A Tribute to Band Of Brothers Major Richard “Dick” Winters
Richard D. (‘Dick’) Winters was born on 21 January 1918. He served in the United States Army.
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Winters was made a lieutenant and parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944. In September he parachuted into German-occupied Netherlands as part of an unsuccessful invasion codenamed Operation Market Garden. Later he served as a commander with the rank of Major of the 2nd Battalion (E Company, popularly known as Easy Company) at the Siege of Bastogne in Belgium in December 1944 and joined in the invasion of Germany. E Company was part of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
After Nazi Germany had surrendered, Richard Winters left the 506th Regiment and helped in the huge task of sending millions of American soldiers home. He then left active service in the United States Army but returned in 1951 to train soldiers for the Korean War (1950 – 1953). He was first stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, but later he was given orders to go to Korea and prepared to go. However, he changed his mind and resigned his commission in 1952. During his military service, he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, two Bronze Stars, and the Purple Heart.
After his army career Winters ran a company selling waste products from the Hershey Chocolate Company as animal feed. He gave lectures at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Richard Winters retired in 1997, and died on 2nd January 2011. He had been the last surviving commander of Easy Company. In 2001 a television series called Band of Brothers told the story of E Company. The role of Richard Winters was played by Damian Lewis. The series is based on a book with the same name, written by Stephen E. Ambrose, who had known members of E Company.
