Jodie Burke, one of the producers of "We Stand Alone Together", said that when they arrived at the veterans' homes to film the interviews, there were usually a large number of family members present. At first, the crew thought that maybe they were there in hopes of seeing Tom Hanks or Steven Spielberg but they soon realized that many of the veterans had never talked about their war experiences before these interviews, so the families were there to hear their stories for the first time.
And the interviews would not have happened if the men did not respect Winters so much. He was the one that manage to convince everyone to finally open up. This show would not exist if Winters had died young.
This makes sense to me. Had an older relative who was a tanker in the war, landed at Normandy, fought at battle of the bulge to break the encirclement on the paratroopers, and liberated a camp. That’s about as much as I know. Well that and his tank was an open top variant that they called an open coffin. Just saying this much and he’d get that far away look and you could just see him reliving his experiences. Didn’t have the heart to ask him questions, couldn’t do that to him. All I could do is let him talk about it in his own time and he never did.
@cottonysensation3723 He was probably with a tank destroyer unit, going off of the "open top coffin" comment. There were three major types of tank destroyers that we used in the Second World War, and all three had an open turret. Their general design was based around a lightweight, lightly armored chassis and lightweight turret with a high caliber cannon to pierce German tank armor. The sacrifice of protective armor allowed for greater speed and maneuverability, at the cost of being easily killed by enemy tanks or anti-armor weapons, hence the nickname you've mentioned. The three major tank destroyers we had were called the M10 Gun Motor Carriage, M18 Wolverine, and the M36 Jackson.
2 of my uncles Roy Pickle (Easy Co. 2nd Bn. 506) and Sam Pickle (Able Co. 1st Bn. 506) served in the 101st Airborne. When they returned home in 1946 no one would believe that things they had done like driving around Berchtesgaden in Adolf Hitler's car or raiding Herman Goering's wine cellar.
It's sobering to know that none of these men are alive any more, but we can take heart in the fact that all members of Company E are back together again.
And, out of the blue, on a Friday afternoon in England, I can hardly see through the tears swimming in my eyes. What a lovely way of expressing it, Leon.
Lipton saying the Dutch still love Americans is demonstrated in how they care for the American Cemetery in The Netherlands. There is a waiting list for the Dutch to adopt the grave of an American soldier. They learn everything they can about "their soldier". The soldier's families visit with them and in many cases, they visit the families in America. The significance of wearing the Eagle Patch on the right shoulder is that it denotes the soldier served with that unit in combat. Soldiers who did not serve with the unit in combat would wear the patch on the left shoulder. Many of the actors from Band of Brothers still hold annual reunions, in the Easy Company tradition.
While I was stationed in Germany, I had the good fortune to travel to Bastogne for a memorial hike through the woods surrounding the town as snow rolled in. The Dutch absolutely packed the town and trails for the event, and excitedly thanked us when they discovered we were American military. Everywhere I went there were people dressed up in WW2 US army uniforms marching in formation down the streets, a team was booming blanks out of a howitzer off the side of a trail, and they had jeeps, half-tracks, and even a Sherman tank rumbling around. The hike ended at the museum in town, with hangers full of allied vehicles and equipment. The Dutch were so gracious and proud to have us there, it was truly one of the greatest experiences of my life, and easily my favorite country I've visited.
@@davemac1197 My mistake, it's been many years since I've been over to Europe, and you are right that I have incorrectly lumped Belgium and Netherlands together. I was a clueless 20 year old kid who people were going to their third or fourth language to piece out a conversation with, but be they Belgians, Dutch, or French, everyone there were remarkably kind and welcoming as we shared the day with them
@@justinwoods7754 - if school history was too long ago, Al Murray in this video (in his pub landlord persona) at 1:55 explains Belgium perfectly - th-cam.com/video/_x2ovlPr2IE/w-d-xo.html
You really need to watch Ron Livingston's video diaries of the boot camp the actors had to go through to prepare themselves for shooting this series, its a really good little mini-documentary
When Shifty's kids say "It never even occured to us that Shifty killed people." always resonates with me. My grandfather had a cane as long as he lived during my lifetime. I just assumed it was because he was old. When he died in 2000, I saw pictures of him when he was in his early 30's in the 1950's with the same cane. I asked my dad about it, and he told me Grandpa's leg was mostly torn off on Juno beach on D-day by a machine gun so he's always had a cane. I was 15 when he died and I never even knew until his funeral he had been in combat, nevermind shot.
My Grandfather was part of the 20th Combat Engineers. He was part of the first wave to storm Omaha Beach. He was given a Silver Star for his actions. He was wounded by a sniper in the Ardennes. He was sent home. He also served during the Korean War. He passed away in 2006 at 90 years old.
There doesn’t have to be a single word to describe Winters. He was deeply rooted, a man of integrity, intelligence. He embodies the words strength and leadership. He’s the type of person who, if he makes a promise or commitment, he keeps it, come hell or high water. You just get that sense from listening to him and watching him.
Jacqui, I've watched all of your reactions to Masters of the Air and Band of Brothers. Thank you for your open and honest emotions along with your technical perspective behind and in front of the camera. I learned a lot! I'm 70 years old and this series, along with your reactions, have made me think a lot about my dad. He was a Second Lieutenant in a rifle company with the 63rd Infantry Division (same rank and function as Buck Compton). Towards the last six months of the war, they were in the same region as the 101st Airborne. Like most Baby Boomer boys, we asked our dads about the war, and most of them just mentioned the funny parts and went on about life. There were hints here and there that I wasn't getting the whole picture. I remember right before Christmas when I was 9 or 10, seeing my dad looking out of our darkened dining room window one evening during a heavy snowfall. Thinking he was just enjoying the snow, I yelled, "Hey Dad, do you want to watch TV?" He flinched and looked at me with a cold stare I'll never forget. A few seconds went by and after a heavy breath he said, "What do you want?" All of the details started to come out as he reached his 90s, and I couldn't believe some of the things I was hearing. After my mom died, I was visiting him at his senior living place out of state. We were watching football, and out of the blue, he said, "You know . . . you're always asking me about the war. Think about how it makes you feel seeing stacks of human beings. (The 63rd Division also liberated one of the camps at the Kaufering Complex as shown in Episode 9 of BOB.) Once that image and stench gets in here and here (pointing to his head and heart), it never goes away. I still wake up at night hoping I can forget it, but I can't." Just as quickly as he said it, he went back to watching football. He had a hell of a life and lived to be 101! So, thank you for paying homage to The Greatest Generation. My dad would be very grateful to you and proud of you, as am I. You have a wonderful life and career ahead of you!
I was in the 506th PIR before it deactivated in the late 1990s. Yes, they marched 118 miles in three days. Lt. Col. Sink wanted to break a record set by another unit. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th Battalions of the 506th flew from Camp Toccoa to Atlanta. From there they took a bus to Ft. Benning. The 3rd Battalion marched the entire distance. In freezing rain. Every man completed the march. All but four unaided.
I enjoyed watching both The Pacific and Masters of the Air, but this right here is what Band of Brothers has over those two shows. Listening to the actual guys telling their stories and tearing up as certain painful memories come back to them is just extremely powerful, and it makes the whole viewing experience so much more personal.
"In 2002, Ambrose was accused of plagiarizing several passages in his book The Wild Blue.[56][57] Fred Barnes reported in The Weekly Standard that Ambrose had taken passages from Wings of Morning" Ambrose was a Plagerist
My Grandfather fought in New Guinea with 2/4 Commando Coy (Australian Army) in WW2 & he give me the nickname Kickall after a mate he lost in the war. This is the only story I know as he never spoke about the war even after I joined the Army and was deployed multiple times. He and Kickall were manning an OP and 1 of them had to go back to get rations, water and to bring their relief up. Kickall told my Grandfather to go. Shortly after, when back at the posn, they heard a huge commotion of gunfire. They deployed the Pl and found Kickall dead. He always believed I was his mate reincarnated because from a very young age I always wanted to join the Army. As a kid, the gravity of having the name bestowed upon me never gripped me. It wasn't till I lost a mate on deployment I knew how special that name is. I regret never talking more to Grandfather about it so I could honour the memory of his mate. I have his name as a nickname and I know nothing about the man, not even how to spell the name correctly.
I served 20 years in the Army and deployed five times to places like Afghanistan and Iraq. I want to thank you for spending the time to make these videos and help tell the story of these Soldiers and their sacrifices. The worst thing a society could ever do to a Veteran is to forget them. So for me as a Veteran it is very refreshing to see someone your age care so much about these men and their story.
Ambrose copied David Kenyon Webster memoirs. That is why it seems so real. Because it was. Webster's family got NOTHING from Ambrose. HE STOLE A VETERANS STORY
Oh, when they showed a picture of one of the men in a bed (cot), with a box of bottles around him and him looking a bit fuzzy in the eyes. That was Nixon. I only know this because I read Ambrose's book A Band of Brothers and the middle of the book had multiple pictures with info for each.
Jacqui Ed Tipper was the man who gotten hurt during an explosion in earlier episode (Carentan). He survived the blast. His daughter, Kerry Tipper is a lawyer today, and she works for City of Denver, Colorado as Deputy City Attorney. Ed was 62 when Kerry was born. She is 40. Her father lived to be 95 until 2017.
Jacqui Year after this series premiered and end, during 2002's Primetime Emmys, Band of Brothers won Best Series or Miniseries. Everyone involved in production including Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg went up onstage. Both Hanks & Spielberg had their special guest accept the award. Special guest was Richard "Dick" Winters. He made an acceptance speech as his men, (then surviving members) sitting at a nearby hotel simulcasted as Winters made the speech. Audience, mostly celebrities at the time gave them major standing ovation by winning an award the world from a madman aka Greatest Generation.
I've watched quite a few reactions to BOB, but yours was the best. Your insights into the story telling and cinematography adds a lot to my enjoyment of the series.
Thank you. I really enjoyed watching this series with you, young lady. The admiration and respect you showed the men of my father's generation was a beautiful thing. They never really talked about it. They just came home and got on with their lives. Oh, and they made us baby boomers. Sadly, we have so few of our greatest generation left with us; however, this series did them a great service by keeping their memory alive for future generations to honor. Now that I'm rounding third, I'm glad I've been able to pass their story on to my children and grandchildren. (I watch this with them every year starting on June 6th.) CURRAHEE 🦅
I have so loved being on this journey with seeing your honest soul felt reactions to this. Plus with your knowledge and film skills you have gifted these reactions with a rare insight. I thank you so much for investing the emotional energy into this and the appreciation of the veterans portrayed here. You might like to know there is a recently filmed documentary with the actors reuniting after 22 years and going through real jump training over 3 months and actually parachuting into Normandy to celebrate the recent D-Day anniversary in June 2024. Worth a watch as these actors have still been touched by the people they portrayed decades later. The Pacific is in the same mould. Real people with real events and filmed " up the road" so to speak as a lot of Hollywood productions are filmed in Gold Coast and Queensland areas where I live. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and Tom Hanks in Elvis to name heaps more. Thank you for this and The Pacific is just breath taking. Like "Flag of our Fathers" but true events. Thanks for your heartfelt investment in what you do, you are awesome. Cheers from Australia and the Gold Coast.
Loved everything about Band of Brothers, including this documentary. Just wish I was articulate enough to express just how much this has affected me. The real men of Easy Co. and the actors and production crews responsible for this, have given us a gift that will last a lifetime. It also amazes me how events have repeated themselves. The men of Easy Co. developed a bond among themselves because of their shared experiences and they had reunions for years. Now the actors who portrayed them and did such a spectacular job, seem to have developed a similar bond among themselves. They too hold reunions now. That speaks volumes on how special the story of Easy Co. is.
I recently found out about the Band of Brothers Podcast. Each episode (also 10 parts) features one or two of the actors, a writer, or Tom Hanks. That series was maybe my favorite scrap of media I’ve taken in the past few years. You mentioned the real footage and the show’s near perfect portrayal for that first jump. Every actor in the podcast goes a bit into detail of the “boot camp” put on by another one of the actors (I won’t spoil who), that really sold the actors and everyone involved on the importance of accuracy to what they were doing. Whether you react to it or not, I think you would enjoy listening to it. Yes, it’s about the actors and their portrayal, but it is also full of great memories of the real Easy guys - reportedly Babe Heffron (the guy singing at the end of this), and Wild Bill were absolute riots around the actors and during the premiers. The episode featuring the actor that played Wild Bill is just phenomenal, and heart-wrenching like all of this is, but I’m sure you would enjoy it. I’m no actor, but the way people who worked on the B.o.B talk about it, say it was more than a job. Other films/roles, even for method actors, they’ll finish the movie then be done with that character. But the B.o.B experience was a major highlight for all of them especially early in their careers. Also Tom Hanks is just wonderful. Both my grandfathers fought in Europe. One an infantryman, the other Tank driver. I had a closer relationship with the former infantryman and spent the better part of my childhood in his and my grandmother’s home. I’ll never forget his words that echoed Shifty Powers’ sentiment, “we might’ve been good friends, but we had jobs to do and we couldn’t be friends,” that I got out of him while doing a research project on WW2. He didn’t share much with me or anyone on the matter. But the podcast revealed to me how that was a widespread phenomenon with most of these men having no intention of sharing any of that time with family or friends bc of how painful a lot of that time was for them. I have the upmost respect for anyone in their position.
My grandfather didn’t talk about the war because he figured no one was interested. I only found out that was the case when I had the one conversation about it with him I ever got to have, before he died. He was part of an amphibious landing in New Guinea with the Australian 2nd Infantry. Their landing boats got attacked by Japanese planes; the boat immediately next to his got nailed by a bomb and blown to pieces. He and all his mates were sure they were going to die until the allied planes arrived in time to chase the Japanese out of the sky. I wonder how many stories he had that he didn’t tell, that he might have wanted to tell, that he didn’t because he didn’t think anyone was interested. I think about that a lot.
My granddad worked with the resistance. I only found out, by chance, on an intercontinental nightflight. I spent the whole night conversating with a jewish resistance fighter. She was at that time 92 and still traveling solo. When she asked where i came from. And started to describe things we worked out she was talking about my granddad. I later confirmed it with known ex resistance fighters
The last member (Bradford Freeman who as far as I know wasn't ever mentioned but he was portrayed in the series) Passed away in 2022. Pretty soon we won't have anyone left from the war and that'll be a sad but thankfully there are so many great memorials and museums to all the WW2 vets both state side and across the pond worth visiting. I went to the beaches for the 80th anniversary this year and it was amazing, and I was in Bastogne back in 2017 walking through the woods and that's one of the most sobering feelings especially alone, all the trees lined up, the foxes holes still in place (although some are from reenactors) knowing what happened there's just a "feeling" in those woods but still a recommended visit.
The History Underground TH-cam channel is an excellent resource. Doesn't just cover Easy Company, but does cover them quite a lot. Goes to the real locations as they are today, such as the Eagles Nest, which is now a museum. Shows you round, often takes objects back to the place they came from (not to leave there, just to highlight them). Excellent!!
Shifty Powers seemed like such a gentle soul. I think it's a great example of how well they were able to capture the essenence of these characters; we really don't see Shifty that much in the series, but you really do get that sense.
Out of 139 who jumped, 20 men were killed, including the CO, on June 6, 1944. That's 14% killed on the first day. Another 43 had been wounded, for a total casualty rate of 47%.
Winters wondering if he had done this instead of that maybe more men would have gone home. That haunting question is part of what made him a great leader. He loved his men.
Winters was from my hometown of Lancaster, PA. Garnier joked about him being Mennonite from Lancaster County. He wasnt, but as he says there was a work ethic from this area that lasted a good long time, my Grandfather was of Winters Generation, but he was in the Coal Region up north at the time. He got on a bus to Harrisburg to enlist with 50 guys, he ended up coming back with one other guy. They didn't clear the medical. He spent the war in Philly at the shipyard as a welder.
Ron Livingston (Capt Nixon) was selected to make a video diary of the actors that portrayed the men of Easy Company as they went through a ten day crash course training program to get thier mind sets ready for making the mini-series..... It's pretty funny and interesting if you get a chance to watch it... It's here on TH-cam, just search Ron Livingston band of brothers boot camp video diary
Jacqui, to make the actors’ portrayal believable the Producers sent the main cast to boot camp. They learned WW2 Army tactics and weapons and even did a little bit of Airborne training. Ron Livingston, who played Nixon, was given a camera by HBO to document the boot camp. You might want to consider watching it and perhaps reacting to it. The cast members, even 20 years later, are just as close as Easy Company. They get together as often as they can here in the US or in the UK (great deal of the cast were British doing American accents). Several cast members also show up as discussion groups regarding BoB. There are several videos of them discussing the mini-series and answering questions from the audience. You might want to check that out in your spare time.
Rod Bain (shown at beginning of this documentary, but not shown in the series) was a teacher/administrator at my high school in Anchorage, AK. Since seeing/discovering this, I wish I would have known so I could have talked with him and shown him the respect he deserved.
I served in the Navy during the Cold War. I was stationed at Pearl Harbor in 1991 for the 50th Anniversary. I had the honor of meeting and hearing stories of some of the surviors of December 7, 1941. It is sad that all of these men are now gone.
I never met my great-grandfather. He passed long before I was born. But my great uncle told me the few stories he had shared. He served in the Pacific. The only island he referred to was New Guinea. He disassembled two Type 99 rifles and mailed them back to my great grandmother, one piece at a time. He smuggled the stocks and barrels in his duffel, then he reassembled them when he got home. He was on a troop ship when they witnessed a battleship's live fire gunnery practice with the main battery. The ship was pushed sideways with each full broadside. My great uncle swore it was _Iowa,_ but we'll never really know. I should really look up his service record.
the saddest part of this awsome documentary was when johnny martin said we dident figure we had a chance to come home and then he started to cry wich broke me down and made me cry alot to😢😢😢😭😭😭
"I wore that eagle on my right shoulder for 18 years." Soldiers wear a patch on their left shoulder designating the unit they are currently assigned to. They are allowed to wear the patch of any unit they have been in combat with on their right shoulder. Soldiers who have been in combat with multiple units can decide which one they wear. Depending on a soldier's history, which patch is on their right shoulder can say a lot about them.
Moe Alley was depicted in Crossroads in the very beginning as the guy who was wounded and brought into the house when Winters assembled the squad that hit the machine gun. They talked about it in the food line in the Breaking Point episode where they were discussing wounds. Ed Tipper, the interviewee who went to Normandy with his Daughter, was the man in Carentan that was in the store front when the artillery exploded. Joe Liebgott took care of him. If you want to hear a great story, look up the small documentary about Brécourt Manor on TH-cam. There is so much more about that place and its family that is fascinating, and a bit inspiring.
grandpa didn’t talk about the war, except Holland he loved being in holland. Kept in touch with the family he stayed with. The grand children all keep in touch today
I've recently found out that a private organization has bought the old Toccoa camp and is restoring it as a memorial. I wouldn't be surprised if the scenes at Toccoa were shot on-site.
Then you might be surprised most locations were actually in England. None of it was filmed in the US. Most of the series was shot on the former Hatfield aerodome in England, which is now a film studio but was the De Havilland Aircraft Company factory during WW2 building Mosquitos. For a short period during my childhood in the 1960s we lived in the nearby town of St Albans (famous as Roman 'Verulamium' and one of three Roman settlements Boudica destroyed during her AD 60-61 revolt against the Roman occupation) where we were living directly under the flight path of another nearby airfield on the other side of town at Radlett, which hosted the Handley Page aircraft factory building the Cold War Victor nuclear bomber at the time. On the outdoor set at Hatfield Hanks and Spielberg built a town originally for filming Saving Private Ryan and reused it again for Band of Brothers, constantly rebuilding it to represent different towns and cities in Europe. The scenes running up 'Currahee' were shot in Bourne Woods, near Farnham in Surrey. 'Aldbourne' is actually the village of Hambleden in Buckinghamshire. The airfield scenes at the end of Episode 1 were filmed at the North Weald airfield in Essex. The snowy woods set for 'Bastogne' was completely fake built inside a large hangar at Hatfield. The church interior used for Bastogne was the St Sepulchre's Chapel in the church of St Mary Magdalene, in Paddington, London. The lake in the final episode was Brienz, in Switzerland, the only time they went abroad from England for filming. This was used for the Germany and Austria scenes, and its Hotel Giessbach is used for 'Zell Am See'.
Sadly ithe film studio is no longer either. It was only ever used for filming Saving Private Ryan and a Band of Brothers. The old airfield is now a mixture of housing, industrial units, the sports centre and other buildings for the University Of Herts. There is a large area of open parklands for the public to use that would have been where some of the sets were built. A couple of listed buildings remain including the "hospital" where Blithe ends up. It is now part of Hatfield police station! There is one large aircraft hanger still left and the old control tower. Don't know if it was the hanger used for the winter sets or not, but it is now a David Lloyd sports facility.
@@Stuski666 - oh well, on with the recycling... Thanks for the updates. There's an old saying - 'never go back!' I'm sure I wouldn't recognise St Albans today as I no longer recognise much of my country from the 1960s.
Several barracks have been rebuilt on the original camp site. The trail up the mountain is open also. I've been several times and have done "3 miles up, 3 miles down". That mountain is no joke.
@@davemac1197 I think you'd be surprised. Much of the city centre hasn't changed. Some shops and businesses have come and gone. Some of the pubs have gone but there are also new ones. There's new housing estates and redevelopments in and around the city. The cinema on London Road was reopened a few years ago after falling into disrepair. St .Albans. is still a great place for a night out. Have a look on Street View😊
If you enjoyed the documentary, I would like to suggest one that my father and I watched in the seventies when I was a kid. World At War (Unsure how many episodes there were). I believe it was done by the BBC and they show actual footage and talk to American, British, French, German, etc. soldiers who survived WWII. The Title sequence is very haunting, including the music, but you learn so much from it. Even if you don't watch it on Movie Night, I think you would find it very illuminating.
So glad you went ahead and watched this, too, and thank you for sharing your reaction with us. As a US Army veteran myself, it does my heart good to see the younger generation paying homage to these heroes.
Thank you for watching the doc and having a very intelligent and open mind with this series. This series means a lot to vets and it is still super interesting hearing civilian or military contrasting perspectives
Winters had "presence." Some leaders have that charisma, that force of personality, that will bring others to literally lay down their lives. An extraordinary man.
You did an amazing job with this series. I also liked the Masters of the Air reaction. BOB was an incredible experience because of your background and your compassion and honesty. Thank you,!!!!!!
The museum in Louisiana was offering a tour package of Easy Company from Nomandt to the Eagels nest. From what I recall it included the bus food and hotel. And them they would have member of the crew and show along the way. The history channel had a couple series called WW2 in color both for the ground war and sir war.
I loved the series, loved this documentary and loved your reaction. There are so few survivors left today but as long as one WWII vet is alive the story is still being written. Only when the last is gone can that war be considered history. And what a sad day that will be.
There was a special screening for the remaining members of easy company and their families in Normandy (not sure if that’s correct) of the first episode. They also did something similar for the Emmy’s when the series won best mini series. It’s in the special features on the Band of Brothers DVD
The twists and turns of history and the human propensity to try and shape it to fit within whichever ideology is popular at the time will never fade. Every generation has the foe and the fight leaving those whom have the will to resist as heroes. Easy sits squarely centre stage to highlight the suffering of brinkmanship. On another point...Tom Hanks has made 3 true life stories about WWII in B.O.B., the Pacific and Masters however let us not forget his other big to this generation's service, Greyhound. A fantastic movie about the longest battle of WWII. It is a great gift to history to have these 4 pieces of art tell the stories otherwise forgotten.
There's also a clip of BoB winning the Emmy's with Winter's speech (TH-cam), Ron Livingston's bootcamp video diaries (also TH-cam) and of course the podcast which came out in 2021 on honor of the 20th anniversary of Band of Brothers.
I watched this series when it first aired on HBO. The showed Episodes 1 & 2 on the same night. In addition, they set up an outdoor theater and brought many of the surviving members of Easy to watch the premier , and showed them watching. I don't know if they did something similar for the other episodes, but I do believe they did see the end product. And if I'm not mistaken, many of the actors spent some time with those they were portraying. That was something that was really driven home to me by this series. Each part was not a character. You usually find that main characters have 'plot armor', so unless it's the part to motivate another character, they'll be hurt, but make it to the end. This was history. No one had plot armor. If they survived, they made it to the end. However, some don't. And that's not just war, that's life.
I second the suggestion to watch Ron Livingston's video diary of the boot camp experiences the cast had to go through. Fascinating. As a film student, it would be right up your alley. Lots of behind the scenes stuff from the cast.
Spielberg did a mini series about five Hollywood directors that were employed by the War Department to film newsreels of the war. They are some big names a film student probably knows, John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. It is well worth a watch to see how it shaped them and their films after the war. Examples are "The Best Years of Our Lives" and "It's a Wonderful Life", both amazing and heavily influenced by the directors' experiences in the war.
Jaqui took her sweet time putting these out, but I have to say: I've watched BoB once a year for several years, and I've watched more reactions to BoB than to anything else on TH-cam, and hers is *easily* among the top three. I loved her attention to detail and her knowledgeability about film-making, but most of all I enjoyed her genuine human reactions and insightful commentary. Top-shelf human being right there.
It's mentioned in one of the DVD extras that the first premiere of the series for people outside of the people involved in the production of the series was on 06.06.2001 in the Omaha beach memorial museum. The guests of honor, actual men of the Easy company and their families.
Yes, it was actual footage, of paratroopers, the producers demanded that the equipment was as exact as possible. Now the tanks, and other armored was close as possible, because there just aren’t that many left, so they improvised as closely as the could to the original equipment. You are doing a great job, keep it up. 👍
Your comment at the end of the review of Ep#10 "lightning in a bottle" is absolutely correct. I loved Masters of the Ari...but NOTHING can match Band of Brothers. And the warp with those final words from Dick Winters just gut me....every....single....time....I hear them. Waterworks on! Thanks for an excellent respectful review of BoB and MotA. Peace.
You know it bothers me still and I'm 66 years old, when people say thank you for your service. I didn't serve during a war. I don't deserve that respect. That's for men who died in service of their country. Go to a cemetery, place flowers on a hero's grave and say a little prayer for them and their families. When I was in, there was a massive flood in Colorado. It took out the highway north of Denver. A car in front of me went off the highway rolled down the bank and ended up in the river. My buddy was next to me. I stopped we both jumped out and ended up in the river after we put our feet in. It was so strong it just pulled us both in. We got this young woman out through the window. It was full of water and the roof was crushed. We're hanging on to her she was limp and in shock. Then all these people were on the shore and they made a line all the way to us. And we got her in that way. One at a time just getting pulled along a row of bodies. A few weeks later she left a message for me at my apartment and at the barracks for my friend and all it said was thank you for saving my life.. the air Force found out and wanted to give us both some kind of medal but both of us refused. We were just at the right place and time but if it weren't for those strangers that got us back on dry land none of us would've made it. It's just what people do when things like that happen. She thanked us for helping her and that was way more than a medal or anything else. I do wish I would've gotten my jacket back that I put on her to keep her warm. I really loved that jacket. She was in shock though and needed it more than me.
Ed Tipper, the one with the daughter who speaks about him too, is the guy who got blown up in the Carentan episode inside the shop and walks out with the tinnitus effect.
Seeing Tiper perfectly fine in these interviews compared to how his injuries were described in the books, and seeing it in the show is always a head turner when you realize that's him.
Best way to do it, watching everything in this exact order. Enjoyed these reactions, glad you could experience these men’s lives. If I could recommend anything next I would say the Pacific (with intros from vets). Another side of WWII but just on the pacific front. Lots of incredibly honorable and brave men over there.
Winters is the pure definition of Leadership. Not only does he inspire his men, he actually loves them enough to feel the weight of his decisions in real time without becoming paralyzed and not acting at all.
I've mentioned in another of your videos but i want to say again to put it out there; I'd love to see you cover the miniseries 'Generation Kill' a war miniseries like band of brothers about a Marine unit in the '03 invasion into Iraq
You need to watch it through at least 3 times to pick up on little details and such. This series impacted me so much I've literally watched 20 plus times. It started when it debuted on HBO, then I bought th VHS box set, then the DVDs, and now streaming. I like watching other people enjoy this journey.
👍 In addition to Ron Livingston’s “diary” video while making BoB, I’ve seen several videos of the actors discussing their roles and how they interacted with the real soldiers. Fascinating stuff.
There are some great books out there about the men of Easy Company, including the book Band Of Brothers, which the series was based upon. My two favorites books, though, are about Richard Winters. The first is Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters, written by Winters and Colonel Cole C. Kingseed; the other book Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led The Band of Brothers, by Larry Alexander. I once saw a picture of some of the men from Easy Company sitting on the balcony of the Eagle's Nest drinking Hiler's champagne to celebrate the end of the war in Europe. The caption read "You may be cool, but you will never be as cool as the men of Easy Company sitting on the balcony of the Eagle's Nest, drinking Hitler's champagne."
I saw one interview with an army medic in the pacific, he said dying soldiers always cried out for their mothers and he never heard one cry for their fathers.
Some people just have that ability to command via the respect and trust they engender with their men. Winters just had that quiet competence that others saw and knew they could trust him to make quick yet correct decisions in combat situations.
I believe they all did attend a premiere. Winters spoke on stage when they accepted their Emmy for Best series. You should check it out. The rest of easy company was shown live at a hotel.
I’m going to Normandy next month. Gonna be a very powerful experience. My uncle was there on D-Day in the Navy clearing mines. Gonna make sure & check out the Dick Winters statue.
Thanks again for all your reactions. Ya done good! Part of what makes the Greatest Generation so great is what they did after the war. So many of them went into construction. Many became teachers. Others continued serving their fellow Americans in civil service. They did it without fanfare. They did it not for recognition. They did it because they had seen the worst destruction man can see and wanted to rebuild the world.
Dont forget to watch Ron Livingstones behind the scenes documentary. Its about how the cast all lived and trained together like WW2 soldiers, to be Easy Company. Definitely worth a watch!
when you look deep at history you find a lot of information that most people don't know. but from just series like this, movies like all quiet on the western front, 1917, dunkirk, etc, or music like sabaton. you start to realise that outside of the politics or the motives, if you look at the average person and some of their achievements in those wars, both those wars are basically a greek age of heroes on a global scale.
Quite possibly the best mini-series ever created. I got to shake Dick Winters hand at a WW2 event in Washington...I was humbled and could only say "Thank you so much for your service".
When you walk on the grounds of Tyne Cot cemetery or Normandy America cemetery or any war cemetery from either first or second World War and you see the names and ages of those who died you freeze up. Doesn't matter if they're Belgian, British, French, American, or even Germans... they were so young, and to realize they died at the same age i am now is sad. So we can only do as much as remember and respect them with everything we have!
If you are okay with war movie recommendations, I highly suggest the following: THE DEER HUNTER (1978), PATHS OF GLORY (1957), THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (the 1930 version specifically), BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989), and also HACKSAW RIDGE (2016).
I think honor is a good word to describe Winters. He has high regard and respect for those around him that have earned it. It’s a word that’s not often used anymore, why a shame.
There are reports of young men who killed themselves when they weren't allowed to join those who were trying to stop the madness I know the pain of Frostbite. Thankfully, I still have all of my fingers and toes. There is nerve damage that I still deal with from 1979. But you can't imagine what it felt like at the time. Nearly cost me seven fingers and eight toes.. I can't imagine what it was like for those brave young men. Not being able to have the time to save themeselves of loss of extremacies.
Jodie Burke, one of the producers of "We Stand Alone Together", said that when they arrived at the veterans' homes to film the interviews, there were usually a large number of family members present. At first, the crew thought that maybe they were there in hopes of seeing Tom Hanks or Steven Spielberg but they soon realized that many of the veterans had never talked about their war experiences before these interviews, so the families were there to hear their stories for the first time.
And the interviews would not have happened if the men did not respect Winters so much. He was the one that manage to convince everyone to finally open up. This show would not exist if Winters had died young.
This makes sense to me. Had an older relative who was a tanker in the war, landed at Normandy, fought at battle of the bulge to break the encirclement on the paratroopers, and liberated a camp. That’s about as much as I know. Well that and his tank was an open top variant that they called an open coffin. Just saying this much and he’d get that far away look and you could just see him reliving his experiences. Didn’t have the heart to ask him questions, couldn’t do that to him. All I could do is let him talk about it in his own time and he never did.
@cottonysensation3723 He was probably with a tank destroyer unit, going off of the "open top coffin" comment. There were three major types of tank destroyers that we used in the Second World War, and all three had an open turret. Their general design was based around a lightweight, lightly armored chassis and lightweight turret with a high caliber cannon to pierce German tank armor. The sacrifice of protective armor allowed for greater speed and maneuverability, at the cost of being easily killed by enemy tanks or anti-armor weapons, hence the nickname you've mentioned. The three major tank destroyers we had were called the M10 Gun Motor Carriage, M18 Wolverine, and the M36 Jackson.
@@robertlanning7612 thank you for the information! I’ve always wondered about this
2 of my uncles Roy Pickle (Easy Co. 2nd Bn. 506) and Sam Pickle (Able Co. 1st Bn. 506) served in the 101st Airborne.
When they returned home in 1946 no one would believe that things they had done like driving around Berchtesgaden in Adolf Hitler's car or raiding Herman Goering's wine cellar.
It's sobering to know that none of these men are alive any more, but we can take heart in the fact that all members of Company E are back together again.
And, out of the blue, on a Friday afternoon in England, I can hardly see through the tears swimming in my eyes. What a lovely way of expressing it, Leon.
theyre all gone? :(
@@Scoobydcs I'm afraid so
I just checked, there are only 24 WWII vets worldwide still alive.
If there's one thing in this world I'm sure of, it's that Richard Winters went to his grave remembering the names of every man lost under his command.
Lipton saying the Dutch still love Americans is demonstrated in how they care for the American Cemetery in The Netherlands. There is a waiting list for the Dutch to adopt the grave of an American soldier. They learn everything they can about "their soldier". The soldier's families visit with them and in many cases, they visit the families in America. The significance of wearing the Eagle Patch on the right shoulder is that it denotes the soldier served with that unit in combat. Soldiers who did not serve with the unit in combat would wear the patch on the left shoulder. Many of the actors from Band of Brothers still hold annual reunions, in the Easy Company tradition.
Wow. Bless them. Fantastic people! Love the Dutch as an American
While I was stationed in Germany, I had the good fortune to travel to Bastogne for a memorial hike through the woods surrounding the town as snow rolled in. The Dutch absolutely packed the town and trails for the event, and excitedly thanked us when they discovered we were American military. Everywhere I went there were people dressed up in WW2 US army uniforms marching in formation down the streets, a team was booming blanks out of a howitzer off the side of a trail, and they had jeeps, half-tracks, and even a Sherman tank rumbling around. The hike ended at the museum in town, with hangers full of allied vehicles and equipment. The Dutch were so gracious and proud to have us there, it was truly one of the greatest experiences of my life, and easily my favorite country I've visited.
@@justinwoods7754 - the Dutch packed the town in Bastogne? Are you sure most them were not Belgians?
@@davemac1197 My mistake, it's been many years since I've been over to Europe, and you are right that I have incorrectly lumped Belgium and Netherlands together. I was a clueless 20 year old kid who people were going to their third or fourth language to piece out a conversation with, but be they Belgians, Dutch, or French, everyone there were remarkably kind and welcoming as we shared the day with them
@@justinwoods7754 - if school history was too long ago, Al Murray in this video (in his pub landlord persona) at 1:55 explains Belgium perfectly - th-cam.com/video/_x2ovlPr2IE/w-d-xo.html
You really need to watch Ron Livingston's video diaries of the boot camp the actors had to go through to prepare themselves for shooting this series, its a really good little mini-documentary
YES!! The entire documentary footage of his is on TH-cam. It shows Dale Dye’s & the actor’s commitment to the project.
Yeah! I agree. It's very funny as well.
When Shifty's kids say "It never even occured to us that Shifty killed people." always resonates with me. My grandfather had a cane as long as he lived during my lifetime. I just assumed it was because he was old. When he died in 2000, I saw pictures of him when he was in his early 30's in the 1950's with the same cane. I asked my dad about it, and he told me Grandpa's leg was mostly torn off on Juno beach on D-day by a machine gun so he's always had a cane.
I was 15 when he died and I never even knew until his funeral he had been in combat, nevermind shot.
My Grandfather was part of the 20th Combat Engineers. He was part of the first wave to storm Omaha Beach. He was given a Silver Star for his actions. He was wounded by a sniper in the Ardennes. He was sent home. He also served during the Korean War. He passed away in 2006 at 90 years old.
There doesn’t have to be a single word to describe Winters. He was deeply rooted, a man of integrity, intelligence. He embodies the words strength and leadership. He’s the type of person who, if he makes a promise or commitment, he keeps it, come hell or high water. You just get that sense from listening to him and watching him.
Jacqui, I've watched all of your reactions to Masters of the Air and Band of Brothers. Thank you for your open and honest emotions along with your technical perspective behind and in front of the camera. I learned a lot! I'm 70 years old and this series, along with your reactions, have made me think a lot about my dad. He was a Second Lieutenant in a rifle company with the 63rd Infantry Division (same rank and function as Buck Compton). Towards the last six months of the war, they were in the same region as the 101st Airborne. Like most Baby Boomer boys, we asked our dads about the war, and most of them just mentioned the funny parts and went on about life. There were hints here and there that I wasn't getting the whole picture. I remember right before Christmas when I was 9 or 10, seeing my dad looking out of our darkened dining room window one evening during a heavy snowfall. Thinking he was just enjoying the snow, I yelled, "Hey Dad, do you want to watch TV?" He flinched and looked at me with a cold stare I'll never forget. A few seconds went by and after a heavy breath he said, "What do you want?" All of the details started to come out as he reached his 90s, and I couldn't believe some of the things I was hearing. After my mom died, I was visiting him at his senior living place out of state. We were watching football, and out of the blue, he said, "You know . . . you're always asking me about the war. Think about how it makes you feel seeing stacks of human beings. (The 63rd Division also liberated one of the camps at the Kaufering Complex as shown in Episode 9 of BOB.) Once that image and stench gets in here and here (pointing to his head and heart), it never goes away. I still wake up at night hoping I can forget it, but I can't." Just as quickly as he said it, he went back to watching football. He had a hell of a life and lived to be 101! So, thank you for paying homage to The Greatest Generation. My dad would be very grateful to you and proud of you, as am I. You have a wonderful life and career ahead of you!
I was in the 506th PIR before it deactivated in the late 1990s. Yes, they marched 118 miles in three days. Lt. Col. Sink wanted to break a record set by another unit. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th Battalions of the 506th flew from Camp Toccoa to Atlanta. From there they took a bus to Ft. Benning. The 3rd Battalion marched the entire distance. In freezing rain. Every man completed the march. All but four unaided.
I enjoyed watching both The Pacific and Masters of the Air, but this right here is what Band of Brothers has over those two shows. Listening to the actual guys telling their stories and tearing up as certain painful memories come back to them is just extremely powerful, and it makes the whole viewing experience so much more personal.
"In 2002, Ambrose was accused of plagiarizing several passages in his book The Wild Blue.[56][57] Fred Barnes reported in The Weekly Standard that Ambrose had taken passages from Wings of Morning"
Ambrose was a Plagerist
Ron Livingston shot a video diary of the training they did prior to shooting. Well worth watching. It is available on TH-cam.
Yes! I love rewatching it.
My Grandfather fought in New Guinea with 2/4 Commando Coy (Australian Army) in WW2 & he give me the nickname Kickall after a mate he lost in the war. This is the only story I know as he never spoke about the war even after I joined the Army and was deployed multiple times.
He and Kickall were manning an OP and 1 of them had to go back to get rations, water and to bring their relief up. Kickall told my Grandfather to go. Shortly after, when back at the posn, they heard a huge commotion of gunfire. They deployed the Pl and found Kickall dead.
He always believed I was his mate reincarnated because from a very young age I always wanted to join the Army. As a kid, the gravity of having the name bestowed upon me never gripped me. It wasn't till I lost a mate on deployment I knew how special that name is.
I regret never talking more to Grandfather about it so I could honour the memory of his mate. I have his name as a nickname and I know nothing about the man, not even how to spell the name correctly.
2/4th were at Lae/Salamaua and then Finschhafen, weren't they? Your Grandfather must've been quite a man.
I served 20 years in the Army and deployed five times to places like Afghanistan and Iraq. I want to thank you for spending the time to make these videos and help tell the story of these Soldiers and their sacrifices. The worst thing a society could ever do to a Veteran is to forget them. So for me as a Veteran it is very refreshing to see someone your age care so much about these men and their story.
Ambrose copied David Kenyon Webster memoirs. That is why it seems so real. Because it was.
Webster's family got NOTHING from Ambrose.
HE STOLE A VETERANS STORY
Oh, when they showed a picture of one of the men in a bed (cot), with a box of bottles around him and him looking a bit fuzzy in the eyes. That was Nixon. I only know this because I read Ambrose's book A Band of Brothers and the middle of the book had multiple pictures with info for each.
Yup…..he partied
That was the morning after VE Day with Georings Liquor
Jacqui
Ed Tipper was the man who gotten hurt during an explosion in earlier episode (Carentan). He survived the blast. His daughter, Kerry Tipper is a lawyer today, and she works for City of Denver, Colorado as Deputy City Attorney. Ed was 62 when Kerry was born. She is 40. Her father lived to be 95 until 2017.
Jacqui
Year after this series premiered and end, during 2002's Primetime Emmys, Band of Brothers won Best Series or Miniseries. Everyone involved in production including Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg went up onstage. Both Hanks & Spielberg had their special guest accept the award. Special guest was Richard "Dick" Winters. He made an acceptance speech as his men, (then surviving members) sitting at a nearby hotel simulcasted as Winters made the speech. Audience, mostly celebrities at the time gave them major standing ovation by winning an award the world from a madman aka Greatest Generation.
I've watched quite a few reactions to BOB, but yours was the best. Your insights into the story telling and cinematography adds a lot to my enjoyment of the series.
Thank you Jacqui for remembering and honoring these brave people. More importantly sharing it with others.
Thank you. I really enjoyed watching this series with you, young lady. The admiration and respect you showed the men of my father's generation was a beautiful thing. They never really talked about it. They just came home and got on with their lives. Oh, and they made us baby boomers.
Sadly, we have so few of our greatest generation left with us; however, this series did them a great service by keeping their memory alive for future generations to honor. Now that I'm rounding third, I'm glad I've been able to pass their story on to my children and grandchildren. (I watch this with them every year starting on June 6th.) CURRAHEE 🦅
I have so loved being on this journey with seeing your honest soul felt reactions to this. Plus with your knowledge and film skills you have gifted these reactions with a rare insight. I thank you so much for investing the emotional energy into this and the appreciation of the veterans portrayed here. You might like to know there is a recently filmed documentary with the actors reuniting after 22 years and going through real jump training over 3 months and actually parachuting into Normandy to celebrate the recent D-Day anniversary in June 2024. Worth a watch as these actors have still been touched by the people they portrayed decades later. The Pacific is in the same mould. Real people with real events and filmed " up the road" so to speak as a lot of Hollywood productions are filmed in Gold Coast and Queensland areas where I live. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and Tom Hanks in Elvis to name heaps more.
Thank you for this and The Pacific is just breath taking. Like "Flag of our Fathers" but true events. Thanks for your heartfelt investment in what you do, you are awesome. Cheers from Australia and the Gold Coast.
The best way to learn something is to teach it. I am very grateful for what you taught us with your commentary on film production. Thank you!
Loved everything about Band of Brothers, including this documentary. Just wish I was articulate enough to express just how much this has affected me. The real men of Easy Co. and the actors and production crews responsible for this, have given us a gift that will last a lifetime. It also amazes me how events have repeated themselves. The men of Easy Co. developed a bond among themselves because of their shared experiences and they had reunions for years. Now the actors who portrayed them and did such a spectacular job, seem to have developed a similar bond among themselves. They too hold reunions now. That speaks volumes on how special the story of Easy Co. is.
The last time I was this early, Sobel was still commanding Easy.
"Rust on your buttstock private!"
@@ExtremelyAverageMan My pass is revoked!
The photo at 20:15 is Lewis Nixon and some of his stash from Goering's wine cellar.
I recently found out about the Band of Brothers Podcast. Each episode (also 10 parts) features one or two of the actors, a writer, or Tom Hanks. That series was maybe my favorite scrap of media I’ve taken in the past few years. You mentioned the real footage and the show’s near perfect portrayal for that first jump. Every actor in the podcast goes a bit into detail of the “boot camp” put on by another one of the actors (I won’t spoil who), that really sold the actors and everyone involved on the importance of accuracy to what they were doing.
Whether you react to it or not, I think you would enjoy listening to it. Yes, it’s about the actors and their portrayal, but it is also full of great memories of the real Easy guys - reportedly Babe Heffron (the guy singing at the end of this), and Wild Bill were absolute riots around the actors and during the premiers.
The episode featuring the actor that played Wild Bill is just phenomenal, and heart-wrenching like all of this is, but I’m sure you would enjoy it.
I’m no actor, but the way people who worked on the B.o.B talk about it, say it was more than a job. Other films/roles, even for method actors, they’ll finish the movie then be done with that character. But the B.o.B experience was a major highlight for all of them especially early in their careers.
Also Tom Hanks is just wonderful.
Both my grandfathers fought in Europe. One an infantryman, the other Tank driver. I had a closer relationship with the former infantryman and spent the better part of my childhood in his and my grandmother’s home. I’ll never forget his words that echoed Shifty Powers’ sentiment, “we might’ve been good friends, but we had jobs to do and we couldn’t be friends,” that I got out of him while doing a research project on WW2. He didn’t share much with me or anyone on the matter. But the podcast revealed to me how that was a widespread phenomenon with most of these men having no intention of sharing any of that time with family or friends bc of how painful a lot of that time was for them. I have the upmost respect for anyone in their position.
"The documentary felt like a celebration". Exceptionally well put!!
My grandfather didn’t talk about the war because he figured no one was interested. I only found out that was the case when I had the one conversation about it with him I ever got to have, before he died. He was part of an amphibious landing in New Guinea with the Australian 2nd Infantry. Their landing boats got attacked by Japanese planes; the boat immediately next to his got nailed by a bomb and blown to pieces. He and all his mates were sure they were going to die until the allied planes arrived in time to chase the Japanese out of the sky.
I wonder how many stories he had that he didn’t tell, that he might have wanted to tell, that he didn’t because he didn’t think anyone was interested. I think about that a lot.
My granddad worked with the resistance. I only found out, by chance, on an intercontinental nightflight. I spent the whole night conversating with a jewish resistance fighter. She was at that time 92 and still traveling solo. When she asked where i came from. And started to describe things we worked out she was talking about my granddad. I later confirmed it with known ex resistance fighters
The last member (Bradford Freeman who as far as I know wasn't ever mentioned but he was portrayed in the series) Passed away in 2022. Pretty soon we won't have anyone left from the war and that'll be a sad but thankfully there are so many great memorials and museums to all the WW2 vets both state side and across the pond worth visiting.
I went to the beaches for the 80th anniversary this year and it was amazing, and I was in Bastogne back in 2017 walking through the woods and that's one of the most sobering feelings especially alone, all the trees lined up, the foxes holes still in place (although some are from reenactors) knowing what happened there's just a "feeling" in those woods but still a recommended visit.
The History Underground TH-cam channel is an excellent resource. Doesn't just cover Easy Company, but does cover them quite a lot. Goes to the real locations as they are today, such as the Eagles Nest, which is now a museum. Shows you round, often takes objects back to the place they came from (not to leave there, just to highlight them).
Excellent!!
Now, ya gotta watch ,
We Were Soldiers,
Saving Private Ryan,
Legends of the Fall,
Fury,
Hacksaw Ridge,
Hamberger Hill....
It's official.. I got a crush on you. 😊
I would add a few more titles to the watch list
The Thin Red Line
Letters From Iwo Jima
Generation Kill
All Quiet on the Western Front (recent remake)
Shifty Powers seemed like such a gentle soul. I think it's a great example of how well they were able to capture the essenence of these characters; we really don't see Shifty that much in the series, but you really do get that sense.
Out of 139 who jumped, 20 men were killed, including the CO, on June 6, 1944. That's 14% killed on the first day. Another 43 had been wounded, for a total casualty rate of 47%.
Winters wondering if he had done this instead of that maybe more men would have gone home. That haunting question is part of what made him a great leader. He loved his men.
Winters was from my hometown of Lancaster, PA. Garnier joked about him being Mennonite from Lancaster County. He wasnt, but as he says there was a work ethic from this area that lasted a good long time, my Grandfather was of Winters Generation, but he was in the Coal Region up north at the time. He got on a bus to Harrisburg to enlist with 50 guys, he ended up coming back with one other guy. They didn't clear the medical. He spent the war in Philly at the shipyard as a welder.
Ron Livingston (Capt Nixon) was selected to make a video diary of the actors that portrayed the men of Easy Company as they went through a ten day crash course training program to get thier mind sets ready for making the mini-series..... It's pretty funny and interesting if you get a chance to watch it... It's here on TH-cam, just search Ron Livingston band of brothers boot camp video diary
Jacqui, to make the actors’ portrayal believable the Producers sent the main cast to boot camp. They learned WW2 Army tactics and weapons and even did a little bit of Airborne training. Ron Livingston, who played Nixon, was given a camera by HBO to document the boot camp. You might want to consider watching it and perhaps reacting to it.
The cast members, even 20 years later, are just as close as Easy Company. They get together as often as they can here in the US or in the UK (great deal of the cast were British doing American accents). Several cast members also show up as discussion groups regarding BoB. There are several videos of them discussing the mini-series and answering questions from the audience. You might want to check that out in your spare time.
Wow that's interesting! Do you have a link or can you tell me where I can see these videos?
Rod Bain (shown at beginning of this documentary, but not shown in the series) was a teacher/administrator at my high school in Anchorage, AK. Since seeing/discovering this, I wish I would have known so I could have talked with him and shown him the respect he deserved.
I served in the Navy during the Cold War. I was stationed at Pearl Harbor in 1991 for the 50th Anniversary. I had the honor of meeting and hearing stories of some of the surviors of December 7, 1941. It is sad that all of these men are now gone.
I never met my great-grandfather. He passed long before I was born. But my great uncle told me the few stories he had shared. He served in the Pacific. The only island he referred to was New Guinea. He disassembled two Type 99 rifles and mailed them back to my great grandmother, one piece at a time. He smuggled the stocks and barrels in his duffel, then he reassembled them when he got home. He was on a troop ship when they witnessed a battleship's live fire gunnery practice with the main battery. The ship was pushed sideways with each full broadside. My great uncle swore it was _Iowa,_ but we'll never really know.
I should really look up his service record.
the saddest part of this awsome documentary was when johnny martin said we dident figure we had a chance to come home and then he started to cry wich broke me down and made me cry alot to😢😢😢😭😭😭
"I wore that eagle on my right shoulder for 18 years." Soldiers wear a patch on their left shoulder designating the unit they are currently assigned to. They are allowed to wear the patch of any unit they have been in combat with on their right shoulder. Soldiers who have been in combat with multiple units can decide which one they wear. Depending on a soldier's history, which patch is on their right shoulder can say a lot about them.
Moe Alley was depicted in Crossroads in the very beginning as the guy who was wounded and brought into the house when Winters assembled the squad that hit the machine gun. They talked about it in the food line in the Breaking Point episode where they were discussing wounds.
Ed Tipper, the interviewee who went to Normandy with his Daughter, was the man in Carentan that was in the store front when the artillery exploded. Joe Liebgott took care of him.
If you want to hear a great story, look up the small documentary about Brécourt Manor on TH-cam. There is so much more about that place and its family that is fascinating, and a bit inspiring.
grandpa didn’t talk about the war, except Holland he loved being in holland. Kept in touch with the family he stayed with. The grand children all keep in touch today
Big thank you and ultimate respect for these, and all, the men who have fought for us. Freedom isn't free
I've recently found out that a private organization has bought the old Toccoa camp and is restoring it as a memorial. I wouldn't be surprised if the scenes at Toccoa were shot on-site.
Then you might be surprised most locations were actually in England. None of it was filmed in the US.
Most of the series was shot on the former Hatfield aerodome in England, which is now a film studio but was the De Havilland Aircraft Company factory during WW2 building Mosquitos. For a short period during my childhood in the 1960s we lived in the nearby town of St Albans (famous as Roman 'Verulamium' and one of three Roman settlements Boudica destroyed during her AD 60-61 revolt against the Roman occupation) where we were living directly under the flight path of another nearby airfield on the other side of town at Radlett, which hosted the Handley Page aircraft factory building the Cold War Victor nuclear bomber at the time.
On the outdoor set at Hatfield Hanks and Spielberg built a town originally for filming Saving Private Ryan and reused it again for Band of Brothers, constantly rebuilding it to represent different towns and cities in Europe.
The scenes running up 'Currahee' were shot in Bourne Woods, near Farnham in Surrey. 'Aldbourne' is actually the village of Hambleden in Buckinghamshire. The airfield scenes at the end of Episode 1 were filmed at the North Weald airfield in Essex. The snowy woods set for 'Bastogne' was completely fake built inside a large hangar at Hatfield. The church interior used for Bastogne was the St Sepulchre's Chapel in the church of St Mary Magdalene, in Paddington, London.
The lake in the final episode was Brienz, in Switzerland, the only time they went abroad from England for filming. This was used for the Germany and Austria scenes, and its Hotel Giessbach is used for 'Zell Am See'.
Sadly ithe film studio is no longer either. It was only ever used for filming Saving Private Ryan and a Band of Brothers. The old airfield is now a mixture of housing, industrial units, the sports centre and other buildings for the University Of Herts.
There is a large area of open parklands for the public to use that would have been where some of the sets were built.
A couple of listed buildings remain including the "hospital" where Blithe ends up. It is now part of Hatfield police station! There is one large aircraft hanger still left and the old control tower. Don't know if it was the hanger used for the winter sets or not, but it is now a David Lloyd sports facility.
@@Stuski666 - oh well, on with the recycling...
Thanks for the updates. There's an old saying - 'never go back!' I'm sure I wouldn't recognise St Albans today as I no longer recognise much of my country from the 1960s.
Several barracks have been rebuilt on the original camp site. The trail up the mountain is open also. I've been several times and have done "3 miles up, 3 miles down". That mountain is no joke.
@@davemac1197 I think you'd be surprised. Much of the city centre hasn't changed. Some shops and businesses have come and gone. Some of the pubs have gone but there are also new ones. There's new housing estates and redevelopments in and around the city. The cinema on London Road was reopened a few years ago after falling into disrepair. St .Albans. is still a great place for a night out.
Have a look on Street View😊
The fact that none of these men considered themselves to be heroes simply because they survived is mind blowing. You are all heroes.
If you enjoyed the documentary, I would like to suggest one that my father and I watched in the seventies when I was a kid. World At War (Unsure how many episodes there were). I believe it was done by the BBC and they show actual footage and talk to American, British, French, German, etc. soldiers who survived WWII. The Title sequence is very haunting, including the music, but you learn so much from it. Even if you don't watch it on Movie Night, I think you would find it very illuminating.
It was made by Thames Television - one of the old ITV franchise holders, but in terms of quality it's at least as good as the best BBC output.
"There's not a day that goes by, that I do not think of the men that I served with, that never got to enjoy the world without war". -Winters
There is a You Tube on these guys at the Emmy Awards. So great to see all the young people applauding these men.
Lost my little redhead 3 years ago and this old Paratrooper loved your take on one of my most favored series. Thanks for that...
So glad you went ahead and watched this, too, and thank you for sharing your reaction with us. As a US Army veteran myself, it does my heart good to see the younger generation paying homage to these heroes.
The best ww2 docu ever and always will be, what chokes me up everytime is lipton quoting Henry V "we lucky few we band of brothers"
Thank you for watching the doc and having a very intelligent and open mind with this series. This series means a lot to vets and it is still super interesting hearing civilian or military contrasting perspectives
Winters had "presence." Some leaders have that charisma, that force of personality, that will bring others to literally lay down their lives. An extraordinary man.
You did an amazing job with this series. I also liked the Masters of the Air reaction. BOB was an incredible experience because of your background and your compassion and honesty. Thank you,!!!!!!
I have watched your reactions thru the whole series of Band Of Brothers,by far you did the best job on your reactions!
The museum in Louisiana was offering a tour package of Easy Company from Nomandt to the Eagels nest.
From what I recall it included the bus food and hotel. And them they would have member of the crew and show along the way.
The history channel had a couple series called WW2 in color both for the ground war and sir war.
I'm glad you watched this, these interviews are priceless. Unfortunately, all of these veterans have passed away.
It was a real pleasure watching you react to this and the series and seeing the effect it had on you! And I'll forgive you for going to USC lol
I'm glad you did this, there is a bit of healing I felt watching it.
I loved the series, loved this documentary and loved your reaction. There are so few survivors left today but as long as one WWII vet is alive the story is still being written. Only when the last is gone can that war be considered history. And what a sad day that will be.
The ending of Band of Brothers makes me cry every single time!
In Episode 9 (I believe) the men are singing a song as they travel down the road in trucks. The song is Blood on the Risers, check it out sometime.
There was a special screening for the remaining members of easy company and their families in Normandy (not sure if that’s correct) of the first episode. They also did something similar for the Emmy’s when the series won best mini series. It’s in the special features on the Band of Brothers DVD
The twists and turns of history and the human propensity to try and shape it to fit within whichever ideology is popular at the time will never fade. Every generation has the foe and the fight leaving those whom have the will to resist as heroes. Easy sits squarely centre stage to highlight the suffering of brinkmanship. On another point...Tom Hanks has made 3 true life stories about WWII in B.O.B., the Pacific and Masters however let us not forget his other big to this generation's service, Greyhound. A fantastic movie about the longest battle of WWII. It is a great gift to history to have these 4 pieces of art tell the stories otherwise forgotten.
There's also a clip of BoB winning the Emmy's with Winter's speech (TH-cam), Ron Livingston's bootcamp video diaries (also TH-cam) and of course the podcast which came out in 2021 on honor of the 20th anniversary of Band of Brothers.
I watched this series when it first aired on HBO. The showed Episodes 1 & 2 on the same night. In addition, they set up an outdoor theater and brought many of the surviving members of Easy to watch the premier , and showed them watching. I don't know if they did something similar for the other episodes, but I do believe they did see the end product. And if I'm not mistaken, many of the actors spent some time with those they were portraying. That was something that was really driven home to me by this series. Each part was not a character. You usually find that main characters have 'plot armor', so unless it's the part to motivate another character, they'll be hurt, but make it to the end. This was history. No one had plot armor. If they survived, they made it to the end. However, some don't. And that's not just war, that's life.
I second the suggestion to watch Ron Livingston's video diary of the boot camp experiences the cast had to go through. Fascinating. As a film student, it would be right up your alley. Lots of behind the scenes stuff from the cast.
Spielberg did a mini series about five Hollywood directors that were employed by the War Department to film newsreels of the war. They are some big names a film student probably knows, John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. It is well worth a watch to see how it shaped them and their films after the war. Examples are "The Best Years of Our Lives" and "It's a Wonderful Life", both amazing and heavily influenced by the directors' experiences in the war.
Welcome to the world of historians -
You’ve bridged the gap from Hollywood to history and we’re here for it -🇺🇸
Jaqui took her sweet time putting these out, but I have to say: I've watched BoB once a year for several years, and I've watched more reactions to BoB than to anything else on TH-cam, and hers is *easily* among the top three. I loved her attention to detail and her knowledgeability about film-making, but most of all I enjoyed her genuine human reactions and insightful commentary. Top-shelf human being right there.
It's mentioned in one of the DVD extras that the first premiere of the series for people outside of the people involved in the production of the series was on 06.06.2001 in the Omaha beach memorial museum. The guests of honor, actual men of the Easy company and their families.
Yes, it was actual footage, of paratroopers, the producers demanded that the equipment was as exact as possible. Now the tanks, and other armored was close as possible, because there just aren’t that many left, so they improvised as closely as the could to the original equipment. You are doing a great job, keep it up. 👍
Your comment at the end of the review of Ep#10 "lightning in a bottle" is absolutely correct. I loved Masters of the Ari...but NOTHING can match Band of Brothers. And the warp with those final words from Dick Winters just gut me....every....single....time....I hear them. Waterworks on! Thanks for an excellent respectful review of BoB and MotA. Peace.
You know it bothers me still and I'm 66 years old, when people say thank you for your service. I didn't serve during a war. I don't deserve that respect. That's for men who died in service of their country. Go to a cemetery, place flowers on a hero's grave and say a little prayer for them and their families. When I was in, there was a massive flood in Colorado. It took out the highway north of Denver. A car in front of me went off the highway rolled down the bank and ended up in the river. My buddy was next to me. I stopped we both jumped out and ended up in the river after we put our feet in. It was so strong it just pulled us both in. We got this young woman out through the window. It was full of water and the roof was crushed. We're hanging on to her she was limp and in shock. Then all these people were on the shore and they made a line all the way to us. And we got her in that way. One at a time just getting pulled along a row of bodies. A few weeks later she left a message for me at my apartment and at the barracks for my friend and all it said was thank you for saving my life.. the air Force found out and wanted to give us both some kind of medal but both of us refused. We were just at the right place and time but if it weren't for those strangers that got us back on dry land none of us would've made it. It's just what people do when things like that happen. She thanked us for helping her and that was way more than a medal or anything else. I do wish I would've gotten my jacket back that I put on her to keep her warm. I really loved that jacket. She was in shock though and needed it more than me.
Ed Tipper, the one with the daughter who speaks about him too, is the guy who got blown up in the Carentan episode inside the shop and walks out with the tinnitus effect.
Seeing Tiper perfectly fine in these interviews compared to how his injuries were described in the books, and seeing it in the show is always a head turner when you realize that's him.
Survivor guilt is real I live with it every day
I am a Vietnam combat veteran. It never goes away.
Best way to do it, watching everything in this exact order. Enjoyed these reactions, glad you could experience these men’s lives.
If I could recommend anything next I would say the Pacific (with intros from vets). Another side of WWII but just on the pacific front. Lots of incredibly honorable and brave men over there.
Kerry Tipper became a Representative in the Colorado State Legislature and is currently Denver's Deputy City Attorney.
Winters is the pure definition of Leadership. Not only does he inspire his men, he actually loves them enough to feel the weight of his decisions in real time without becoming paralyzed and not acting at all.
I've mentioned in another of your videos but i want to say again to put it out there; I'd love to see you cover the miniseries 'Generation Kill' a war miniseries like band of brothers about a Marine unit in the '03 invasion into Iraq
You need to watch it through at least 3 times to pick up on little details and such. This series impacted me so much I've literally watched 20 plus times. It started when it debuted on HBO, then I bought th VHS box set, then the DVDs, and now streaming. I like watching other people enjoy this journey.
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In addition to Ron Livingston’s “diary” video while making BoB, I’ve seen several videos of the actors discussing their roles and how they interacted with the real soldiers.
Fascinating stuff.
Sadly, every single one of those men have passed.
Happens to everyone
There are some great books out there about the men of Easy Company, including the book Band Of Brothers, which the series was based upon. My two favorites books, though, are about Richard Winters. The first is Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters, written by Winters and Colonel Cole C. Kingseed; the other book Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led The Band of Brothers, by Larry Alexander. I once saw a picture of some of the men from Easy Company sitting on the balcony of the Eagle's Nest drinking Hiler's champagne to celebrate the end of the war in Europe. The caption read "You may be cool, but you will never be as cool as the men of Easy Company sitting on the balcony of the Eagle's Nest, drinking Hitler's champagne."
My grandfather never spoke of his experiences in the war until the last few years of his life , and then he spoke a lot about it.
I saw one interview with an army medic in the pacific, he said dying soldiers always cried out for their mothers and he never heard one cry for their fathers.
Some people just have that ability to command via the respect and trust they engender with their men. Winters just had that quiet competence that others saw and knew they could trust him to make quick yet correct decisions in combat situations.
I believe they all did attend a premiere. Winters spoke on stage when they accepted their Emmy for Best series. You should check it out.
The rest of easy company was shown live at a hotel.
I’m going to Normandy next month. Gonna be a very powerful experience. My uncle was there on D-Day in the Navy clearing mines. Gonna make sure & check out the Dick Winters statue.
Thanks again for all your reactions. Ya done good! Part of what makes the Greatest Generation so great is what they did after the war. So many of them went into construction. Many became teachers. Others continued serving their fellow Americans in civil service. They did it without fanfare. They did it not for recognition. They did it because they had seen the worst destruction man can see and wanted to rebuild the world.
Dont forget to watch Ron Livingstones behind the scenes documentary. Its about how the cast all lived and trained together like WW2 soldiers, to be Easy Company. Definitely worth a watch!
when you look deep at history you find a lot of information that most people don't know.
but from just series like this, movies like all quiet on the western front, 1917, dunkirk, etc, or music like sabaton.
you start to realise that outside of the politics or the motives, if you look at the average person and some of their achievements in those wars, both those wars are basically a greek age of heroes on a global scale.
Quite possibly the best mini-series ever created. I got to shake Dick Winters hand at a WW2 event in Washington...I was humbled and could only say "Thank you so much for your service".
When you walk on the grounds of Tyne Cot cemetery or Normandy America cemetery or any war cemetery from either first or second World War and you see the names and ages of those who died you freeze up. Doesn't matter if they're Belgian, British, French, American, or even Germans... they were so young, and to realize they died at the same age i am now is sad. So we can only do as much as remember and respect them with everything we have!
If ur a sucker for behind the scenes watch Ron Livingston diary
The cast goes through a boot camp
If you are okay with war movie recommendations, I highly suggest the following: THE DEER HUNTER (1978), PATHS OF GLORY (1957), THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (the 1930 version specifically), BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989), and also HACKSAW RIDGE (2016).
I think honor is a good word to describe Winters. He has high regard and respect for those around him that have earned it. It’s a word that’s not often used anymore, why a shame.
There are reports of young men who killed themselves when they weren't allowed to join those who were trying to stop the madness
I know the pain of Frostbite. Thankfully, I still have all of my fingers and toes. There is nerve damage that I still deal with from 1979. But you can't imagine what it felt like at the time. Nearly cost me seven fingers and eight toes.. I can't imagine what it was like for those brave young men. Not being able to have the time to save themeselves of loss of extremacies.