A year ago, the last surviving member of Easy Company, Brad Freeman passed away on July 3, 2022. During an interview that Senior Historian Chris Anderson did with Mr. Freeman, he humbly said of his wartime experience, “Me and my buddies did a job for America.” To paraphrase Chris in his remembrance of Mr. Freeman, we’ll always remember the job Freeman’s buddies did for America and we know that our job-and the job of everyone else at Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours-will be to ensure that as many Americans as possible know about the job that they did for all of us.
To this end, as Stephen E. Ambrose’s iconic book, Band of Brothers, turns 31 this month, we wanted to take a moment to remember some of the extraordinary yet ordinary men who fought in Easy Company during WWII: Dick Winters, Brad Freeman, George Luz, Don Malarkey, Ed Shames, Herb Suerth, Jr., and Bill Wingett.
Above photo: Left to right Johnny Martin, Bill Maynard, Herb Suerth, Forrest Guth and Shifty Powers, making a toast with Calvados at a Band of Brothers reunion. Credit: George Luz, Jr., the son of Easy Company member, George Luz, Sr., who attended these reunions.
Remembering the Men of Easy Company
Leadership: Dick Winters and Easy Company
Senior Historian Chris Anderson, who spent hundreds of hours with Dick Winter talking about his WWII experiences, joined Mark Bielski on his History with Mark Bielski podcast to discuss leadership and the the man who led Company E of the 506th PIR from Normandy to the Eagle’s Nest. Listen to Dick Winters and Easy Company >
An Interview with Easy Company Member Bradford Freeman
Historian Kevin Hymel had the privilege of interviewing Bradford Freeman, the last surviving member of Easy Company who passed away on July 3, 2022, for two articles that he wrote for WWII History magazine in 2019. Mr. Freeman recalls parachuting into Normandy and the Netherlands and fighting under in Normandy, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Excerpts appear below, and you can continue reading both articles on Warfare History Network. Read more >
A Pillar of Easy Company: George Luz
“One of the pillars of Easy Company,” was how Major Richard Winters described George Luz. Incensed as many Americans were by the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Luz enlisted in the Army and, attracted by its elite status and the extra 50 dollars a month jump pay, volunteered for the newly formed airborne forces. Ordered to Camp Toccoa, Georgia, Luz arrived at the newly created home of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment to begin what he would later call, “the best three years of my life.” Read more >
Don Malarkey (R.I.P.)
Chief Historian Ron Drez first met Don Marlarkey on May 5, 1988 when he walked into the Company E reunion being held in the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans. Steve Ambrose and Ron crashed their party, uninvited, in one of their earliest ventures to collect memoirs of D-Day veterans. That initial contact led to Dr. Ambrose’s Band of Brothers book in 1992. Ron shares his memories of Don. Read more >
Memories of Easy Company Veteran Ed Shames
Senior Historian Chris Anderson shares his memories of Colonel Ed Shames, a Jewish World War II veteran and one of the original members of the “Band of Brothers” from the 101st Airborne of Easy Company. Read more >
Herb Suerth Jr. R.I.P.
Herb Suerth, Jr. was part of the historic Band of brothers of WWII. When the original book was released in 1992, his exploits were not included, and when Stephen Ambrose and Chief Historian Ron Drez did the original interviews, he was not part of it. Perhaps that was because Suerth was a replacement, arriving in Easy Company just before the deployment to the Ardennes Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. Read more >
Remembrance of Easy Company Veteran Bill Wingett
An original Toccoa man, Easy Company veteran Bill Wingett served with the company until just prior to the D-Day landings when he was transferred to battalion headquarters where he served as a machine gunner. Despite spending most of the war with Headquarters Company, Wingett always considered Easy Company his home. The men of the company considered him as one of their own as well and Wingett attended many of the Easy Company reunions. Read more >
