Band of Brothers

 

I am rewatching Band of Brothers. I first watched the miniseries 10 or 12 years ago. This time I finally convinced my wife to watch it with me. I know it is not her kind of show. Too real, too violent. But it is so good, I really wanted her to see it. It is hard to watch at times, but as a whole, it is a thing of sheer beauty.

Band of brothers: In Shakespeare’s Henry V, the king is rousing his men to battle with what is known as the St. Crispin’s Day speech. He has to make them believe that he is their comrade as they are his. They will stand together or fall together. At one point Henry says, “. . . we few, we happy few, we band of brothers!” Historian Stephen Ambrose must have thought that line the perfect title for this story; the story of Easy Company, part of the 101^st Airborne Division as they made their way though the pages of World War 2.

As we get to know some of the characters (all based on real soldiers who fought for Easy Company) we can imagine that they are representative of the tens of thousands of soldiers with like experiences, many of whom did not return. All the filmmaking details are exquisitely done: the script, the camera work, the acting, makeup, effects, and lighting. They give us a point of view through battles which give us and inkling (all we can ever get is a mere inkling) of what it felt like to be there. It is at the same time, joyous and sad, heartwarming, and heartbreaking, full of fear, and elation.

I cannot help but think of my own father who also served in WWII. He was not at Normandy, but he served in Italy and in the invasion of southern France. It was in France where he was wounded, where two bullets found him. He survived and was shipped home. He told me a little bit about his time in the war, but never about being in battle or the people he knew who never came back. I have found that soldiers who actually served in combat are not anxious to talk about it. Those who spin great stories about combat are probably embellishing. Those who were in the thick of it are quiet about it.

As audience we have the advantage on the characters. We know they are going to win the war. But what we do not know is: who is going to survive. Which ones are going to be killed? Which ones are going to be disabled? More so than a fictional war story, these answers matter to us because these are not just characters. It really happened to these men.

Tom Brokaw called this war generation “The greatest generation,” and he is not wrong. When victory or defeat decided the fate of the world as they knew it, everyone (soldier or civilian) contributed all they could.  The soldiers put their lives on the line and suffered things that I cannot imagine myself dealing with. Could my generation have handled it? Could any subsequent generation? Perhaps. You never truly know until you are called.

The generation of soldiers who fought in WWII are almost all gone now. The war itself was the defining event of the Twentieth Century. Anyone who was alive in the twentieth Century will tell you that it had an impact on nearly everything that came after it. The people who lived through the war were a different breed from you and me.

To all the men of Easy Company and all the companies, and all the airmen and sailors, I can only say, thank God we had you. Rest in peace.

Star Liner