I just finished watching Band of Brothers for the first time. Band of Brothers is an HBO/MAX miniseries produced by Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg that follows a regiment of paratroopers through WW II. Ironically, it was released on 9/9/2001, just two days before 9/11. There is also a local connection in that the Band of Brothers were trained in our backyard, Toccoa, GA. The series is widely believed to be accurate to the actual events, and several of the servicemen were interviewed, with those interviews being used to set up each episode. The 10 episodes take you from Normandy, to France, to Holland, to Belgium, to a German concentration camp, to Hitler's outpost, Eagle's Nest, in Bavaria, all following the same regiment. The violence throughout the series is gruesome. But I am sure it was nowhere near as gruesome as the actual events. 49 of the 360 men were killed and many more injured.
The personalities of the men in the company were all over the map, just like the rest of the world, but many were leaders that put their personal needs aside for the betterment of the company. However, I see every one of them as a hero for being willing to endure the trauma of the war to stop the oppression, aggression and mass anihilation by the Nazi's, that if left unchecked, would have certainly changed the world we know for the worse.
As we come up on Independence Day, I am more thankful for the sacrifice of our servicemen than ever before. If you haven't seen Band of Brothers, it is streaming on MAX and Netflix. If you have seen it, you may want to watch it again. There is also a podcast with the producers and actors which accompanies each episode.
Happy Independence Day.
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