sure what's up there." "The Colonel doesn't want us taking any unnecessary risks." "So, the French are gonna beat us to the Eagle's Nest." "Gents, I just had a conversation with General Leclerc." "He said he was first into Paris and by God he wanted to be first into Berchtesgaden." "Told him I understood his point." "You fire up 2nd battalion and outflank that French son of a bitch." "Yes, sir." "I want Easy Company in the lead." "Have the men assemble on the highway." "Yes, sir." "Eerie." "Not even any natives." "That's 'cause this is the one town you can't deny being a true Nazi." "What do you mean?" "Well, you have to be to live here." "Need to find some place we can put the Colonel." "How about right there?" "No, no." "Kitty would love this." "How many brides get a wedding present from Hitler?" "You wanna take half?" "." "I can't carry all this." "You know, whoever comes in here after us is gonna take whatever isn't nailed down." "Well wouldn't want that to happen." "Nice." "Don't even think about it." "Major Winters." "Sir." "More." "Permission to climb the mountain, sir?" "Eagle's Nest?" "What is this?" "Wait one minute." "Harry, have F Company put a double guard on the hotel." "Set up roadblocks on the west side of town." "I want battalion HQ, seal off the north side and prepare for prisoners." "Sergeant Grant." "And, Harry, nobody gets hurt, not now." "And Easy?" "Easy will head up the mountain through the Obersalzburg and take the Eagle's Nest." "Hi-ho, Silver!" "The Eagle's Nest was a surprise birthday present for Hitler built with Nazi party money." "A mountaintop stone retreat 8,000 feet up accessible by a gold-plated elevator." "It was one of the crown jewels of his empire and the man was afraid of heights." "Here's to him." "No, goddamn it, listen." "Hitler, Hitler, no." "Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Goebbels." "Hey, Adolf." "Love your Eagle's Nest." "I hope you don't mind." "We made ourselves at home." "Love what you've done with it." "Hey, hey, have a drink." "Come on." "Just so as we can say we saw you do it." "Listen up." "From Corps, just came in." "Effective immediately." "All troops stand fast on present positions." "Standing fast." "Wanna hear it?" "Ready for it, listen up." "The German army surrendered." "I got a present for you, come on." "is it, yeah?" "What is this place?" "Hermann Goering's house." "We discovered it yesterday." "Had it on double guard ever since." "I can vouch for that." "Oh, anxious to get off duty, O'Keefe?" "No, there's just so much to see and do, sir." "Ten thousand bottles of the world's finest liquor wine, and champagne helped Easy Company mark the day the war in Europe came to an end." "It's all yours." "Take what you want and have each company take a truckload." "We're going to Austria in the morning." "Don't feel obliged to leave stuff for whoever comes next." "Austria, sir?" "Happy V.E. Day." "Yeah." "V.E. day?" "Victory in Europe." "Happy V.E. Day." "Instead of an aggressive combat unit we became an occupation force and no one wanted to leave Berchtesgaden until they saw Austria." "So, you reckon they'll make us run up those or ski down them?" "Hey, how are you?" "Need a hand there?" "He loves you!" "Hey, lady, how are you?" "I think the war is over." "We'll be comfortable here." "I wonder what will happen to us to people like you and me when there are finally no more wars to occupy us." "Have all your men collect the weapons deposit them at the church, at the school, and at the airfield." "Very well." "Please accept this as my formal surrender, Major." "It is better than to lay it on the desk of a clerk." "You may keep your sidearm, Colonel." "Heroic dead of a combined army and marine force mark the grim battlefield of Okinawa where one of the worst battles of the war is being fought." "Thousands of Yanks have been wounded...." "Hey, Sharpe." "Along the Jap's southern defense line the Yanks progress slowly facing one of the fiercest artillery barrages of the war." "Each small advance is gained by sheer grit in the face of withering fire from a suicidal enemy being slowly hammered back into the hills." "The going is brutal and our casualties are high but Okinawa is the next big step towards victory over Japan." "A victory that can only be won by work war bonds, and heroic sacrifice." "So, when are we going?" "We don't have a date yet." "Are we to tell the men right away?" "Some of them will have enough points to go home instead." "Not many if their only medal's a Purple Heart." "I think most of us here will have enough." "And each of us will have to decide what to do." "I don't know how long we're waiting here for orders but I want those veterans who are staying and all new replacements, ready to fight." "That means rifle ranges." "That means daily close order drills." "That means troop reviews but, above all, it means physical training." "Get your NCOs on it." "They're gonna love you." "What are you crouching down for, Perco?" "Think the deer's gonna shoot back?" "Leave me alone." "How about you all just shut up and let Shifty kill us some dinner?" "What's the matter, Bull?" "You tired of eating dried up spuds three times a day?" "Hey, you know what, I got an idea." "Why don't we just shoot Bull here and feed the company for a week?" "Oh, goddamn it, Shifty." "You let him get away." "Army ought to be glad to be rid of you." "I wish, you know." "It seems they want me to stay around awhile." "Are you serious?" "How many points you need?" "Fifteen." "Fifteen!" "Jesus Christ, I thought I had it bad." "No Purple Hearts, never was injured." "Company!" "Platoon!" "Attention!" "Right shoulder." "Arm!" "Order." "Arms!" "At ease." "General Taylor is aware that many veterans including Normandy veterans still do not have the 85 points required to be discharged." "On this the anniversary of D-day he has authorized a lottery to send one man home in each company effective immediately." "For Easy Company, the winner is...." "Come on, come on, come on, come on." "Serial number 13066266." "Sergeant Darrell C. Powers." "That's how it's done, Shifty." "Congratulations, Shifty." "Sergeant Grant will see to it that 2nd Platoon takes over at the crossroads checkpoint beginning tonight at 2200 hours." "So much for our anniversary." "No shit." "General Taylor has also announced that the 101st Airborne Division will definitely be redeployed to the Pacific." "So, beginning tomorrow, at 0600 hours we will begin training to go to war." "Come in." "I don't mean to interrupt you, sir." "I just wanted to say goodbye." "You know, you was...." "You was...." "Well.... lt's been a long time." "You got everything you need?" "Yes, sir." "I gathered up my loot." "Pistols mainly." "Paperwork's all done." "I even got my back pay in my pocket." "Back, back home in Virginia...." "Well...." "l just don't rightly know how I'm gonna explain all this." "You see, I've...." "l've seen...." "l've seen...." "You're a hell of a fine soldier, Shifty." "There's nothing more to explain." "Thank you, sir." "Two days later, Shifty Powers was on a truck headed for the rear and a boat home." "Unfortunately the truck was hit head-on by a drunken corporal from another regiment." "Shifty had a broken pelvis a broken arm, and a bad concussion." "He survived, but spent the next few months in a series of hospitals." "I wish I could say that he was our only casualty in Austria." "I've made up my mind, Nix." "I got the points, I'm going back to Kitty." "Harry, do you really think that Kitty hasn't run off with some 4-F by now?" "Son of a bitch." "That's not even funny." "Harry, ignore him." "How am I supposed to tell her I had the chance to go home to her finally but decided not to, so I could go jump on Tokyo?" "All right, so don't tell her." "Besides, she's waited for you for three years, right?" "We'll be to Tokyo and back in two years, three tops." "It'll probably be over before you even get there." "The reality is you're gonna sit here in Austria for six months waiting to go and I'm gonna be back in Wilkes-Barre making babies." "You didn't tell him?" "No, I couldn't get him to shut up." "What, tell me what?" "Guts and Glory here applied for a transfer." "What?" "13th Airborne are heading out for the Pacific right away." "If I'm going, I wanna get it over with." "Are you in on this too?" "I can't let him go by himself." "He doesn't know where it is." "You're leaving the men?" "They don't need me anymore." "Wounded in Normandy?" "Yes, sir." "In the leg." "It was a minor flesh wound." "Company E lost 24 men killed there." "Yes, sir." "Seventeen of those were in my company commander's plane." "It went down on D-day." "So, you were given command of the company on D-day?" "That's right." "Fall back to your original positions!" "Everyone else maintain your pace of fire!" "In Holland they bumped you to battalion X O." "Yes, sir." "Bastards took your company away." "I fired my last shots there." "For the whole damn war?" "Yes, sir." "You got through Bastogne without having to fire your weapon?" "That is correct, sir." "And you were on the line the whole time?" "Yes, sir." "Can't imagine a tougher test for a leader having to sit through a siege like that under those conditions." "We got through it." "Find some cover, find a foxhole!" "Come on, take cover!" "Take cover!" "Come on, find some cover!" "Why do you want a transfer?" "Sorry, sir?" "I said, why do you want to leave your men?" "It's not that, sir." "It's just that if the war was still on in the Pacific and I could do some good over there." "Looking to have your own division someday?" "No, sir." "Not going to make a career of the army?" "No." "Well, I don't know, sir." "Because if you think you need more combat experience to get stars on your helmet let me tell you something, son." "You've done enough." "Thank you, sir." "That's not my objective." "Major, I took this meeting out of respect for your achievements and for the 101st." "If they do go to the Pacific eventually you should be running one of the battalions." "Thank you, sir." "And frankly, your men have earned the right to keep you around." "Yes, sir." "Thank you, sir." "So, I would stay in Austria for the time being waiting for orders and trying to watch over soldiers who had no enemy to fight." "Lieb, I fucking hate this." "Oh, Jesus Christ, they fingered him." "He was in the fucking room, Web." "A Polack who was at the slave camps said this is where he lives, here." "Which camp?" "Whatever camp." "I'm under direct orders and I'm happy to follow it." "is this a personal thing, Joe?" "What?" "is this personal to you?" "No, it's a goddamn order." "Does Major Winters know about this?" "Doesn't matter here." "Oh, the fuck it doesn't." "What if this guy's just a soldier?" "What if he's an officer with no ties to the SS?" "If he's innocent?" "You know what if he's a fucking Nazi commandant of a slave camp?" "Which one, which camp?" "You don't have any proof." "Were you at Landsberg?" "You know I was." "You think he's a soldier like you and me?" "A fucking innocent German officer?" "Where the hell have you been for the past three years?" "Wer sind Sie?" "Was machen Sie hier?" "What?" "Ich habe gar nichts." "Shut up." "Was machen Sie?" "Ruhe." "Sie sind der Kommandant." "Gehen Sie raus." "Sie sind der Kommandant." "Welcher Kommandant?" "Vom Arbeitslager." "Ich weiss von keinem Arbeitslager." "Sie haben die falsche Person." "No?" "Come here, old man." "Nein, nein." "Don't fucking lie to me." "Sie taeuschen sich." "See what you did to my fucking people?" "Nein." "He's guilty." "Liebgott says so." "He probably is." "Goddamn son of a bitch." "Shoot him." "Shoot him!" "No." "Officers don't run." "The war's over, anybody would run." "Summer in this Alpine paradise should have been a welcome relief especially now that we were at peace with the Germans." "Everyone just wanted to go home." "France." "France was the best." "Really?" "Yeah, five years." "I think I was in every country, but France was the best." "Italy would be second for me." "Russia is not desirable." "Ukraine, it was okay." "So, when do you get out?" "The unit is discharged." "We leave when my captain gets transferred." "It is the end of my second war." "Jesus." "I'm going home now to Mannheim." "I'll take this one." "Passkarte, bitte." "Okay." "Hey, Webster." "My relief." "Don't salute the Germans." "Come on." "I sort of get a kick out of it." "Anyway, I got me a new enemy." "The Japs." "75 points." "How about you?" "I mean, you're a Toccoa guy, right?" "How many you got?" "Wouldn't you like to know?" "Discharged, huh?" "Go ahead, take off, it's my turn." "Okay, see you back at the farm." "Eighty-one." "I have 81 points." "Well, that's just not good enough." "See about getting you a ride." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Where are they going?" "Munich." "Munchen, Munich." "Wanna go to Munich?" "Moechten Sie nach Muenchen gehen?" "Ja, bitte." "Get in." "Too bad." "Turn the wheel!" "Oh, Jesus." "It's Private Janovec." "He was dead when they brought him in." "75 points." "What?" "He was 10 points short." "The enemy had surrendered, but somehow men were still dying." "Young men, who wanted to be home with their families by now who'd served with distinction since before Normandy were stuck here because they didn't have the points." "What they did have plenty of were weapons, alcohol, and too much time on their hands." "When all of a sudden, from out of nowhere a guy jumps out of the hedgerow onto this guy's chest." "Shoves a trench knife up against his throat and screams, Whose side are you on?" "I don't get it." "It's D-day." "It's 2nd platoon's own Bill Guarnere." "Old' Gonorrhea himself." "Just landed in Normandy and wound up like I don't know what." "Whose side are you on?" "What a fucking character!" "What happened to him?" "Got his leg blown off in Bastogne." "Wait here." "Are you okay, Mac, do you need some help?" "They wouldn't give me any gas." "Krauts." "I tried to explain." "This fucking limey wouldn't listen." "I think he was a Major." "Look, Private, we've got a problem here." "Do you have any gas?" "Why don't you give me your weapon?" "Well, I guess I'll just use his Jeep." "I don't think he's gonna be needing it." "Hold on a second there, all right?" "Jesus." "Sarge!" "Sergeant Grant!" "Sarge!" "Jesus." "What?" "He's not gonna make it." "You can't operate on him?" "Not me." "You'd need a brain surgeon." "And even if you had one, I don't think there's any hope." "Find the shooter." "Alive." "Come on, help me." "What are you doing?" "We're gonna go find a brain surgeon." "Hey, Lieb." "He wants a noncom guarding each roadblock and two men watching every road out of town." "Bull, Malark, you each pick a squad and one witness on a house to house search." "Can we shoot this bastard on sight?" "Try and take him alive." "Where's Grant now?" "They took him to a Kraut hospital to see if they could drum up any good doctors." "Open up." "Come with me." "Why?" "Get in the Jeep." "Where're we going?" "To the hospital, get in." "If you're going to shoot me, shoot me." "If you're not, put the gun away." "Get in the Jeep, now." "What happened to him?" "He was shot in the head." "Half hour ago." "Come on." "If you want him to live, you'll help me." "First by putting that away." "Let's go." "Let me drive." "We'll get there faster." "Jesus." "Again, what a hand." "I don't know who's taking a bigger beating, me or him." "Wanna play a different game?" "No." "Same game, just shuffle them up good, huh?" "You all right?" "Yeah, I'm all right." "You wanna go in there and join in?" "I should go in there and stop this." "Floyd, let's just play cards, all right?" "Where is he?" "How's Grant?" "is he okay?" "This him?" "That's him." "Replacement I Company." "Where's the weapon?" "What weapon?" "When you talk to an officer, you say sir." "Have the MPs take care of this piece of shit." "Grant's dead?" "No." "Kraut surgeon says he's gonna make it." "Hey, tough guy, on your feet." "Come on, move, move it." "I'm guessing they were Hitler's photo albums, sir." "Sure had a lot of pictures of him in it." "You looked at them, but you didn't take them?" "That's right, sir." "I don't believe you." "I'll be watching you." "You're dismissed." "You'd better not be lying to me." "What?" "Sir, if it's not gonna put you in too much of a bind I'd like to resign as Company 1st Sergeant." "If I had my choice I miss being back amongst the men." "I'd be happy to go to Staff Sergeant whichever platoon you wanna put me in." "Well, I guess you've earned your right to demote yourself." "Thank you, sir." "You wanna take over Sergeant Grant's platoon?" "That would do fine, sir." "All right then, report to Lieutenant Peacock." "Let me know if he gives you any trouble." "Oh, sir, you make your decision yet?" "Yeah, I did." "So, what else is on your mind?" "I know Easy Company's gonna need a Commanding Officer post-war." "Somebody to hold their hand keep them from killing each other." "It better be somebody who knows what they're doing." "Yep, I couldn't agree more." "It's absolutely irresponsible to leave them in the hands of the wrong person." "They're too much of a valuable resource to the military." "So, you've decided to stay in the army?" "Yes, I'm gonna stay with the men." "Well, I'm glad to hear it." "So, some of us would stay by choice but others were stuck if we couldn't find excuses to send them away." "So, it's an airborne exhibition." "They have one of every Allied combat plane they've used in the war." "I mean, yes, sir." "You'll be like a technical adviser to make sure they get everything right." "I understand, sir." "I'm sorry it's not a more hospitable location." "No, sir." "Paris is just fine." "You know, if you need me to go someone must be there." "Yeah, we do, we absolutely do." "And your driver will drop you off at a hotel of your choice." "And I don't think we'll see you back here any time soon." "I won't let you down, sir." "Carwood, yes." "I wanted to say as you probably know when they give a man a battlefield commission make him an officer they usually don't let him stay with the same company." "Yes, sir, I figured this was coming." "Yeah, they're afraid the men won't show him the proper degree of respect as they would another officer." "It's a good theory, sir." "It's an idiotic theory especially in your case." "Nevertheless, they've given me the choice as to where to re-assign you and I thought battalion headquarters might be a good place." "I can think of few better, sir." "Good." "Good." "Right now, down at the airfield there is a German general who is a little POed about having to surrender to a private from South Philly." "Thinks it's beneath his stature." "Understandable, sir." "Yeah." "I thought 2nd Lieutenant Carwood Lipton from West Virginia could soothe his ruffled feathers." "No problem, sir." "Major, is this the type of job I can expect from now on?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "When we're not sunning ourselves by the lake." "Lieutenant." "With your permission, I would like to address my men briefly." "That'll be fine, General." "Captain Sobel." "Major Winters." "Captain Sobel." "We salute the rank, not the man." "Maenner es war ein langer Krieg." "Es war ein harter Krieg." "Liebgott?" "Men, it's been a long war, it's been a tough war." "Ihr habt tapfer und stolz fur euer Vaterland gekaempft." "You have fought bravely, proudly for your country." "Ihr seid eine besondere Gruppe..." "You are a special group die ineinander einen Zusammenhalt gefunden habt who have found in one another a bond wie er sich nur im Kampf entwickeln kann." "...that exists only in combat." "Unter Kameraden..." "Among brothers die Fuchshoehlen geteilt haben." "...of shared foxholes." "Die sich in schrecklichen Momenten gegenseitig geschtuetzt haben." "Held each other in dire moments." "Die den Tod zusammen gesehen haben." "Und gemeinsam gelitten haben." "Who've seen death and suffered together." "Ich bin stolz mit euch gedient zu haben." "I am proud to have served with each and every one of you." "Sie alle verdienen ein langes und glueckliches Leben in Frieden." "You deserve long and happy lives of peace." "Towel, towel, towel, towel, towel." "Thanks." "Take a look at these two kids." "What the hell happened to them?" "New Jersey, huh?" "Yeah." "Think about it." "Yeah, I am." "You awake yet?" "Awake?" "Time to go to bed." "Come on, we got one down." "Come on, Pee Wee, let's get Webster." "Buck Compton came back to see the Company." "To let us know that he was all right." "He became a prosecutor in Los Angeles." "He convicted Sirhan Sirhan in the murder of Robert Kennedy and was later appointed to the California Court of Appeals." "David Webster became a writer for The Saturday Evening Post and Wall Street Journal and later wrote a book about sharks." "In 1961, he went out on the ocean alone and was never seen again." "Go, go, go!" "Johnny Martin would return to his job at the railroad and then start his own construction company." "He splits his time between Arizona and a place in Montana." "George Luz became a handyman in Providence, Rhode lsland and as a testament to his character  1600 people attended his funeral 1998." "Doc Roe died in Louisiana in 1998." "He'd been a construction contractor." "Frank Perconte returned to Chicago and worked a postal route as a mailman." "Joe Liebgott returned to San Francisco and drove his cab." "Bull Randleman was one of the best soldiers I ever had." "He went into the earth-moving business in Arkansas." "He's still there." "Alton More returned to Wyoming with a unique souvenir Hitler's personal photo albums." "He was killed in a car accident in 1958." "Floyd Talbert, we all lost touch with in civilian life until he showed up at a reunion just before his death in 1981." "How we lived our lives after the war was as varied as each man." "Carwood Lipton became a glass-making executive in charge of factories all over the world." "He has a nice life in North Carolina." "Harry Welsh, he married Kitty Grogan became an administrator for the Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania school system." "Ronald Speirs stayed in the army served in Korea and in 1958, returned to Germany as governor of Spandau prison." "He retired a Lieutenant Colonel." "Get them round." "Easy Company, school circle!" "For Easy Company, it was D-day plus 434." "A fast man would've had it, Perco." "Listen up, got some news." "This morning President Truman received the unconditional surrender from the Japanese." "War's over." "Regardless of points, medals, or wounds each man in the 101st Airborne would be going home." "Each of us would be forever connected by our shared experience." "And each would have to rejoin the world as best he could." "Lewis Nixon had some tough times after the war." "He was divorced a couple of times." "Then in 1956, he married a woman named Grace and everything came together for him." "He spent the rest of his life with her, traveling the world." "My friend, Lew, died in 1995." "I took up his job offer and was a personnel manager at the Nixon nitration works until I was called back into service in 1950 to train officers and rangers but I chose not to go to Korea." "I'd had enough of war." "I stayed around Hershey, Pennsylvania finally finding a little farm." "A little peaceful corner of the world where l still live today." "And there is not a day that goes by that I do not think of the men I served with who never got to enjoy the world without war." "It's a very unusual feeling." "It's a very unusual happening and it's a very unusual bonding." "We knew that we could depend on each other and so, we were a close-knit group." "Just brave, so brave it was unbelievable." "And I don't know anybody that I admire more than Bill Guarnere and Joe Toye." "And they were very, very special." "I'm just one part of the big war, that's all." "One little part." "And I'm proud to be a part of it." "Sometimes it makes me cry." "The real men the real heroes are the fellows that are still buried over there and those that came home to be buried." "It seemed like you thought that you could do just about anything and after the war was over and you came back out." "Well, you lost a lot of that or at least I did." "I lost all that confidence." "We was hoping to stay alive, that's all, you know." "Henry the Fifth was talking to his men." "He said, From this day to the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered." "We lucky few, we band of brothers." "For he who today sheds his blood with me shall be my brother." "Do you remember the letter that my granny 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 the company of heroes."