It is amazing to watch Dale Dye go to work. As a former Forward Observer (FO) during my 2nd Lt days 34 years ago, he explains the science of artillery as if he were fresh out of artillery school. God bless you, Dale! Semper Fi.
He knows shit but has the gift of gab. A 105 has 7 charge bags, The method of calling in fire is probably what they teach infantry. The best way was for the observer to indicate the grid reference of the target to the command post at the gun line where the geometry is calculated to fire an adjusting round.
A question? My grandpa was a Marine Ww2 veteran and as I live in Sweden (My mum is Swedish) I received a box with stuff my grandpa collected and sent home to the US during the war. I discovered that among many "souvenirs" , one Grenade (disarmed) and a fully functional Mauser K-98 with a scope (AND a box with rounds) happened to be shipped to Stockholm, Sweden and it GOT THROUGH the Swedish custom unit???? We have to have a license for fully functional weapons here and now I dont know how to deal with it? Should I shut up and take it to our northern Sweden cabin? Or?
I would guess that all the 101st soldiers depicted in Band of Brothers are all gone. God rest their souls and thank you for their sacrifice to preserve the freedoms that many young people today don’t appreciate.
What a gift the actors that got jobs on this series were given. Seems they made life long friendships, and got an insight into what it was to be the greatest generation.
I was an avid reader of Soldier of Fortune and when Dale Dye retired from the USMC in 84 or 85, he became the editor of that magazine- that's the first time he came to my notice. Later I found out that he was described in the Michael Herr memoir "Dispaches", which I had read by then but didn't make the connection until years later. Not long after he came to prominence as having run the "boot camp" for the actors in Platoon. When he appears in a movie you can rest assured he's the real thing.
We were in Normandy at that time also for D-day 75! We were on Utah beach for the ceremony on June 6, 2019. When they played the American national anthem our whole grandstand of Americans stood, covered our hearts and sang as loudly as we could! The whole crowd turned to watch, even the cameras recording the event! We all had tears in our eyes!!!!
The Battlefield Explorer I believe our tour bus drove by the Winters monument while the ceremony was going on!... thanks for bringing back great memories!!! I remember we were hoping to run into each other while we were there... I guess we came close!!! We did meet Captain Dye in San Mere Eglise!
@@moonglow630 you could tour Normandy in your own, there’s plenty of maps and books about the area. If WWII history is important to you it’s a trip of a lifetime!
10:13 The charge across La Fiere causeway into heavy German fire was considered suicidal, so much so that the original CO refused to lead it. The 325th GIR was selected to go first. My cousin was in the lead company, one of the first soldiers to make it across the La Fiere causeway alive on June 9, 1944. He was later killed in action that September in Holland. Rest in peace Noah Forsyth, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment.
19:02 Hearing Cpt. Dye mention the 325th brings back some serious memories. In the early 1980s I was a member of the 3/325th Airborne Battalion Combat Team in Vicenza, Italy, which was the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment in WWII. Our unit was the reinforcement he mentions. Every year, on the evening of June 6th we would begin the march from St. Mare Eglise to the La Fiere bridge as part of the memorial. Probably the most profound moments of my military career because you knew what took place there and what the march represented.
Fascinating to hear all the little details about the assault on Brecourt Manor. It’s one thing to watch the recreation in BoB but this puts another perspective on it.
I was part of the 4th Infantry Division contingent that helped commemorate the 50th Anniversary in 1994. It was a humbling and eye opening experience as an Infantryman.
Ike was once quoted as saying the four things that did more to win, were the Jeep, the Duece and a Half Truck, the bulldozer, and the C 47. None had a gun. They were all about mobility and logistics.
my brother and I went there in January a few years back, and the conditions were just the same in 44, the fields were all flooded around the bridge, that bridge battle is what the final scene of private ryan is supposed to show
I always feel reunions are and can be so sad, especially the ones very late in life. Anyone else feel like skipping reunions so people remember you as you were in the prime of your life provides a little solace?
I think it depends on the bond you had with the people you are reuniting with. If it was strong and the event or time was pivotal to you then when you reunite you are with people who share something with you no one else can really understand. That can be bittersweet but not sad.
I was in Normandy for the 74th anniversary. I would love to go back and do the Band Of Brothers tour. It's a multi day event taking you to all the spots Easy Company campaigned and highlighted in the series. Hearing taps and seeing those monuments still bring tears to my eyes.
It is so amazing seeing all these familiar faces. Wow. I'm so jealous they got to do this with Captain Dye! They did such amazing work in BOB that they absolutely deserved this moment. Thank you so much for posting this.
I believe it was the 20th anniversary of the D-Day landings that Walter Cronkite interviewed General Eisenhower about his thoughts on the landings at that time. It was an emotional and moving interview and I wish they would replay it every year. The young people of today need to hear it and learn from those who were there. While General Eisenhower was not part of the invasion, he was the one who gave the order to proceed. From the tone of his voice in the interview, you could sense that it was a gut-wrenching order that he gave that day. He knew that thousands of those young men that he sent into battle would not survive that day, and it was still haunting him 20 years later.
I’d like to see that. We never seem to talk about Eisenhower, even though he was President and a General in WW2. I’ve just started wondering more about him.
Dye knows his stuff for an old guy. I was a Navy Flight Officer in the 80's and I struggle to remember basic navigation theory. I'm also lost finding the bathroom at times soo...
Dale Dye lost me at "Simple Trigonometry." When you get as effected by the reunion of the actors portraying actual soldiers. They damn well did something right. Currahee! ♠
That ending was beautiful. What a glorious way to pay respects to such an honorable solider. Rip Major Winters, you earned everything you fought for. As a proud American, I Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
The only people I recognize are the actors who played Colonel Sink (Dale Dye), Pvt. Webb ( Eion Bailey) , Perconte (James Madio) and Sgt. Grant (Nolan Hemmings) any others?
Dale Dye tells the story. Does anyone contradict Dale? The what is what he said, The who and what sections needs to be filled in. Great post and part of the history. Those guys so lucky to be with Dale Dye.
I talked to Dale years ago, and he pretty much studies and studies and studies books in his very substantial military library at home…..it’s all about the books according to Dale. I was a Forward Observer and he explained it perfectly.
Wow, what an experience that must have been to go on that tour! I'd be so damm starstruck I would just stand there like Jackie Gleason going hamana hamana hamana!
i hate that war memorial/remembrance footage is always so sad. remember those boys fighting were very young men, they were all full of life and camaraderie. they always deserve celebration imo
And this year, from what im hearing, a couple of these guys are going through US Army Jump Training, so they can, for the first time ever, do a true parachute jump, out of a C-47. Only thing that would make this better, is if a select few of today's 101st members could join them. Fulfilling their unit's proud history. ❤
Very true. When I was BC in 2004-05, our computation method in the FDC was digital using AFATDS, but our old school FDC chief was still using "darts and charts" as our back up. I was at gunnery school in Ft. Sill in 1987, we were taught gunnery comps using BCS, BUCS, and manual gunnery, but manual was only taught by Marine artillery instructors to us Marine lieutenants. The dog faces were only taught digital. I am pretty sure even the Marines no longer teach manual gunnery, which totally sucks because when we, as 14th Marines Regt (Artillery) did our first regimental firex in 5 years at Ft. Sill in the summer of 2014, it took over a day before we were firing live rounds waiting on clearance to use satellite bandwidth to synch with our digital systems. What a bunch of sh*t! If we were cleared to use manual gunnery, we'd have been firing in five minutes. The Chinese won't wait all day for us to get our finicky little digital systems set up before they pulverize us with rocket artillery, but hey, no worries, America. We got your back.
@@breadwineandsong4014 Absolutely spot on!! The Army wants to field a 2.5lb scope for the new service rifle, one that can do all kinds of crazy ballistic calculations. What if the battery runs out in the middle of a firefight? What if the scope get hits by enemy fire? What then? How about more range time for these troops, rather than relying on overly-heavy optics that are bound to fail at the worst possible moment?
Don't recognize many of the actors/cast members. Besides Col. Sink, I see David Webster, Skip Muck, maybe Shifty Powers and Lt Dyke (I think). Dale Dye's using pretty salty language given some of the folks brought their spouses and kids.
Actors playing Heffron, Shifty Powers, Grant, Perconte, and Webster were the ones I saw....looks like Doc Roe at the wreath laying ceremony also. You can see the actors who played Heffron, Shifty, Webster, and Sink together at 13:50.
I think a lot are actors. They are middle aged so its harder to recognize. Ones I know are Eion Bailey (Webster) 0:20 or 5:38 is wearing blue jean shirt and jeans with glasses and black hair, and Ben Caplan (Smokey) wearing blue shirt with khaki and hat with glasses at 0:21 and 9:35.
I think that's Robin Laing ('Babe' Heffron) in the red shirt at 14:21. And then possibly Shane Taylor (Doc Roe) runs up at 15:13 - presumably someone shouted 'medic!!'.
