NOTE: "Band of Brothers" is a highly realistic World War Two miniseries
from HBO in 2001. Part of the "realism" is the profanity used; so, if you are
sensitive to such language, the miniseries is definitely not for you.
Also, there are numerous highly bloody scenes of killed or wounded
soldiers, and scenes of people in a concentration camp, who have been
the subject of horrendous treatment. So here too, if you are sensitive
to these kinds of scenes, it is probably a good thing if you skip
viewing the miniseries. As for this article and those I'll be doing
about the miniseries, I have tried to keep things from being too
blatant. This
very realistic HBO series is based on the book "Band of Brothers"
by historian Stephen Ambrose. Remember, this is NOT a documentary nor an
actual reenactment, but rather a series with characters representing
the actual men, with their real names, of East Company, 2nd Battalion,
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. The
series does present events and actions that the men of Easy Company
related to Stephen Ambrose, the historian who wrote the book. In the
book's "Acknowledgements and Sources," Ambrose writes that he
"circulated the manuscript of this book to the men of Easy Company." He
goes on to say there were criticisms, corrections and suggestions
offered by the men, and that Richard Winters and Carwood Lipton were
heavily involved in reviewing the book, the original publication of
which was in 1992, while the first airing of the miniseries was in
2001.
WORD HISTORY:
____________________________________
As I write about this series, I'll likely use a man's army rank on
occasion, but for the most part, I'll use last names, just as the men
do. The cast of this series is so large, I decided not to list it, as it
would have been overwhelming, although I did decide to list just a few
names of the cast who portrayed the men most seen, most heard and most
heard about in the stories presented in this series. Believe me, the
whole cast is likely 8 or 10 times as large as those I list here, and
everyone did a great job.
Partial Cast
Damian Lewis as Lieutenant, then Captain, then Major Richard Winters
Ron Livingston as Lieutenant, then Captain Lewis Nixon
Scott Grimes as Private, then Sergeant Donald Malarkey
Shane Taylor as Medic Eugene "Doc" Roe
Donnie Wahlberg as Sergeant Carwood Lipton
Michael Cudlitz as Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman
Frank John Hughes as Sergeant Bill "Wild Bill" Guarnere
Rick Gomez as Technician 4th Grade George Luz
Kirk Acevedo as Staff Sergeant Joe Toye
James Madio as Technician 4th Grade Frank Perconte
Eion Bailey as Private David Kenyon Webster
Dexter Fletcher as Sergeant John Martin
Ross McCall as Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Liebgott
Neal McDonough as Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton
Nicholas Aaron as Private Robert "Popeye" Wynn
David Schwimmer as Lieutenant, then Captain Herbert Sobel Here is the link to the previous article as Episode 5: Crossroads
(Note: The terrain of the Ardennes was heavily forested and often rough.
Vehicles, including tanks, had few options to move, except on roads,
which weren't all that plentiful in the region, and those that existed
tended to be narrow; plus, it was winter, and it often snowed. In 1940, German forces broke through relatively
sparse French forces in this region and moved on to cut off Allied
forces and trap them at Dunkirk. The German idea in late 1944 was
similar, and indeed, the American forces were stretched, and many troops
had little or no combat experience. Hitler had managed to scrape
together a formidable force to attack the Americans in this area, but
while the Germans achieved some successes, they met tough opposition
from the Americans, and the German supply situation was poor, as in a
certain way, they had too many troops and vehicles for such a limited
number of roads. While the German Tiger tanks were
fearsome weapons, they were also big and heavy; and thus, they weren't ideal
for navigating the poor road system in the Ardennes. In 1940, the German armored force that helped achieve a breakthrough was done with much lighter tanks.)
This episode opens with medic Doc Roe wandering through the forest and we eventually see him approaching Captain Winters, who has to break thick ice off of some water in order to try and shave. Winters actually takes a young German soldier prisoner, as the young man wanders inside the American line to "empty himself of yesterday's rations" (the 'line,' such as it is a line, is irregular, with neither side being totally sure where the enemy is, as they are dug in and snow had fallen. General McAuliffe (played by William Armstrong), the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division, stops to hear from 2nd Battalion about the true situation. Robert Strayer (played by Phil McKee), the battalion commander, and Captain Nixon tell him about gaps in the line, low supplies of food and ammunition, and lack of proper winter clothing. McAuliffe, a no nonsense guy, tells them they have to close the line somehow and hold on until the weather improves, so that supplies can be airdropped to the forces in Bastogne.
The Germans periodically put the Americans under artillery fire, with wood splinters providing another dangerous aspect to these bombardments, as when the shells explode, they destroy parts of the many trees, sending splinters both large and small flying about to cause painful injuries or even death. During various parts of this episode, we see some of the things that happen to the men, who are treated by Doc Roe and Ralph Spina (played by Tony Devlin), Easy Company's medics team: Joe Toye has trench foot, and when he removed his boots to dry his feet and change socks, the boots were destroyed by one of the artillery shells, but Doc Roe gets Toye another pair of boots; Bill Guarnere really does have gonorrhea; Buck Compton continues to struggle with his mental health, as the stresses of the last six months have taken a toll; "Smokey" Gordon (played by Ben Caplan) is seriously wounded by a bullet that enters one shoulder and exits through the other, leaving him paralyzed (this was the end of the war for Gordon and he spent a lot of time in hospitals, and he gradually overcame the paralysis); Alex Penkala (played by Tim Matthews) was lightly wounded, but bandaged up by Doc Roe, Harry Welsh (played by Rick Warden), in a foolish move, starts a small campfire, which Winters tells him is a bad idea, but Welsh says, "Just for a couple of minutes ... we're in a dell" (dell=small hollow), but the fire draws the attention of German artillery and mortars and shells begin landing all around, with Welsh being wounded in the thigh (he spent time in the hospital, before returning to the unit a little later in the war); Skinny Sisk is wounded in the leg with some wood splinters caused by one of the exploding shells, and he is taken to the medical facility in the interior of Bastogne, where he is attended by two nurses, one of whom gives him a glass of whiskey for the pain, and she strokes his head, bringing Sisk to tell Doc Roe, "I'm in heaven Doc!"; Private John Julian (played by Marc Ryan-Jordan) is shot and killed while on a patrol with some other men from the company, with "Babe" Heffron (played by Robin Laing) coming in to try to save his close friend Julian, but he couldn't get to him, as each time he tried, the German fire would intensify. Julian's death sends Heffron's emotions reeling, as Heffron and Julian had promised one another that if one was killed, the survivor would take the killed man's belongings to his mother.
Throughout the first half of the episode, Doc Roe keeps scrounging medical supplies from any of the men, because he is so short of many things. In a trip into the heart of Bastogne, he sees a nurse named Renee (played by Lucie Jeanne), and he is able to get a box of supplies from her. On another trip into town, Doc tries to help Renee and another nurse, Anna (played by Rebecca Okot), save a wounded soldier's life, but the man dies. Doc Roe is visibly angry and Renee sheds some tears. Physical tiredness is now complicated by frustration and anger.
Colonel Sink (played by Dale Dye), the regimental commander, comes to Easy Company and tells the men of a German demand for surrender and General McAuliffe's one word answer to the Germans of "Nuts!" The men laugh and Dye leaves, with McAuliffe's message having inspired the men to continue to resist. (Note: McAuliffe's reply to the German surrender demand has gone down in history as one of the great stories of World War Two and the 101st Airborne's tenacious defense of Bastogne is one of the most famous military achievements in American history.)
After days of snow and fog, the skies clear and American aircraft drop supplies into Bastogne. Doc Roe struggles with the stresses of killed and wounded men and Captain Winters sends Roe into Bastogne for what he thinks will be a brief rest and some hot food. Instead, the Luftwaffe bombs the town and Roe sees the building used as a medical facility get hit. When he goes in, he sees Renee dead in the rubble. He goes back to Easy Company's perimeter around the outskirts of the town. He finds Heffron in a foxhole and for the first time, Doc calls Heffron by his nickname, Babe, and this cheers the young man (up to this point, Doc Roe typically calls the men by their last names, although he would sometimes call Heffron by his proper first name, Edward, until finally one day, a stressed Heffron snaps at Roe and tells him to stop calling him Edward, "only the goddamn nuns call me Edward."
Photo is of the HBO 2015 Blu-Ray Miniseries release ...
Nurse-This word is related to "nourish," "nurture" and "nutrition," all Latin-derived words borrowed by English from French, and to "nutrient," another Latin word borrowed directly from that language. "Nurse" goes back to Indo European "(s)neu," which meant "to flow," and then an extended form "(s)neutri," which meant "a wet nurse, a woman who suckles a child." This gave Latin the verb "nutrire," which meant "to nurse a child, to feed, to foster," and this produced the Latin noun "nutrix," "a wet nurse," which produced the adjective "nutricius," meaning "relating to suckling:" thus also, "relating to giving nourishment," which then gave Latin the noun "nutricia," meaning "a nurse, one who helps in raising a child," and this passed to Old French as "norrice," meaning "a wet nurse, a nanny," and English borrowed the word circa 1200 with all sorts of spellings, including: "norice," "nurrice," "nurice," "noryse," and meaning "a wet nurse, a nanny, a foster mother." The modern form of the word began around 1400, but other spellings remained for a time. The meaning of "wet nurse" expanded to the more general, "woman who helps in the upbringing of children" in the early 1500s. The second half of the 1500s saw the word applied to "one who provides care for sick, elderly or injured people," and the idea of "taking care of children" also began to be applied to "tending to young plants." The verb form started as "norishen" and "nurshen" and meant "to suckle a child," but it also could mean "to help raise a child or children," and following the noun, the verb also added the meaning "to care for the sick or infirm." .
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