Major Richard Winters, Real Life Commander of Easy Company, Passes Away at 92

Major Richard "Dick" Winters, the Pennsylvania native and WWII Commander who's story was recounted in the Band of Brothers book and miniseries passed away in Campbelltown, PA at the age of 92. Winters passed away on Jan 2nd and had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for some time. He was buried in a small, private ceremony on Saturday.

Throughout WWII, Winters was the commander of Easy Company, 506th regiment of the 101st Airborne Division which had fought their way through Western Europe on D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp and Hitler's 'Eagles Nest' Alpine retreat.

After the war, Winters led a relatively quiet life and worked in the agricultural feed business. In the 1990s, Winters was approached by historian Stephen Ambrose who was hoping to chronicle the story of Easy Company's slog through Western Europe for future generations. Ten years ago, Ambrose's Band of Brothers was made into an HBO miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Winters was gracious about his new found notoriety, but never entirely comfortable with it. He shied away of any description of himself as a hero, but was quick to add that he 'served in the company of heroes'.

I found out about Winter's passing from Philly blogger Wyatt Earp the other day. A little over a month ago, Wyatt also mentioned that a 9 year old in Western Pennsylvania has begun selling green wristbands marked 'HANG TOUGH' (similar to the Lance Armstrong/LIVE STRONG bracelets) in order to raise funds for building a monument to Major Winters in St. Marie du-Mont, France.