Larry Alexander (2) (1951–)

Just finished Larry Alexander’s In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company Battlefield With Sergeant Forrest Guth.

A solid 4 Star read with a slightly different take on the men of Easy Company of the 506th of the 101st Airborne. The story follows not only the men of Easy Company but specifically the war of Sergeant Forrest Guth.

As all good history on Easy Company it start with their training at Toccoa under Lieutenant Herbert Sobel and Lieutenant Dick Winters and show more somewhat rehabilitates the image of Sobel and credits him with the excellent training of Easy Company and forging them into an above average fighting unit, but Guth frequently points out many of men and units fought just as well but they are Heralded due to Stephen Ambrose’s book Band of Brothers and the subsequent HBO miniseries.

The story goes from Toccoa, to Fort Benning, to Aldbourne in England with the culmination being their jump into Normandy the evening before the Normandy Landing on the day of days.

Some of the highlights of the book are the textbook attack on Brecourt Manor to Carentan, the failed Operation Market Garden which was epic in scope but fell short in execution.. A highlight outside of the attack on Brecourt Manor is of course The Battle of the Bulge and ending largely with Forrest Guth final European action at Haguenau.

If you are looking for a definitive history of Easy Company this is not it and you would better turn your attention to Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers or Larry Alexander’s Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers but for a more personal touch this falls right in with other accounts from the men of Easy Company and is well worth your time to read. show less

A good read, particularly for those who've read "Band of Brothers" and want to know more about the leader of the 506 PIR, Major Dick Winters. In short, most of the book was akin to reading Stephen Ambrose's "Band of Brothers" but from the Major Winters's perspective. However, it was the last quarter of the book detailing Winters's post-war life and his eventual drive to tell the 506th's story that revealed the toughness of character and core beliefs that made Major Winters the combat leader show more he was. After the war and despite age and failing health, Major Winters kept in touch with surviving members of the 506th and eventually decided that they had a story worth telling.
Seeking a writer for their story, Winters interviewed writers, rejecting those who didn’t share his enthusiasm, and especially one who asked, “Well, how much money do you have.” Winters booted him out and eventually found his way to Stephen Ambrose. And the rest is history. But even as the story was being assembled, Winters coordinated the surviving members, keeping them on schedule on topic with an occasional “boot in the pants, just as he’d done half a century earlier:

“Malarky would write and come in with some good stuff, but he was always a step late,” Winters remembers. “Like we were on Holland, and he’d come in with Normandy. I’d say, Shit, Don, get on the ball and get me Holland. We’re going to hit Bastogne next.”

The same, “get the story right” attitude applied to both Stephen Ambrose and Tom Hanks as well during the making of “Band of Brothers.” Major Winters spoke his mind truthfully. The essence of the man was competence and confidence.
A good story well told, my one complaint being – as is with so many other histories – was the paucity of available photographs. Assigning a face to a name does wonders to fill in a story. Personally, I would have liked to have seen DeEtta, Winters’s female pen pal during the war, and Denver “Bull” Randleman, one of the finest soldiers Winters ever commanded. It would have been nice. Anyway, 3 and a half stars for “Biggest Brother.” Worth having and keeping on your shelf. show less

I took a while to be comfortable with the style of this book which jumps around in places in a manner that initially annoyed me but disappeared in the latter parts of the book.
The book itself covers the life of Dick Winters the man made famous but Stephen Ambrose and HBO in Band of Brothers as the the leader of Easy company. In presenting Winters life both before and after the war I felt it gave a better picture of him as a human being rather than the perfect leader portrayed by Band of show more Bothers.
The book stands on it own as a good account of Winters experiences in WWII and could be read without any knowledge of Ambrose work. It does one thing far better than Band of Brothers, which essentially ends just after the close of the war; it gives and insight into Winters life after the war - most interesting his post war adjustment back into civilian life. show less

They were Easy Company, 101st Army Airborne—the World War II fighting unit legendary for their bravery against nearly insurmountable odds and their loyalty to one another in the face of death. Every soldier in this band of brothers looked to one man for leadership, devotion to duty, and the embodiment of courage: Major Dick Winters.

This is the riveting story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero. After he enlisted in the army’s arduous new Airborne division, Winters’s show more natural combat leadership helped him rise through the ranks, but he was never far from his men. Decades later, Stephen E. Ambrose’s Band of Brothers made him famous around the world. show less