Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

The mini series was awesome but reading the lives of these brave men who sacrificed everything for us. To learn about the lives of these people is incredible.

Fantastic 1st person account on Easy Company in WWII. Major Dick Winter's 1st person view of the harrowing account of war with his team was gripping, honest, and humble. Watched the HBO mini series "Band of Brothers" and was neat to put the book to the TV series. Major Winters candid and detailed information was fascinating

Most of this book is repetitive to Band of Brothers, the Stephen Ambrose novel, but this is the first time Major Winters has told the story of the 506th PIR in his own words. Those of us already familiar with the former know a lot of what Winters is talking about here, but it's still interesting hearing Major Winters tell the story from his point of view. Major Winters not only voices his opinions about the 506th PIR, but also gives a lot of good advice within these pages, most of it geared towards becoming a better leader. Also, there are a few tidbits that appear from time to time that I hadn't known about before. One of these such tidbits was the information that Albert Blithe did not die in 1948, but fully recovered from his wound and went on to have one of the most illustrious military careers of anyone in Easy Company. A truly compelling read from cover to cover, I recommend that everyone in America read this book, whether or not they even remotely care about what Winters and the 506th PIR went through. Not only does Major Winters tell his story, but he fills these pages with the important knowledge of skills you cannot learn except from practice. Major Winters was and is an excellent leader and role model, and truly defines the word HERO.

MAJ Winters distills the lessons absorbed over three years of training and combat in a 320 page treatise on what it means to be an officer. In lean prose he illustrates the leadership principles required to accomplish the mission while taking care of the troops. That an officer must demonstrate technical and tactical competence, be fit, and lead from the front may seem like simple common sense to some readers, but as Clausewitz wrote, "Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is difficult." MAJ Winters' account of how he led his men to overcome these difficulties makes for great reading. The success of Easy Company, 506th PIR is well documented, but MAJ Winters adds a new perspective to the familiar stories recounted in Ambrose's Band of Brothers. Highly recommended.

At last Major Dick Winters tells his story in his own words. Although many of the incidents in the book may be familiar to devotees of Stephen Ambrose's book "Band of Brothers" and the marvelous HBO series, Dick Winters' war memoirs are still compelling, enlightening and inspiring. This volume is the next best thing to having this courageous, thoughtful, and exceedingly modest hero come and sit in your living room to tell you about the adventures and exploits of Easy Company. Time and again Dick Winters embodied the true spirit of the Fort Benning Infantry doctrine of "Follow Me." Major Winters shares his reflections on the fighting and his tactics from Brecourt Manor and the Eagle's Nest. He is most proud of his unit's work at the Island. "In my estimation, this action by E Company was the highlight of all Easy Company's engagements during the entire war and it also served as my apogee as company commander," Winters tell us. Major Winters is also quick to commend the gallant work of the men in his company, "The company belonged to the men-the officers were merely caretakers." In reading these pages it becomes abundantly clear that these citizen soldiers were magnificent caretakers of our freedom during some of the darkest hours of the 20th century. "Leaving Easy Company was the hardest thing I had done in my life," the Major tells us. Putting his book down is pretty damned hard, too.