"I've seen death, I've seen my friends, my men being killed." "This is..." "It doesn't take too many days of that and you change dramatically." "We were hungry, we had no food we didn't have ammunition, it was cold, didn't have any clothes." "You couldn't build a fire." "If you did, some crazy thing would shoot at you." "Every where you would look, you would see dead people." "A dead soldier there, here." "Ours, theirs." "Then civilians besides." "Dead animals." "So, death was all over." "You don't have a chance when your friends go down to really take care of them as you might." "And especially if you're under attack, moving, or whatever." "I withstood it well but I had a lot of trouble in later life because those events would come back and..." "You never forget them." "After holding the line at Bastogne Easy Company was again called on to help push the Germans back through the Bulge." "We were here this morning and then we came this way." "Right, so, right here's gotta be the logging road..." "Take it easy." "Stop crying, Malark or I'll nail it to your head." "Good, it's made of wood." "Guarnere, move them out, let's go." "Yes, sir." "2nd Platoon, let's go!" "I was glad to be out of my foxhole and moving again." "Even if only to get warm." "Spread out." "Keep your interval." "E Company was sent to clear the Bois Jacques the woods near the town of Foy in preparation for what we knew would be the eventual assault on Foy itself." "I see it, Buck." "Watch for mines." "During that 1,000 yard attack through the woods we encountered German machine gun fire and had a couple of casualties." "But, for the most part, met little resistance." "Hoobler's run-in with the German officer on horseback was the most dramatic moment of the day." "Halt!" "Halt!" "Shit." "Thank you." "Hoobler had been talking about getting a Luger since Normandy." "As we dug in, he went from foxhole to foxhole telling everyone how he'd finally got one." "Down he goes, right out of the saddle, like a sack of potatoes." "Outstanding accuracy on my part, if I do say so myself." "Which you do." "Which I do." "Hell, Shifty, I think maybe I could have even given you a run for your money." "No, I'm not a good shot." "Now, Dad, he was an excellent shot." "Excellent, I declare, he'd shoot the wings off a fly." "Lip, that German, what'd you think he was doing?" "Probably a little recon." "He must have figured nobody would hear a horse." "I think he was trying to get outta Dodge." "Yeah." "What happened to the horse?" "I don't know, probably still running." "Hope he's okay." "You dug in?" "Yeah." "Yeah, just thought I'd take a walk, shoot the shit." "You're a good shot, Hoob." "Just glad you're on our side." "Thanks, Lip." "Hey, Lip?" "Yeah." "Thanks for the help." "You got it, Shifty." "Lip?" "Yes." "You got a sec?" "Yes, sir." "Give him a hand." "Where's Dike?" "He's around." "Could you be more specific, Sergeant?" "Not really, sir." "I haven't seen him all day." "Didn't see him in the woods and I have to figure out how we ended up." "Two wounded." "Who?" "Brown and Stevenson." "Goddamn it." "Where's Dike?" "Where the hell is he?" "Where does he ever go?" "I don't know, but I wish he'd stay there." "Be nice if he took Shames with him." "Shut up, boys." "Shutting up, Sarge." "What the hell is that?" "Patrol?" "No, we would have heard." "One man, maybe a sniper." "That was no rifle." "What do you see, Shift?" "Nobody out there." "Are you sure?" "Jesus, it's Hoob, he's shot." "Sniper?" "No, he shot himself." "Stupid." "Medic!" "What happened?" "Doc." "Is he all right?" "It's my fucking leg." "He did what?" "It just went off." "What happened?" "It just went off." "Why is there a loaded gun in your pants?" "Buck, I wasn't touching it or nothing." "Goddamn it." "I wasn't touching it, I swear." "Medic!" "Where are you hit, Hoob?" "Where are you hit?" "In my leg." "Hold on." "Now, don't look." "It's gonna be fine." "Don't worry about it." "Come on." "It hurts like a son of a bitch." "I think maybe I hit bone." "Doc!" "Don't worry about it." "You'll be all right." "Warm him up." "Can you hear me?" "Somebody keep him warm." "Sergeant." "Let me see it." "Hang in there." "Warm up some blankets or something for him." "You're gonna be fine." "Keep talking to him." "Okay, listen to me." "Think it was a German leg?" "Yeah, right." "You're gonna be fine." "Hold on." "Perconte, put this across him." "Wrap him up." "Hang in there." "Come on." "Lip." "You said I was a great shot, right?" "You're a great shot." "Come on, you jump out of planes." "You're tough." "He's still shivering." "It's not that bad at all, come on." "Stay with us." "Hoob, take it easy." "What are we gonna do?" "How are we doing?" "You're gonna be fine." "We've gotta get him to an aid station." "Hold on tight." "All right, let's get ready to move him." "Take it easy." "Stay there, Hoob." "Doc." "Can't see anything" "Doc!" "Jesus." "Perco, we need a jeep." "He was wearing so many clothes, we couldn't tell how bad he was bleeding." "By the time we got him to the aid station, he was already dead." "The bullet cut the main artery in his leg, sir." "Hell, Lip." "It wouldn't have made a difference if you had known." "Cut that main artery in the leg, that's it." "Yes, sir." "I'm gonna go back and make sure the boys are all dug in, sir." "Lip." "Where's Dike?" "You wanna see him, sir?" "No, I just would have expected to get this kind of news from him." "I was there, sir." "I figured it might as well be me." ""Where's Dike?"" "I probably heard that question 1,000 times." "I probably asked it a few times myself." "There were long stretches where we didn't know where Lieutenant Dike was." "He'd disappear, go off on these walks for hours at a time." "Wouldn't have been so bad if he was just one of the guys in the company but Lieutenant Dike was supposed to be leading the company." "Captain Winters was a CO we could all respect." "Moose Heyliger probably would have done a good job but before we got a chance to find out, he was accidentally shot by a sentry." "Then came Norman Dike." "I want tight security around the company CP, Lieutenant Shames, that understood?" "Dike wasn't a bad leader because he made bad decisions." "He was a bad leader because he made no decisions." "Now, Battalion S-3 is planning a move." "So, I will probably be called away regularly." "Are there any questions?" "Yeah." "What's the formation you want us to go for?" "At present, as per usual, but I'll clarify that with you at a later time, Lieutenant Compton." "Yes, sir." "All right, I gotta make a call." "Let's move it out." "Dike was the favorite of somebody at Division." "He'd been sent down to E Company to get some combat experience." "Sometimes we got the feeling E Company was an annoyance to him." "Something he had to get through before he could continue his march up the ladder." "I'm telling you boys, we're screwed." "If you ask me, I'm glad Dike's never around." "You know what?" "We're doing all right, even with Foxhole Norman." "Yeah, we're doing all right." "We're doing all right now." "If you noticed, there's a little town down the hill." "In that town are these guys, and these guys are called Germans." "And these Germans got tanks." "I know." "Yeah." "And our side's gonna wanna go into that town." "Guess who they're gonna want to go knocking on the goddamn doors." "I know, Bill, it's me you're talking to here." "Jesus Christ, we've gotta do all this with a CO who's got his head so far up his ass that lump in his throat is his goddamn nose." "Hey First Sergeant." "Boys." "Sarge." "Lip." "Muck what's the word?" "You know." "Sitting around, freezing our ass off." "Singing Dike's praises." "Yeah." "Lieutenant Dike." "I'll tell you I wouldn't wanna be a replacement officer coming in here getting thrown in with a group of guys who've known each other for two years." "They've been in combat together since Normandy." "You're supposed to just show up and lead them?" "How's a guy do that?" "How could anyone really hope to gain the respect of the toughest most professional most dedicated sons of bitches in the entire ETO?" "So, if you ask me, a guy'd have to march off to Berlin and come back with Hitler's moustache or something." "Anyway, listen." "You guys, don't worry about Dike." "All right?" "Yeah." "We all do our jobs, everything will be fine." "See you, Sarge." "Yeah, boy." "I don't know if I believed any of that but as Company First Sergeant it was my job not to protect Dike but to protect the integrity of the company." "You know what Dike's problem is, don't you?" "He's just another one of those arrogant, rich jerks from Yale." "God, not another one of those." "Division's not gonna let me replace him just 'cause I got a bad feeling about him." "Even if they would, who'd I put in his place?" "Shames?" "Do not ever talk when I'm talking, you got that?" "He's seen too many movies." "Thinks he has to yell all the time." "Both of you little crapheads did not listen to a word I said during that briefing, did you?" "Or Peacock?" "God bless him, no one tries harder but he's not cut out to take men into combat." "I'm not gonna make him Company CO when I don't want him as a platoon leader." "What about Compton?" "He's the only real choice." "Buck's a real combat leader, but, you know..." "I want Easy Company to have at least one experienced platoon leader." "Not that it matters anyway 'cause I can't get rid of Dike." "Well we all know who you'd like to have running Easy." "Trouble is it's not your job any more." "We've gotta find somebody." "We all agreed Buck Compton would've been the best choice to run Easy if Winters had been able to get rid of Dike." "But, to be honest Buck wasn't the same soldier he'd been before he got shot in Holland." "He was more serious somehow." "He had a goddamn Luger in his pants." "Jesus." "Dear God." "Don't you two do something stupid like that, all right?" "Try not to, Buck." "I mean it." "And you, Wild Bill I've invested too much goddamn time shaping you into something useful." "Do something crazy, get yourself knocked out of this thing..." "I know, you'll kill me." "Even if you're dead, I'll still kill you." "I'll see you guys later." "I'm gonna check on the other guys." "Crazy Joe McCloskey." "What?" "This guy used to hang at the front of Delancey's and just you know, just stare at people." "Yeah, I know who Crazy Joe McCloskey is." "What the hell's that got to do with anything?" "Buck kind of reminds me of him now." "What?" "Ever since he got shot in Holland..." "Wait." "What, are you saying he's nuts?" "'Cause Crazy Joe McCloskey was fucking nuts." "That's why they called him Crazy Joe." "No, I'm not saying he's nuts." "I'm just..." "What are you saying?" "Forget it." "What?" "Forget it." "Come on, you've seen him, Bill." "He's all wound up like a spring." "He's fine." "It wasn't getting shot that got him, it was being in that hospital." "I've been there, okay?" "It ain't pretty." "Yeah." "Once he was up and moving around, he was his old self again." "I'm telling you, Buck Compton's fine." "I'm serious." "Sure thing, Buck, nothing stupid." "We got it, right?" "We got it." "All right." "George?" "Yeah." "Nothing stupid, Buck." "Yeah." ""Don't do anything stupid"?" "Who the hell's he talking to?" "Bunch of morons who volunteered to jump out of a perfectly good airplane." "Can you get any more stupid than that?" "Probably not." "Right." "I swum across the Niagara once." "Yeah." "I swear." "On a bet." "What, in a barrel?" "No." "I didn't go over the Falls, George." "I swam across the river." "Ten miles up from the Falls." "I tell you, that current is damn strong." "Yeah." "Must have carried me two miles downstream before I got across." "But, I got across." "Now, personally, I didn't think it was all that stupid but my mom, my sister, Ruth they gave me all kinds of hell." "Yeah, I bet, Muck." "So did Faye." "Sweet Faye Tanner." "Shut it, George." "Well, they had a point." "You're an idiot." "I heard about Hoobler." "Shame." "Yes, sir." "It is." "That the Luger?" "Yes, it is." "What are you gonna do with it?" "I don't know yet." "Where you from, Lipton?" "Where'd you grow up?" "Huntington, West Virginia." "Huntington?" "Yes, sir." "I don't know it." "What kind of work did you do there?" "My brother and I helped my mom run a boarding house." "And your father?" "He was killed when I was 10, sir." "Automobile accident." "That's sad." "So, what made you decide to join the Paratroopers?" "I read an article about paratroopers in Life magazine." "Talked about the training, how hard it was." "Said if you want to make it as a paratrooper you had to be the best." "And I wanted to fight with the best, sir." "You miss it?" "Miss what?" "Huntington." "Honestly, sir, I try not to think about it that much." "Where are you from..." "Captain Nixon, sir." "Captain Nixon, sir." "What?" "Good morning, sir, sorry to disturb you." "This came from Division." "All right." "Morning." "Eviction notice?" "Not quite." "But I think this will help with your leadership problem." "Dike's being transferred?" "No, I can't help you with that but Division has decided to pluck one officer from each regiment that served in the heroic defense of Bastogne send him back to the States on a 30-day furlough." "Get him out banging the drum for the war bond drive, that kind of thing." "It turns out I've been plucked." "That's fantastic, Lew, good for you." "Thank you." "How in the world does your leaving help me?" "It doesn't, I'm not going." "I've already seen the States, grew up there." "That's why I came to Europe." "Just wish they'd told me there was a war on." "Anyway, the point is, this thing's wasted on me." "But, I'm sure we can find an officer somewhere in this battalion who could use a long trip home." "Congratulations, Lieutenant Peacock." "I can't think of anybody who deserves this more." "Thanks." "I'm really glad that you're going home." "Okay." "Best news I've heard in weeks." "Hell of a guy." "Thanks, guys." "It really means a lot, you know?" "Get out of here." "Three cheers for Lieutenant Peacock." "Hip hip hooray." "If they come by here, you all remember to smile for the camera." "Got to keep the morale up for them folks back home." "Why?" "Damned if I know." "All right, Nix, what have they got waiting for us in Foy?" "At least one company from the 10th Panzer grenadiers dug in here." "They've also got at least one 88 although we haven't been able to spot it yet." "How about armor?" "As of last night, three Tigers." "Would you excuse me for a moment, sir?" "Yeah." "How do I feel about being rescued by Patton?" "I'd feel pretty peachy about it, if it wasn't for one thing we didn't need to be fucking rescued by Patton." "You got that?" "Joe." "Excuse us for a moment." "Sorry, sir." "Sorry about what?" "Patton?" "I couldn't agree more." "What are you doing here?" "I wanna head back to the line, sir." "You don't have to do that." "Get yourself back to the aid station." "Heal up." "I'd really like to head back with the fellas, sir." "All right, then go." "Thank you, sir." "Joe Toye had been at the aid station for three days and everybody was glad to have him back." "Especially Bill Guarnere." "Joe." "Bill." "Good to see you, pal." "You, too." "What the hell you doing back here?" "To make sure you're on top of things." "I'm on top of things." "Tied me own boots once last week." "All by meself." "Fellas, look who I found." "Joe Toye, back for more." "How are you, Joe?" "Yeah, doing pretty good." "Escaped from the aid station." "Where'd you get hit?" "What's that?" "It's Webb." "Replacement." "Really?" "Thought it was some guy I've known for two years and I forgot his face." "Joe got hit in the arm." "New Year's Eve gift from a luftwaffe." "A lot of you guys been injured?" "It's called wounded, peanut." "Injured's when you fall out of a tree or something." "Don't worry, there's enough crap flying around here." "You're bound to get dinged sometime." "Almost every single one of these guys has been hit at least once." "Except for Alley, he's a two-timer." "He landed on broken glass in Normandy and got peppered by a potato masher in Holland." "You'll find out, son." "Now, Bull, he got a piece of exploding tank in Holland." "And George Luz here has never been hit." "You're one lucky bastard." "Takes one to know one, Skip." "Consider us blessed." "Now, Liebgott, the skinny little guy he got pinged in the neck in Holland." "Right next to him, that other skinny guy, that's Popeye." "He got shot in his scrawny little butt in Normandy." "And Buck got shot in his rather large butt in Holland." "Yeah, kind of an Easy Company tradition, getting shot in the ass." "Even First Sergeant Lipton over there he got a couple of pieces of a tank shell burst at Carentan." "One chunk in the face." "Another chunk almost took off his nuts." "How are those nuts, Sarge?" "Doing fine, Bill." "Nice of you to ask." "On the afternoon of January 3 most of E Company headed back to our old position in the woods overlooking Foy." "A few men remained in the Bois Jacques attached to D Company to hold the main line of resistance." "Good luck, ladies." "Been nice knowing you." "Wouldn't drink too much if I were you." "Be careful if he offers you a cigarette." "What are they talking about?" "If who offers us a cigarette?" "Speirs." "Who?" "Lieutenant Speirs." "Lieutenant Ronald Speirs was one of the platoon leaders in D Company." "He was already a legend." "The stories about Speirs are probably all bullshit anyway." "What stories?" "What stories?" "Supposedly Speirs shot one of his own men for being drunk." "You're kidding." "That's unbelievable." "Yeah, and there's another one about him giving cigarettes to 20 German POWs before killing them." "He shot 20 POWs?" "Actually, I heard it was more like 30." "Christenson." "Lieutenant Speirs." "I got the name right, didn't I, Christenson?" "Yes, sir." "What are you men doing out here?" "We're watching the line, sir." "Keep up the good work." "You might wanna reinforce your cover." "Lieutenant Dike said not even to bother." "That we're only gonna be here one day." "Lieutenant Dike said that?" "Then forget what I said." "Carry on." "Anyone care for a smoke?" "You?" "Late in the afternoon on January 3 we returned to our old position in the woods overlooking Foy." "You gotta be fucking kidding me." "Someone's gonna die." "Someone's gonna fucking die." "Guarnere, look at this shit!" "One of those 1st Battalion fuckers took a dump in my foxhole." "I think they shit in everyone's foxhole, Joe." "I don't think they wanted to spend much time above ground." "While we were in the Bois Jacques the Germans had been shelling our old position." "There were signs of tree bursts everywhere." "That got our attention." "Light and noise discipline." "We're getting close." "Looking across the field at Foy, I could see enemy troops." "I still couldn't see their artillery, but I knew it was down there." "Looks like the Krauts have been pounding this area with pretty big stuff, 88s." "I'd say they got this whole stretch of the line targeted." "They're not shelling now." "Maybe they've got a new target..." "No, they're just waiting." "For what?" "For us to reoccupy the position." "Maybe we should fall back and dig in." "No, it's our job to hold the line here." "We've got pretty good foxholes." "We just need to fortify the covers." "If they've got us targeted, maybe..." "We hold the line here." "Sergeant Lipton's right." "We're gonna strengthen our covers and we're gonna hang in." "We're not gonna fall back." "Right, Lieutenant?" "Right, Lieutenant?" "Fine." "You all take care of it." "I gotta go talk to Regiment." "We'd better get moving." "Yeah." "Here you go, Bill." "Thanks, Lip." "I'll get you some more branches." "I'd appreciate that." "Incoming!" "Take cover!" "Take cover!" "Take cover!" "Come on, find some cover!" "They got us zeroed!" "Find some cover, find a foxhole!" "Come on, take cover!" "Take cover!" "Come on, find some cover!" "Take cover!" "Shit." "Come on, find some cover!" "For some reason, at that moment, in that half-finished foxhole all I could think about was the Fourth of July when I was a kid." "I loved to make my own firecrackers, cherry bombs, ladyfingers." "I loved to blow up dirt clods and pop bottles and the like." "Looked forward to it all year long." "What I saw that day was the most awesome and terrifying display of firepower I'd ever seen in my life." "Of course, I wouldn't have been laughing if I'd known what happened to Joe Toye." "Maybe we should see if anybody's hit." "Malark, that's what they want." "The Krauts are trying to draw us out in the open." "Stay in your foxholes." "Stay in your foxholes!" "Are you okay, can you walk?" "Come on, find a foxhole, come on." "I gotta get up." "I gotta get up." "I gotta get up." "I need my helmet." "I need help!" "You hear that?" "Is that Joe?" "Help!" "Yeah, I think that's Joe." "Stay." "Stay down!" "Stay in your foxholes!" "Help!" "Help, anyone there?" "Jesus." "I gotta get up." "I gotta get up." "Shit." "Come on, Joe." "Come on, buddy." "Come on, pal." "You said you'd get back to the States before me." "You ain't going anywhere, you're all right." "I gotta get my helmet." "Forget it." "I gotta get my helmet." "Anyone there?" "Hang on." "Help!" "Who's that?" "It's Heff." "Come on, get me out of here, Lip." "Come on." "I got you." "Come on, Joe, I got you." "Come on, Joe." "Hang on." "Are you okay?" "Come on." "Think I overdid it on the cover for my foxhole?" "Incoming!" "Take cover!" "Come on!" "Hurry up, Guarno, you're gonna get bombed!" "Come on!" "Move it, Bill!" "Come on, Joe." "Hold on, I'll be there, I'm gonna help you." "No!" "Medic!" "During the second barrage, I wasn't laughing anymore." "Lip!" "Are you okay?" "Stay down!" "You stay down!" "First Sergeant Lipton?" "You get things organized here." "I'm gonna go for help." "What the fuck?" "Lip, where the fuck's he going?" "I don't know." "Get Battalion on the line." "Tell them to notify BAS." "Battalion's up, Lip." "Medic!" "Stay ready." "Sons of bitches might be trying to come through." "You okay, One Lung?" "Sergeant!" "How you doing, Popeye?" "100 percent ready to kill Germans, Lip." "Okay, Joe." "Doc, what can I do?" "Hold this." "You got a smoke?" "Jesus, what's a guy gotta do to get killed around here?" "Bill, you're going first." "Whatever you say, Doc, whatever you say." "Over here, take this man." "Lip, they got old Guarnere this time." "We got you, soldier." "Just lie back." "Take it easy." "I told you I'd beat you back to the States." "Lip." "How's Buck?" "Luz, how's Buck?" "He's fine." "You sure?" "Yes, he's fine." "I think you should probably go talk to him now." "All right." "Some say Buck changed after he was shot in Holland." "Maybe." "I know something happened to him when he saw Toye and Guarnere on the ground." "On the report it said Compton was being taken off the line because of trench foot." "Didn't say anything about him losing his friends." "Buck was a great combat leader." "He was wounded in Normandy, and again in Holland." "He received the Silver Star for his part in taking out those German guns on D-day." "He took everything the Krauts could throw at him time and again." "Lieutenant Compton?" ""UCLA did not make the Rose Bowl this winter." ""Probably because you weren't there." ""I'm sure you're teaching all of your young soldiers..." ""...the joy you have of the sport." ""Gosh, how we all know what an exciting young man you are..." ""...and how your heart and love..."" "I guess he just couldn't take seeing his friends Toye and Guarnere torn up like that." "No one ever thought any less of him for it." "Hey Bull." "With Buck off the line, there was no longer any possible alternative to Dike." "At least none we could see." "Thanks." "Muck." "Muck." "Yes, Sergeant?" "I'm looking for Lieutenant Dike." "We were stuck with Dike." "And he was off taking a walk." "Sure thing." "Lightning Six, kidnap." "Yes, sir." "We've cleared all the green area between..." "We'd cleared the woods east of Foy." "So, a few days later, E Company and the rest of the 506 cleared the woods west of Foy." "There was little resistance." "You fellas know I got no reason to bullshit you, right?" "Look, I'm not gonna bullshit you." "This is what I saw." "It was so unbelievable, you might not believe me." "So, you-know-who comes running up to Lipton." "He's got no helmet, no gear, no nothing." "First Sergeant Lipton, you organize things here and I'm gonna go for help." "I need to go polish my oak leaf clusters." "Luz." "That's really good." "It's okay." "Fellas." "Goodnight all." "Yeah, see you, Luz." "See you, Malark." "What can I do for you, Sarge?" "Two things, first, great impression of Dike." "You think?" "I thought it was a little off." "No, you got it pretty good." "Second, don't do it any more." "Especially the part about what he said to me." "It doesn't do anybody any good, okay?" "Yeah, I got you." "All right." "Wise ass." "Incoming!" "Luz!" "Come on!" "Hurry!" "Luz!" "Stay down!" "Come on!" "Get in here!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come on, Luz!" "Muck and Penkala!" "What?" "Muck and Penkala got hit!" "Medic!" "Medic!" "It's my shoulder." "Come on, get up!" "Stay down till you get the all clear." "Thought you didn't smoke." "I don't." "The shell that hit the foxhole Luz and I were in was a dud." "The one that hit Muck and Penkala's foxhole wasn't." "That's just the way it was." "Muck and Penkala were good men." "Their death hit Malarkey the hardest." "Malarkey's best friends in the Company had been Compton, Muck, and Penkala." "In less than a week, he'd seen two of them die." "What's the word?" "The men on the line are okay." "Food has just been resupplied." "We're in good shape." "Okay, we'll just hunker down." "We might get some relief soon." "Okay?" "All right." "All right." "Later that day, we were back in our old position overlooking Foy." "We were all worried about Malarkey." "Malark." "Didn't I hear you say you wanted to bring a Luger home for your kid brother?" "Yeah." "Why don't you..." "Why don't you give him that?" "It's Hoob's, right?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I was gonna get rid of it but I..." "I don't know." "Listen Captain Winters was wondering if you wanted to go back to battalion and work as his runner for a few days." "Tell him thanks, I'm gonna stay here." "Look, why don't you at least come back for an hour or so." "Say goodbye to Buck." "I'm sure it'll mean a lot to him." "All right." "You be careful with that." "Getting even 50 yards back from the line just for an hour or two could make a big difference in a soldier's state of mind." "The morning after the shelling that killed Muck and Penkala I saw a soldier try to dig a foxhole with his bare hands." "Private." "Didn't notice he'd torn off his fingernails." "Private." "I got him out of there quickly." "Not for his sake, but for ours." "Fear is poison in combat." "It's something we all felt, but you just didn't show it." "You can't." "It's destructive and it's contagious." "Told you I'd get you started." "We got a bleeder here." "Buck was never the same after seeing Toye and Guarnere get hit that day." "I guess he just needed some time away from it all." "The barrages on January 3, and the shelling on January 9 marked the low point in the war for many of the men in E Company." "Even then, very few actually broke." "I knew the terror of those shellings and the pressure we'd been under since we got to Bastogne could take their toll in other ways." "I was afraid the men would lose focus, suffer a drop in morale." "And that was dangerous, especially in combat." "More of which lay in store for us." "Perconte." "We'd cleared the woods east and west of Foy." "Now it was time for the inevitable assault on Foy, itself." "Frankly, I was dreading it." "I always knew the E Company men who trained at Toccoa wouldn't survive the war unscathed but now I was beginning to wonder if any of us were gonna make it through at all." "E Company would lead the attack." "The problem was, at least in my estimation E Company still did not have a leader." "The night before the attack, I did something as First Sergeant I would never have imagined myself doing." "Lip." "Didn't figure you for a smoking man." "Neither did I." "D Company, Lieutenant Speirs, patrol order." "So?" "We've been watching Foy all day, sir, not much activity." "Want a coffee?" "No, thank you, sir." "How's Easy's status?" "The men are good, sir, they're prepared." "I'm gonna be leading 2nd Platoon, tomorrow." "They're probably the weakest after losing Toye and Guarnere, and Muck, and Penkala." "But all in all, I have every confidence in the men, sir." "Good." "But, on the other hand, I have no confidence in our CO, sir." "Lieutenant Dike is an empty uniform, Captain." "He's just..." "He's not there, sir." "He's gonna be there tomorrow." "Yes, sir, I understand he will be there physically." "But tomorrow's gonna be the real deal and he's gonna have to lead those men." "He's gonna have to make decisions, sir, and I..." "I gotta tell you, sir, I think he's gonna get a lot of Easy Company men killed." "Thank you, Sergeant, that'll be all." "Yes, sir." "I said what I had to say." "There was nothing Winters could do." "He couldn't very well remove a company CO." "Especially a well-connected one because of the misgivings of a company first sergeant." "There's an eighth of a mile of open field to cross before we get down here into Foy." "There's little cover, so move quickly." "There's two sections of light machine guns, either end." "They'll give you covering fire." "3rd Battalion will come from the east led by I Company." "That should cause distraction." "D Company will be in reserve but we shouldn't need them." "You gotta move in there fast." "Get in there before they can bring their mortars and artillery down on you." "Clear?" "Clear." "I'm relying on you." "Get it done." "Covering fire!" "Let's go!" "Keep it moving!" "Suppressing fire!" "Keep moving!" "Move!" "Let's go!" "Suppressing fire!" "Fire!" "Keep them tight, Shames." "Keep moving." "Come on." "Krauts in the open!" "Keep moving!" "Three inside!" "Wait a minute, where's Foley?" "Randleman!" "Liebgott." "Where the hell is 1st Platoon?" "Hold up!" "Keep moving!" "Easy Company, hold up!" "2nd Platoon, hold up!" "Will you move!" "Get me Foley on the radio." "Get out of there!" "Move!" "Sir, I think we should take cover." "Find some cover!" "Find some cover!" "What?" "Stay down!" "Easy Red, Easy Red." "Easy Six." "Over." "Six, Easy Red, go ahead." "Easy Red, Easy Red, stand by for the Six." "Foley, you get back here where I can see you, goddamn it!" "1st Platoon, hold up." "Take cover!" "Martin." "Come on, soldier, with me." "With you, sir." "Fire!" "Fall back!" "Take cover!" "Goddamn it." "Go forward!" "Herron, on me." "Move back." "Stay on my ass." "Hold fast, 2nd Platoon." "Follow Lipton!" "Take cover!" "What are we doing, Lieutenant?" "Why are we stopped?" "Fall back!" "Roger, kidnap." "Standby to Six, Lieutenant, what's the plan?" "I don't know!" "You'd better get Dike on that radio to me now." "Lieutenant, what's the plan?" "Captain Winters, sir." "What's the plan?" "Okay, Foley." "Foley, you take your men on a flanking mission around the village and attack it from the rear." "Dike, we cannot stay here!" "You want 1st Platoon to attack the village, by itself?" "We will provide suppressing fire." "We're gonna be alone out there, Lieutenant." "We will provide suppressing fire!" "Get going forward!" "You need to talk to Captain Winters, sir." "Sir, okay, here it is." "We go on a flanking run in the back of the village and we attack from the rear." "Ramirez, two guys, take them, go." "Find some cover behind the stable." "Go!" "Shit!" "Jesus Christ." "Webb, move up, find cover!" "Suppressing fire, now!" "Perconte!" "I got you." "Give me some cover!" "How you doing, Perconte?" "They shot me in my ass, Martin." "You're all right, stay down!" "I think we lost five men." "Can you locate?" "The building with the caved-in roof." "The building with the caved-in roof." "Sir, we are sitting ducks here." "We have to keep moving!" "You've got to keep moving!" "Dick!" "Captain Winters." "Goddamn it, you do not go out there." "You're the Battalion Commander, now get back here!" "Dick, I understand your attachment to Easy Company..." "Speirs, get yourself over here!" "Get out there and relieve Dike and take that attack on in." "Webb, fall back, you're too exposed." "Come on, Webb, let's go, kid." "Hang on, Perco." "Fire!" "Lieutenant, what are we doing?" "I'm taking over." "First Sergeant Lipton." "What have we got?" "Sir, most of the Company is spread out here." "1st platoon tried an end around but they're stretched out, pinned by a sniper." "I believe he's there at the caved-in roof." "Destroy that building with mortars and grenade launchers." "Then, I want 1st to go in, forget going around." "Everybody else, follow me." "Yes, sir." "Thank God." "All right, 3rd Platoon, let's go!" "All right, you heard the word, 2nd Platoon, on the CO!" "Sergeant Alley!" "Got it, Sarge." "Okay, 1st Platoon, move out!" "On your feet, 2nd Platoon." "Move out!" "Get on your goddamn feet." "Come on!" "Come on, Luz, let's get the bastards." "Fire!" "Come on, move out!" "Fire!" "Take cover!" "Fire!" "Go!" "Go on, come on." "Take the cart out!" "Fire!" "Lipton." "Street fight, Item." "Easy Six, over." "What do you see, Lipton?" "Armor and infantry, a lot of infantry." "I Company's should be on the other side of town." "Do you see any sign of them?" "Radio, anything?" "No, sir." "Sir, I think they're gonna pull back." "We don't connect with I, they'll escape." "That's right, wait here." "Item, Item." "Easy Six." "What the hell?" "At first, the Germans didn't shoot at him." "I think they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing." "But that wasn't the really astounding thing." "The astounding thing was that after he hooked up with I Company he came back." "?" "I've been working on the railroad ?" "?" "All the live long day ?" "?" "I've been working on the railroad ?" "We took over 100 German prisoners." "After that it was mostly clean up." "Let's go, move it, move it!" "Take them down to the barn." "?" "Rise up early in the morn ?" "Sit down." "Sniper!" "Take cover!" "Come on." "Where is he?" "Shit, I can't see him." "Second floor, building on the right." "Don't miss, Shifty." "Now!" "Over here." "I need help over here." "Hey, can you guys get over here and help?" "Mellet, Herron, Sowosko, and Ken Webb were killed by a sniper." "There would've been more if it hadn't been for Shifty Powers." "You hit bad, Perconte?" "Beautiful wound, Lip." "They shot me right through my ass." "You hang tough." "Sarge." "Yeah?" "Is it true about Dike?" "Yeah." "Thank God for small mercies?" "Yeah." "We'd been looking down at Foy for the better part of a month, knowing that's where we had to go." "It was a great relief to have done it." "A lot of the men thought once we'd taken Foy they'd get off the line ship us back to Mourmelon for a breather." "But that wasn't to be." "Two days later, we took Noville, and after that, Rachamps." "We spent our night in Rachamps, in a convent." "It was the first time we'd spent a night indoors in a month." "The sisters there brought in their choir to sing for us." "It was heaven." "The mood of the men was relaxed." "We were finally being relieved and would soon be in Mourmelon." "Of course, in the morning we found out Mourmelon would have to wait." "Hitler had launched a counteroffensive in Alsace and we were bound for the town of Hagenau to help hold the line." "But at least for that night we didn't know it yet." "That night we were okay." "I spent that night trying to come up with a roster for the Company, to see who we had left." "We'd come into Belgium with 121 men and officers plus 24 replacements." "That's 145 total." "We were going out with 63." "Guarnere was badly wounded and Hoobler died accidentally." "Joe Toye had lost his leg." "Among the dead were Herron, Mellet Sowosko, Kenneth Webb, Harold Webb Alex Penkala, and Skip Muck." "Our month in Belgium cost us one good officer, Buck Compton." "And one bad one, Norman Dike." "But we gained a good one in the end, so I guess we came out ahead." "What is it?" "Nothing." "I'd better get back to Battalion before they disappear." "You wanna ask me, don't you?" "Ask you what, sir?" "You wanna know if they're true or not, the stories about me." "Did you ever notice with stories like that everyone says they heard it from someone who was there but then when you ask that person they say they heard it from someone who was there." "It's nothing new, really." "I bet if you went back 2,000 years, you'd hear a couple of centurions yakking about how Tercius lopped off the heads of some Carthaginian prisoners." "Maybe they kept talking about it because they never heard Tercius deny it." "Maybe because Tercius knew there was some value to the men thinking he was the meanest, toughest, son of a bitch in the Roman legion." "Sir?" "These men aren't really concerned about the stories." "They're just glad to have you as our CO." "They're happy to have a good leader again." "From what I've heard, they've always had one." "I've been told there's always been one man they could count on." "Led them in Bois Jacques, held them together when they were shelled in the woods." "Every day he kept his spirits up, kept the men focused, gave them direction." "All the things a good combat leader does." "You don't have any idea who I'm talking about, do you?" "No, sir." "Hell, it was you, First Sergeant." "Ever since Winters made Battalion, you've been the leader of Easy Company." "And you're not gonna be first sergeant much longer." "Sir?" "Winters put in for a Battlefield Commission and Sink approved on your behalf." "You should get the official nod in a few days." "Congratulations, Lieutenant." "Look, it's 1st Battalion." "What do you want?" "Yeah, thanks for crapping in our foxholes, you shitheads." "It's our pleasure." "Enjoy the walk, boys." "There they go, Easy Company."