Reaction to Band of Brothers Part 3: Carentan 

Albert Blithe actually did not die in 1948. This was a false death claim as none of the other veterans from Easy Company found out what happened to him. They believed he died in 1948 from his wound. Stephen Ambrose regarded this as factual information, and wrote that in his book "Band of Brothers. The Blithe family later refuted this which led to corrections in the subsequent editions of that same book.The series does not have these changes, and still present the false death claim. He was discharged in 1945. He served in Korea and died in active service in 1967. He won a Silver star in Korea and 3 bronze stars+3 Purple hearts. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full honours.

This show should be shown in every school till the end of time just to show what our men went through to give us the life we owe to them,there might be a whole lot more gratitude on the planet

Thursday, June 6, is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the allied invasion of France to defeat Nazism. Very few veterans survive, but I was in Normandy for the 50th year observance, travelling with veteran paratroopers on D-Day Eve. I was supposed to witness airborne veterans parachuting from a vintage aircraft into a VIP area, but I decided to leave my space to a veteran, so I walked into Ste Mere-Eglise, the first French town liberated by our paratroopers, to wait for the parade- the ceremonial re-enactment of the battle- to assemble in the church square where the carnival of American television- Bryant Gumbel and Joan Lunden- were all broadcasting to the US and the world. As I moved through the mass of people to photograph the parade, I was overtaken by a surging throng screaming “Vivre Americain! Merci Americain!.” I kept saying, “Je ne suis pas une veteran!” but it didn’t matter. They wanted to physically embrace Americans today. I have photos of the parade. A line of mounted Gendarmerie cleared the path. The 68-year-old airborne veterans who had jumped again raised beer cans and cheered. Then- future Chairman JCoS General Hugh Shelton led combat-ready detachments of contemporary American paratroopers, fresh from the fight against Iraq. The victors of Desert Storm saluted the victors of Normandy with a triumph that would have paled Ceasar. The best light infantry of any army, anywhere, at any time in history, were feted by thousands of grateful, free people from around the world, their clamor to render all honors and glory to the airborne forces of the United States. On June 6, 1994, I was travelling with the 101st Airborne Division veterans’ association when we drove into Carentan, encountering the Fallschirmjager Regiment Six 50-year reunion. Fans of the tv show, “Band of Brothers,” will recall the battle to capture and defend Carentan. We were looking for the turn from the Normandy highway to Les Moulins, Omaha Beach, for the international observance by the heads-of-state of 13 D-Day countries. We missed the turn, driving past the German cemetery at La Cambe, where a lot of people were gathered. We drove on to Carentan for refreshments, before turning back to Omaha. As I stepped off the bus, I saw the green banner with gold Teutonic lettering, “Fallschirmjager Regiment Six.” I assumed they were at La Cambe, but when I opened the door to the restaurant, there they were. Elite German infantry, now 68 years, drinking and talking. I held the door for a Screaming Eagle who walked with a cane, saying, “It looks like the Germans are having their reunion, too.” “Just the ones we didn’t kill,” he muttered, a reference to the large tumulus at La Cambe. The sight of the Screaming Eagles patch on our veterans’ caps exploded like a hand grenade. Every German sprang to his feet and pulled tables and chairs out of the way with a cacophony of squeaking and scraping. Now I was wearing a trench coat, so I acted like a security officer, holding the Hun at bay. After 50 years, this band of brothers just didn’t want to speak with Germans in Carentan.

When I was young Apprentice in 1978 I worked with an ex Royal Marine who came through the war without a scratch and in the Dying days they were House clearing in a Town and his best mate, who he had gone through everything with since Basic training was clearing a House and as his mate went up the stairs, they blew up, booby trapped with a Grenade. The Guy Died, after all they had gone through. He said I will never forget it. I can't even imagine it. This Brave man will also be long gone now 🙏

This series really did a disservice to the outstanding soldier that Albert Blithe was. Albert Blithe of course survived the wound to his “neck” (shot in the neck in the episode - but was shot in the shoulder in real life), being discharged in October of 1945. He had been evacuated back to the States, which seems uncharacteristic for only a shoulder wound. So it’s possible that the shot either caused an infection, or did more damage on the inside than it seemed. I haven't been able to find any information on it. He had made a complete recovery, but never rejoined Easy company. After being discharged, he went back in the Army for Korea, and eventually ended up staying in the Army. He earned several Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, a Silver Star, and reached the rank of Master Sergeant. In early December of 1967, he attended a commemoration of Bastogne in Belgium. Upon returning, he went to the hospital after “feeling unwell”. He was diagnosed with a perforated ulcer. Emergency surgery was performed, but he subsequently developed peritonitis, eventually leading to renal failure just after midnight on December 17th . A few other interesting details that the series doesn’t touch on, or completely misses. First: when he was shot, it was a lot crazier than portrayed. During training leading up to their deployment into the war, the soldiers had been instructed that whenever they saw a sniper, they would aim their rifle and yell out "BANG BANG". This was training, so obviously it was for safety, etc. Well, during the patrol where he got shot, Blithe saw the German sniper first and did exactly as he was trained. He raised himself up, aimed his rifle, and yelled out "BANG BANG" instead of actually pulling the trigger. The German sniper - obviously - immediately shot Blithe. Secondly: when he was shot - it happened to be his 21st birthday. Last: Albert Blithe was actually from Philadelphia, and would have talked more like Guarnere & Heffron (Babe). When the British actor was cast to play Blithe, he used that deep southern-US accent for some reason, and the producers of the show just went with it. Richard Winters' memoirs mention encountering Blithe in the aid station, and how proud he was of the fact that Blithe could have gone back to the rear, but chose to stay with the unit once his temporary blindness had worn off. He does not mention Blithe being terrified or needing encouragement during the hedgerow fight, so that appears to be yet another "creative liberty" taken by Hollywood.

Thank you Alan, for getting back to the Goat that is B of B , I love your reaction to the series, because you get it, can you imagine if we have to rely on that generation today, cheers mate 👍🏼🍻

Thanks for your heartfelt reaction. As a longtime follower of BoB reactors, I am still touched by Joe Liebgott's tenderness handling Tipper, who got blown up by the explosion in the storefront. As you'll see in later episodes, Liebgott was a fierce warrior. Kudos to Marc Warren, who portrayed Blithe.

Appreciate your reaction, TEB. Will enjoy watching the rest of the Series with you, it is epic. Respect to the 501st and Easy Company, as well as all those that served. My great uncle was a Navigator in a Halifax Bomber with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). He flew 53 missions starting March '43, including D-Day, and survived though MANY of his friends did not. Sadly, he died of a heart attack at 52, so I never got to meet him. My aunt said he rarely talked about the War, but he would get the shakes sometimes. She said he described it like being in 'a hail storm' when they would fly and German Flak would be coming up and hitting the plane. She said, he told her they used to her off their radio frequency so they would not hear other planes/screams of the airmen going down. For the shakes, the family doctor recommended needle point. Different generation indeed.

Forgot you were doing these. When you've finished, it's well worth watching the documentary "We Stand Alone Together" that's following up on the lives of the actual soildiers. When you say "look at all the gear" I found some pictures of Easy Company online and yeah, those guys were in peak physical condition. It looks like the pictures were from earlier in Easy's time in Europe - Winters just looks... there's a gravitas to the man, he just looks like a leader, his treatment of Blythe in this is really hearfelt - Blythe, Doc Roe and Speirs are standout performances from this episode. Speirs and Winters are kinda the yin/yang, but you can see why men followed them and the different sides of being a good leader. I've seen a couple of things, accidents that went very badly and been there as a family member has passed and it changes you. That's less than a handful of things - totally "normal" things that are a part of life. To lose 65 people that you spent HARD time training with, developing friendships, hell just sharing a toilet with someone for a period of time's enough to build a knowledge of them. It's just unimaginable what these men went through and those that survived got up and did it again and again. You'd be a strange person not to be emotionally moved by this.

G’day mate. I’ve been binge watching your Two Ronnie’s and Ricky Gervais reactions constantly over the past week and when you nearly fell off your chair with Ricky and Karl’s teaching English lesson I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. We have the same taste in comedy! So I looked for two things that to me are in my top 5 funniest of all time bits and lo and behold you haven’t done them. PLEASE PLEASE do yourself a favour and check these two bits out. I absolutely promise you won’t be disappointed!!! 1) Randy Buys a Bookshelf off Gumtree (Gumtree is like Craig’s list) 2) Karl Pilkington has his prostrate examination Love your reactions keep it up!

Credit to the British actors on this series

One of the best and most realistic series produced showing the reality of war.

He wasn't faking the temporary blindness - it's called Conversion Disorder and it's a real thing. It used to be known as "hysterical blindness". It's thought to be triggered be high stress/trauma.

I have this on a blue ray box set watching this makes me wanna get it out and watch it all again in surround sound the people who made this also made another series called Pacific that's brilliant Americans agents the Japanese

one of the best mini series ever made....

Just rewatched this series and then watched the making of and was so shocked by how many of the actors, including Damian Lewis who plays Winters, are British. Their accents sound flawless (at least to my Australian ears)

Doing Blithe dirty is the one thing that leaves a sour taste in this orherwise amazing series. Dude not only survived the war but earned a silver star jumping behind enemy lines in the Korean war.

The use of the washing bundles to remind us of the ones that aren't returning as well as the care shown by taking and paying for their washing 'I'll take them ' is excellent storytelling.

That beard grew back fairly quick 🤣

You really gotta put more of these BoB reactions up dude don’t make us wait so long!

The did Blithe dirty in this series, He was a Beast and a War Hero

The few mistakes made in this series were from what these men recalled from their experiences. Many also believed Tipper (from Carentan) died. It wasn't until after the release did people provide further research. Best series of all time. Enjoying your reaction to this masterpiece.

My Father was at D Day but as a stoker on a support ship terrible times.

Albert Blythe didn’t die shortly after the war, I believe he lived until the ‘60’s

My wee brother got the box set when this originally came out.watched it a lot.the hardest watch is Why we fight.the poor guy who had to speak is heartbreaking.good luck

Good to watch this with you, Alan. War is often about luck, good or bad, as much as training. Earlier I watched a video from the Tank Museum about the battle of Villiers Bocage ( another key point near Carantan). The French civilian casualties both dead & wounded from the bombing campaign in prep for D-Day & afterwards were many tens of thousands because they had nowhere to go as battles raged around them, It is worth reading 2 of Max Hastings books: Overlord & Das Reich(about the 2nd SS Panzer getting to the fight in Normandy from the south of France). While many German troops were made up of less than full strength divisions including foreign troops other were veterans of the Eastern front including the Panzer Lehr division.

You can't get attached to characters in this series, the Blithe part might not be accurate in this instance but it's still useful in the sense it reminds you that it's war and this is what happened, people made friends and brothers only to lose them as quickly as they found them. I've watched the whole series about 8 times and it still has the same emotional impact as the first watch. It's really an all time great show.

Have the box set fantastic show.

Powerful, thank you for sharing this, hope you and family are keeping safe and well over there...E..😊

Hey Alan great to see you back into this, hope your enjoying doing the job and having a break from us... This part of band of brothers for me sets in stone some of the best actors in the series... Also the new doctor who is out and is probably going to be another classic

The blindness that was portrayed in the show I kind of believe because when I’m extremely stressed I lose all vision in my left eye

6:50 is what it feel like arma just epic

By the time you’ve watched Band of Brothers for the same number of years some of us fans have, we will have already had the 100th Anniversary of D Day.

Damn, that grew back quickly!

You need to check out a video about a British officer who took down a few enemy tanks it will blow your mind, the other wanted to lead from the front and didn't want to let his men down

Best war film ever made IMO

My favorite episode.

EB.. Ive read you're community posts. And I hear ya. 👍 But... Honestly buddy, as soon as you're finished Band of Brothers. You should watch The Pacific straight after.. then hopefully Rab C Nesbitt 😂😂😂. ✌🙏🇮🇪

the thing people forget is ... these guy were everyday civilians 6 weeks prior to being deployed to Normandy. most of these guys had never held a gun, let alone shot at a rabbit or deer prior to signing up/being conscripted. now they was expected to shoot/kill humans without emotion. so Blyth's reactions would have been that of many men in that situation. PTSD was not a known thing back then, so there was no treatment for the trauma of war. my grandfathers brother suffered with it. he was mostly tea-total, but when ever he had a few drinks he would start remember the things he saw and the friends he lost.

bought two VAT69 whisky bottles and watche band of brothers non stop from beginning to end... great series

I said before this was an excellent series .I was spoon fed war films from school onward though never with the reality shown in more modern versions. That may be because it was not long after the war and it was too raw but also that there were more rigid filming restrictions. Credit to whatever or whoever was responsible for todays reality of war films but clearly we still have a fundamental problem. That problem perhaps best summed up with one man today and there are others but Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine for no good reason apart from visions of greatness in his mind and to form a buffer zone , he has targeted civilians lost countless men and would appear to want to send more into a slaughter as many men as he can muster . If one is attacked that may be the only reply if one does not want to be a slave but his war was illogical and clearly shows the insanity of a small group of elitists with no compassion for other human life knowing they will not have to experience the kind of horrors of war themselves. We have so very far yet to go before sanity rules this planet and i am not sure we have enough time.

Did I warn you to have ablanket ready? No spoilers, but 1 future episode can make the suggestable feel the cold. No, I won't which episode. Oh, a WW2 training film for facing tanks. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-taHFUKKKmJM.htmlsi=cWymaYGP7juZHvXf only 13 and a half minutes

Hey, dude. You ok? Where ya been?

You Czech or Slovak at all? You look like me and a cousin.

I wish you'd watch these a little quicker.