I Met the Real “Band of Brothers” And Their Story Is More Amazing Than You Think

Warrior Maven Video: Air Force “Rapid Raptor” program designed to send four F-22s to war in 24 hours

By Daniel L. Davis,The National Interest

I have always been an avid student of history, especially within my then-profession of the military. In early 2006 I had just returned from my first deployment to Afghanistan, my second combat deployment at the time, when I was afforded the rare opportunity to meet one of the great legends of World War II, then-84 year old William “Wild Bill” Guarnere. He had achieved considerable fame with the release of the HBO series Band of Brothers in 2001. I quickly discovered, however, that the man in real life was more amazing than even his namesake from the series.

Guarnere, from South Philadelphia, was one of many in his generation that volunteered for service following America’s entry into the Second World War. Not being satisfied merely with serving, however, he chose to join what was then a never-before cutting edge concept: airborne infantry, i.e., jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, behind enemy lines. He was assigned to Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, which saw its first combat action by parachuting in behind enemy lines in Normandy in June 1944. Easy Company saw action at the forefront of the Allied move across Europe, including Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden and perhaps the most well-known, the Battle of the Bulge.

Bill Guarnere had shown how tenacious and fearless he was almost immediately upon landing in northern France. “I was a wild man” in action in Normandy, he said in a 2006 interview.

When I initially went into combat, I learned my brother had been killed in Italy. You didn’t want to be a German around me. The first day in combat, every German I saw, I killed him. I don’t know how I made it through that day.

 He was not, however, blind with hatred. He remained a disciplined and focused member of Easy Company. His fellow paratroopers would need his fearless, tenacious and disciplined focus only hours after daybreak on June 6, 1944.