Today, all of the Band of Brothers of Easy Company are now dead. The very last member of Easy Company to pass away was Bradford C. Freeman. He died on July 3, 2022, at the age of 97. Rest in peace, Easy Company, you will never be forgotten.
@@shawnp6744 Originally Easy Company comprised of 132 enlisted, with 8 officers conducted at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. It grew to men who served under Easy Company to be around 366 men. 49 were killed, and causality are around debatable.
One thing I’ve always noticed was when Winters broke the news that the Japanese had surrendered, the look on everyone’s face wasn’t of joy nor sadness, it was more of “where do we go from here?” A lot of them had realized that was the last time they’d all be together it seemed and it just hit them.
It's the reality that the war was finally over. Most of these guys were expecting to be sent to the Pacific and fight for another few year. Suddenly, it was over and they were going home.
Dude as someone who works funerals. The fact that George Luz's funeral was visited by 1600 people is about the best commendation you can get as a person. You never see that many people for a funeral unless that person was (locally) famous to some extend
Luz was actually not a “handy man”. As I understand it he had a few different jobs and was working on a machine, possibly a commercial washing machine which fell on him. But yes reported by his son 1600 (approx) did attend his funeral. I wonder how many actually knew about his WWII service!
Sad that this entire generation is almost gone. This was a great mini-series and the ending was wonderful, a bunch of guys playing baseball, living in the moment not know what life after the war was going to be like for them and then you hear what happened to each and every one of the members of Easy Company, lives well lived.
@@Erock927 Man take a look around. Our country has completely lost its way and these younger generations couldnt care less about what any of these brave men did for us. Its a sad reality.
@@cameronmohwinkle5140 Sad, but unfortunately true. We've created a generation which utterly rejects self-sacrifice and responsibility. Ruthless self-optimization is the goal, others be damned. And the more you can lean on being "disadvantaged", the better. Being a victim is the goal, not the problem.
@@Corristo89 Hence why you see white men like Dylan Mulvaney turning trans just so they can be part of the oppressed and not a "privileged" white man. Until this nation is drawn into a war again our younger generations will never know the meaning of self sacrifice and patriotism. Sadly, i wonder if anyone would answer the call like these brave men did back then.
They were us - just normal people - and that's the biggest thing worth remembering, I think. They don't think of themselves as heroes because they think of themselves as normal, average folks. And we could be like this again, if we decided this is what we wanted America to be again. This is certainly the sort of America I think we're always able to be, if we want to be. The sort of America worth aspiring to and fighting for. Just normal, decent folks trying to do what needs to be done.
My Dad was a WWII veteran, he passed away over 15 years ago. I have a plaque with his dog tags, medals, and picture hanging on my wall. I'm so proud to be his son and glad I took the time to listen to his stories.
You’re a good man for being humble.my father was a Korea and Malaya veteran I’m a veteran too.2 tours of Bosnia,Kosovo and Sierra Leone. My son now carries on as a soldier Rip easy company and warriors past
I would also argue that Ordinary Men did horrific things as well. There is a book called Ordinary men that talks about that. If you're in a good mental state, I would urge you to read it. It follows Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the final solution in Poland. The men were older and supposedly more resilient to brainwashing, however, they committed sin that should/could not be repeated.
This ending no matter how many times I've watched it has brought a tear to my eye. Hearing the final paths they all took and when they passed away. Such a brilliant mini series. I haven't watched anything else that's came close.
Shifty was still alive when this was made, he does some of the commentary before each episode and has a piece about him in the last episode. He was sent home after the German surrender but was hit by a drunk-driving officer on his way but survived. He died a few years ago, 2009 I think. RIP
In the 10 or epilogue part - Shifty's family are interviewed, as are Joe Toy's - the love the families had for their fathers was plainly evident. I especially like the scene where Tipper's daughter comes up to him, hugs and kisses him. So very moving. RIP the Men of Easy. Thank you for your service.
I love the ending scene is the men playing baseball. The National Pastime and a simple game the brings Americans together in times of hardship and uncertainty.
They really were 'The Greatest Generation'. We celebrated my uncle's 101st birthday last weekend. He still gets around on his own and can see pretty good and mostly hear. He gave a toast "to those who never came back home" and cried the tears that only an old man can cry. Uncle Sal came home, became a school teacher, and never left town again.
I think this is all inspiring as I get older I feel and respect so much more than what I did then when I was younger. My Grandfather is 98 and served in Papua New Guinea with the Australian army during the war. God bless them all ....Lest We Forget
My dad was born in Korea in 1932, then under Japanese occupation. My grandfather hid him when the NKPA invaded the South in 1950, got drafted into the nascent ROK air force, was discharged, went to medical school, came to the U.S. in 1957, married my mom in 1960 then they had my brother and I in 1963 and 1964. They moved to Wisconsin in 1971, became U.S. citizens in 1976 and lived in "their peaceful corner of the world" until they both passed away (mom in 2017, dad in 2021). When i see these Band of Brothers, i think of my dad doing his part for freedom in 1950's Korea. God bless our Greatest Generation.
Glad to see the Army went back to the old brown color uniform. It honors men like these. Found out reading the obituary for the janitor at my old elementary school, a quiet friendly man, had been a member of the 101st and had parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. To him, the men of Easy Company, their comrades, and their descendants, thanks.
I cry every time I watch this scene. By the end of the series you feel such a connection and bond with these brave men who sacrificed everything for their country.
Gearing up to watch it through for the third time. I have made it a tradition to watch it every May for memorial day and make sure i go down to the WW2 memorial in washington dc as well to pay my respects. Such a fantastic series, and i follow it up with watching the pacific then haha.
This might be my favorite show, I served in the U.S. Navy and my grandfather was a German officer who moved to Pennsylvania after the world. He reminded me of these men, in alot of ways... They may have been on different sides, but something about their character makes them all stand out. RIP
Veterans Day 2019 was day before yesterday. Some of the guys from the 101st are still alive, now in their 90s or past 100. My uncle served with the 101st, as an officer in Vietnam.
My dad was a gunner in a B26 9th Army Air Corps. He missed D Day but was in the battle of the bulge. He came back and married and had 5 kids. He became a civil engineer for the state of California building freeways in Northern California. He retired in 1975 after 20 years. He died in 1986.
Sad indeed. My father died in 2013. He the most honorable man I've ever known. God keep all of them safe and at peace. A generation like that will never, ever be again.
Drives my brain nuts that WW2 is made to seem like it happened so long ago in history books yet the men that experienced such history were still alive and working in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Odd how they left out the updates on Bill Guarnere and Don Malarkey when they were such a big part of the books and the Easy Company civilian life back home after the war.
@@SilentRaider53 I apologise if you thought that had even entered my head. All I meant was many countries have lost their best on the altar of war, no more.
I can relate to this I am a veteran and we have reunions we all trained together good times and sad times its 30 years since i stopped wearing a uniform but the bond between us is still there The guys you meet in service are special and yes we all move on to civilian life
So beautifully written and played. It brought tears to my eyes. Even though I am not an American, to this very day I remain grateful to the Allied Servicemen & Women that helped save the world and keep us free. Lest we Forget!
They all still young and gained life experiencednthe hard way.. Came back with the memories they had to remember for the rest of their life.. They are not heroes but they are the bravest one..
One of my favorite parts in this series. So many, on so many different fronts, each with their own stories. My grandfather was a Sea Bee, island hopping across the Pacific and ended the war trying to clean up the Philippines. My late father-in-law got to his base in what now Dhaka, Bangladesh (East Pakistan then) at the age of 18. An aircraft mechanic. I can only imagine the shape some of those aircraft were in when they returned from missions. They had a group, The CBI (China, Burma, India). They disbanded on a given date in the early 2000s so the remaining guys wouldn't have to shut things down. I grew up in the 1960a, so many of these men were my Boy Scout leaders, and teachers, and just neighbors and was taught that the way to repay the debt was to leave your part of the world a little better than it had been.
They stood up for a few moments after Major Winters breaking the news of the surrender of the japanese armed forces, the war is over, sounded too good to be true. Those warriors have endured so much in the war liberating people against tyranny, their heroic acts will always be remembered in the human history. My respect and gratitude A random user from the other side of the world with different ideology but the expression of hope for the continued peace.
I respect your sentiment, but disagree on this: these men were not warriors. They were every day Joes called on to do the near impossible and survive the trauma they saw and inflicted. A few months of training does not a warrior make. That said, many of them carried the emotional scars of the war until the end of their lives. My father included. It cost him one marriage, and almost his second one also. He found it difficult to make and hold onto friends, or make any attachments for that matter. Some men die on the filed of battle. Others survived to be tortured by what they had seen or done. All of them are heroes in their own right.
I went to Normandy and have noticed recently that I have been very disturbed by the visit. I enjoyed the trip, but, it was rather haunting walking where so many had died so young. I worry too much about things in life even when I remind myself of how trivial those things are. I can't imagine the feelings of so many as they went to war and during the invasion of Normandy and beyond. It saddens me deeply to think about all the loss. So many people lost to the ways of a selfish, sociopathic leader and those who blindly followed.
Same, I visited Normandy with my parents on holiday, I guess I was 12 or so. I knew about world war 2 generally speaking, from the odd comic or movie, but I vividly remember walking on the beach with my dad solemnly telling me about the battle that took place there. I'm 40 now, and it's one of those moments that would shape my whole life. I've always been so grateful for that. rip dad
This scene brings tears to my eyes. To sum up the stories of all these men… truly amazing. This series is special, it’ll always be one favorite War related series and maybe just favorite tv series of all time. What these men did for us is something we can never ever stop appreciating them for. We have our freedom today because of men like this. 🙏🙏🙏🙏 I am an Iraq army veteran myself and re joining society after my deployment was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I did see combat and I spent about 5 years using drugs after I got back to cope. Been sober 3 years now but I can relate to how re joining society is extremely difficult. And these guys had it WAY harder than I did. Their style of combat was insanely worse than today’s style imo. I’m glad some of them were able to find nice, peaceful lives after war. That’s all I ever wanted as well.
Everytime I watch this scene at the end of the series, I always tear up. I make sure I never watch the series unless watching all of it, every episode. I love military history and military knowledge in general. After all I've learned from these two subjects, it always makes me feel like a soldier has a closer connection with his fellow man than any civilian could with his co-workers.
When I was in Korea back in 1994 we had a softball game as part of the "Indianhead Olympics" being held throughout the 2nd ID area...we had to have KATUSAs on our team even though they didn't even know what a softball was.....we lost 36-7.
Just finished watching this last week for the first time and I absolutely loved it. Now I’m on ep3 of The Pacific and then I’ll give Masters of the Air a watch too. As a side note I absolutely adore the homage they payed to the movie “The Sandlot” from 1993 with this baseball scene.
It is up to we, many of whom were raised by these people, to keep their memory alive. It’s the duty of all of us to keep memories alive, for veterans of every conflict.
So crazy to think most of the guys were aged between 18-25 when they first jumped on D-Day. After spending their early 20s in war, they now have to rejoin society and try to live a normal life. Such extraordinary men, we will never see their like every again.
I do not have a lump in my throat nor am I crying...I'm just choking on a piece of fruit and there just so happens to be a freshly cut piece of onion nearby
James Thanks, he was a pretty remarkable man and I miss him a lot, but most men of that generation were, that’s why they are called the greatest. Thanks again for your kind words!
William Menendez no problem. Wish the govt realized the magnitude of the rare group of men who served in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. Men like that, following the end of the Vietnam War, shouldn’t have to work a day of their rest of their lives and never have to pay taxes. Men who served in WWII were given the option to opt out the draft for the Korean War. Same thing with Vietnam (Korean War vets were given the option to opt out of the draft selected them). That means your grandfather willfully went to two additional wars. Unreal. Even Dick Winters opted out when given the choice after he got drafted for the Korean War
James Yeah he had a decent pension after he retired, he made probably around 100,000 a year maybe a little less but some good money in general. He retired in 1970 and was never the type of man to be able to sit around and not work. He got a job at a car dealership and worked their for 25 years. Of course the government still taxed the living hell out of a simple man who literally jumped out of airplanes into combat, shot people, and nearly froze to death in a far away country (Korea) and served in a war where everyone back home hated the soldiers who fought (Vietnam) many people say the Vietnam war was pointless, but he had many buddies serving as infantry soldiers in that war who died, and he refused to believe they died for nothing. It makes me sad to think after all he did for this country he never got any special recognition by the public (same with a lot of those other men)
William Menendez i always tell people that regardless of the politics, always respect the men and women who get sent. WWII is obviously easy to feel proud of because we couldn’t let the Nazis win. The Korean War too. Every Korean War veteran that visits South Korea gets blown away by how prosperous the country is-and that would not have happened if the US did not intervene when the Soviet backed Chinese invaded the Korean Peninsula. Vietnam is always tough to discuss but the men there should always be honored. I’ve been to Vietnam. It’s actually a pretty cool vacation spot. Even though the country did turn communist after the US pulled out, it’s now a country seeking pragmatic economics with state institutions being privatized and their govt seeking foreign investment to join the global free market (kinduv what we were hoping to instill by being there). I talked to some college students who spoke English and none of them have any feelings or opinions about the war. They were more interested in asking me about Lebron James and Beyoncé. I’m not a historian so I can’t say for sure what impact we made there. I’d like to think we made an impact but the impact is very very obvious with WWII and the Korean War
Watching this video reminds me of when I was in the ARMY years ago. Sometimes I wonder where the soldiers are and what they are doing. My father told me to make the state of HAWAII and our family PROUD and I told. My son the same, he gets out of the MARINES in 4 years and he is E-7,maybe he might make. Master SERGEANT. I'm finished
From a First War War poem: They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them
