Band of Brothers

pp. 21 - 22

Ambrose tells the story of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, in Europe in WWII, from Normandy till they captured Hitler’s perch in Berchtesgaden. The men of “Easy Company,” as is common in wartime fighting units, became extremely close to one another. They had trained and drilled together. They had suffered together. They became “closer than friends, closer than brothers.” They knew each other’s stories, likes and dislikes. “On a night march they would hear a cough and know who it was; on a night maneuver they would see someone sneaking through the woods and know who it was from the silhouette.” Inside the company men would also band up in tighter unites of three or four. They would go hungry for one another, freeze for one another, die for one another. Comradeship in peacetime offers little by way of comparison.