Retracing Easy Company's steps
Like many history buffs, Pam Walters has seen the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," based on a company of paratroopers in World War II. And as part of a guided tour in Europe, she visited sites where their missions occurred.
Although the miniseries was produced in 2001 by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, it was based on a book by Stephen Ambrose, the late historian and biographer who wrote extensively on military history.
"I've read every book he has written," said Walters of Sarver, explaining her excitement at taking a two-week Band of Brothers trip hosted by Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours.
Ambrose died in 2002, but his family and tour co-founders continue to host a variety of trips.
The Band of Brothers tour follows the footsteps of 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne, E Company, also known as Easy Company. It begins at the site of their basic training in Toccoa, Ga., progressing through the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, through the following year, when Europe was liberated from the Nazis.Walters' trip in September 2006 included flying from Atlanta to Gatwick, United Kingdom, then following Easy Company's path through Normandy, the Netherlands and Germany.There, Walters and 34 others traveled by bus to sites where Easy Company participated in the Battle of Normandy, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge.Sgt. Paul Rogers, a member of Easy Company, attended as one of the tour guides.While traveling, Walters met other Easy Company veterans like Pvt. Edward "Babe" Heffron and Staff Sgt. William "Wild Bill" Guarnere. Those men were among the honored guests at liberation parades and events that coincided with the tour."We show up, and they treat Paul like a superstar," said Walters, explaining how even European children have learned about the veterans as liberators.Walters said Rogers, Heffron and Guarnere also are sometimes viewed as celebrities due to their portrayal in the series. Walters praised the casting, describing how the veterans bore some resemblance to their Hollywood characters.In the case of Guarnere, also nicknamed Gonorrhea "because he runs at the mouth" and because of word similarity, Walters recognized him partly by the fact he is missing his right leg — lost at the Battle of the Bulge. But his playful personality distinguished him more: Arriving in a pub in Holland, Walters said she was hailed from across the room by Guarnere.Although the two had never met, Guarnere shouted "Hey blondie: Get the hell over here!""Oh my God. It's Wild Bill," Walters said.
Although meeting colorful characters brought humor to the tour, destinations also held reminders of many lives lost.One such site was Angoville-au-Plain, Normandy, a town the Germans seized numerous times over a period of days in June 1944.There, the tour group visited a church where some members of Easy ministered to the sick. Although the church since has been embellished with commemorative windows, a more moving remembrance was found inside.A photo in Walters' album shows a distressed wooden pew with a sprawling crimson stain on the seat."In every pew there are permanent blood stains," said Walters, shaken by the dark reminders."I couldn't even take the picture," she said, noting the photo was shared by a fellow traveler.Another example was Brécourt Manor, a farmhouse occupied by German troops during the allied invasion.In a tactic still cited in military training, a small band of Easy Company paratroopers destroyed a large German battery.The house is still owned by the same family, who invited the travelers inside, giving them souvenir bottles of Calvados, an apple brandy, also consumed by soldiers.
"The house is just riddled with shells," Walters said of the private property, accessible to tour-goers through special arrangements.Other destinations include drop sites on the beaches of Normandy and in Holland, some still containing foxholes where the men took cover.Walters said in some locations Rogers could point out his own foxhole as well as those of his peers. Rogers also could point out one of his drop locations.Mark Bielski, director of sales for Stephen Ambrose Tours, said one remarkable thing about World War II paratroopers was the fact they were dropped in volatile areas with little control over their landing spots. As a result, the men were sometimes miles apart, forced to find one another in the dark while vulnerable to attack."The vets tell me when they were dropped in they had no clue where they were. It was all a matter of luck that they all hooked up," Bielski said.At one such location in Holland where Rogers recalls landing, a farmer showed the tour group a World War II parachute he found while plowing.Bielski said the men also are revered for the harsh conditions they endured. As part of the Battle of the Bulge, for instance, the men were sent to the Ardennes region of Belgium during a particularly harsh winter."They slept on the ground," Bielski said. "They would dig makeshift trenches and cover it with pine bows and bundle themselves up for when they went to bed to keep themselves from freezing."Walters said Rogers spoke of the experience during the trip."Paul said this was the worst (experience) of his life," she recalled. "He still wakes up in the middle of the night freezing and dreaming he was there."
As well as visiting many of the key sites where Easy Company served, Walters visited other locations reminiscent of the war.Those include museums, monuments and cemeteries where American soldiers are buried.They also visited the Dachau concentration camp near Munich. Although not a killing camp, thousands did die there from malnutrition and disease. It also was used as a model and training site for other camps that followed, and as such it contained cremation ovens and other disturbing relics."There was complete silence on the bus," Walters said of group's departure. "It was unimaginable. Such horrible things happened."The group also visited Hitler's alpine headquarters in the Bavarian Alps and the nearby Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle's Nest — Hitler's alpine retreat where the group accessed their dining room via gold-plated elevator.In Holland, the group was entertained by a group of re-enactors who used authentic American military gear left behind by World War II soldiers.Members of the tour received replica jackets worn by American soldiers, and Walters' was signed by some of the men of Easy Company.Although the group enjoyed first-class accommodations over the two-week period, Walters said the pace was rigorous: The group often rose at 6 a.m. for a 12-hour touring schedule that began at 8 a.m.As a woman attending the tour alone, Walters initially wondered whether she would be out of place among a potentially largely male audience. But attendees included a contingent of veterans and their wives.Walters recalled how the tour leader addressed the women early on, saying "Ladies, if you're here to shop, there is no shopping. It's all history.""You really have to be into this to want to do it," said Walters, who describes the trip as something she had always dreamed of doing.With a group of younger men also attending the tour, Walters credits the miniseries for drawing attention to a segment of history that many young people might not understand."And that is wonderful," she said. "We need to keep the memories alive."
