Major Richard Winters Easy Co. 2/506th 101st Airborne

Major Richard "Dick" Winters of Band of Brothers fame passed away on January 2, 2011, The follow is his obit in The Washington Post:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postmortem/2011/01/dick-winters-dies-wwii-hero-co.html

I just want to pass on my sincere condolences to Dick's friends and family.


This guy was a true combat leader. He found himself in command of Easy Company 2/506th on D-Day when the Company CO was killed when his C-47 transport plane was shot down over Normandy. He lead the remnants of the wildly scattered Easy Co. on their historic fight that day at Brecourt manor. Following is an account of that fight:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%A9court_Manor_Assault

Lt  then Capt the Maj.Winters took command of Easy and lead them through Operation Market Garden in Holland in the Fall of 1944 then served as Battalion executive Officer for 2nd Battalion for the rest of the war.


He served as the leader of easy Company after the war as well as the man of that unit were extremely proud and loyal to their beloved commander from the war.


He was the main Character in Stephen Ambrose's book "Band Of Brothers" and the following mini series on HBO. If you haven't read the book and seen the video, I highly recommend them both...
     
  I just found out about Major Winters death this morning and frankly it makes me feel quite sad. He was 92 years old, lived a long life and believe it or not was a gentle, peaceful man who was transformed by his terrible experiences in the war. He promised himself on the night of D-Day that if he survived (and this was no sure thing at this point in the war) he would go home to PA and live peaceably the rest of his days. That's exactly what he did yet he left a wonderful legacy for us all. We are losing our WWII Vets now at an extraordinary rate and soon they'll all be gone. The world is a colder more dangerous place without men such as these.

Winter's Wiki page link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Winters


Our Country feels just a bit empty with Major Winters gone as well and I think all of  humanity grieves when we lose such a man.

Major Richard D. Winters
Jan 21, 1918- Jan. 2, 2011

RIP