The Parachute Infantry

David Kenyon Webster's memoir is a clear-eyed, emotionally charged chronicle of youth, camaraderie, and the chaos of war. Relying on his own letters home and recollections he penned just after his discharge, Webster gives a first hand account of life in E Company, 101st Airborne Division, crafting a memoir that resonates with the immediacy of a gripping novel. From the beaches of Normandy to the blood-dimmed battlefields of Holland, here are acts of courage and cowardice, moments of irritating boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror, and pitched urban warfare. Offering a remarkable snapshot of what it was like to enter Germany in the last days of World War II, Webster presents a vivid, varied cast of young paratroopers from all walks of life, and unforgettable glimpses of enemy soldiers and hapless civilians caught up in the melee. Parachute Infantry is at once harsh and moving, boisterous and tragic, and stands today as an unsurpassed chronicle of war--how men fight it, survive it, and remember it.

Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich

by David Kenyon Webster, Stephen E. Ambrose

Airborne: The Combat Story of Ed Shames of Easy Company

Colonel Ed Shames is that rare man who can call himself a true warrior. A member of Easy Company of Band of Brothers fame, Shames saw combat in some of the most ferocious battles of World War II. From jumping behind the lines of Normandy on D-Day with the 101st Airborne Division, to the near victory of Operation Market Garden, to the legendary stand at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, Shames fought his way across Europe and into Germany itself.
In Airborne Shames and writer Ian Gardner (Tonight We Die As Men) tell the gripping true story of what it was like to be at the spear point of World War II in Europe. Neither the book nor TV series of Band of Brothers ever showed the real Ed Shames. Although he started as a private, combat soon forged Shames into a tough and inspired leader who would win a battlefield commission in Normandy. Seeming always to be where the fighting was, his two goals were to prevail in each fight against the Germans, and to keep his men alive. “Shames, you are the meanest, roughest son of a bitch I've ever had to deal with. But you brought us home,” was what he considered to be the highest compliment he received from one of his men.
Even though he was wounded in the Ardennes, Ed Shames never stopped fighting until Germany surrendered and the war was won. He has never stopped being a warrior.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ian Gardner is the author of the critically acclaimed Tonight We Die As Men, (co-written with Roger Day), Deliver Us From Darkness, and No Victory in Valhalla, all from Osprey. Gardner served as a medic in 10 Para, British Army. After a visit to Normandy in 2000 he decided to focus his historical research on the 101st Airborne Division, and in particular the 3rd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.  The author lives in Farnborough, UK.

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The national bestseller of never-before-published stories from the Band of Brothers They were the men of the now-legendary Easy Company. After almost two years of hard training, they parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and, later, Operation Market Garden. They fought their way through Belgium, France, and Germany, survived overwhelming odds, liberated concentration camps, and drank a victory toast in April of 1945 at Hitler's hideout in the Alps.
Here, revealed for the first time, are stories of war, sacrifice, and courage as seen by one of the most revered combat units in military history. In We Who Are Alive and Remain, twenty men who were there, and the families of three deceased others, recount the horrors and the victories, the bonds they made, the tears and blood they shed- and the brothers they lost.

Product details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Caliber; Reprint edition (18 May 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425234193
• ISBN-13: 978-0425234198
• Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 2.2 x 22.9 cm

Shifty's War Marcus Brotherton

As a boy growing up in the remote mining town of Clinchco, Virginia, Darrell "Shifty" Powers's goal was to become the best rifle shot he could be. His father trained him to listen to the woods, to "see" without his eyes. Little did Shifty know his finely-tuned skills would one day save his life--and the lives of his friends.
As one of the original men who trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, Shifty was one out of only two soldiers in Easy Company to initially earn the coveted expert marksman designation. He parachuted into France on D-day and fought for a month in Normandy; eighty days in Holland; thirty-nine in the harshly cold winter of Bastogne; and for nearly thirty more near Haguenau, France, and the Ruhr pocket in Germany.
Shifty's War is a tale of heroism and adventure, of a soldier's blood-filled days fighting his way from the shores of France to the heartland of Germany, and the epic story of how one man's skills as a sharpshooter and engagingly unassuming personality propelled him to a life greater than he could have ever imagined.

Biggest Brother,The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers Larry Alexander

In every band of brothers, there is always one who looks out for the others.
They were Easy Company, 101st Army Airborne--the World War II fighting unit legendary for their bravery against nearly insurmountable odds and their loyalty to one another in the face of death. Every soldier in this band of brothers looked to one man for leadership, devotion to duty, and the embodiment of courage: Major Dick Winters.
This is the riveting story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero. After he enlisted in the army's arduous new Airborne division, Winters's natural combat leadership helped him rise through the ranks, but he was never far from his men. Decades later, Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers made him famous around the world.
Full of never-before-published photographs, interviews, and Winters's candid insights, Biggest Brother is the fascinating, inspirational story of a man who became a soldier, a leader, and a living testament to the valor of the human spirit--and of America.

 

Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends

Tom Hanks introduces the “remarkable”(Publishers Weekly) story of two inseparable friends and soldiers portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.

William “Wild Bill” Guarnere and Edward “Babe” Heffron were among the first paratroopers of the U.S. Army—members of an elite unit of the 101st Airborne Division called Easy Company. The crack unit was called upon for every high-risk operation of the war, including D-Day, Operation Market Garden in Holland, the Battle of the Bulge, and the capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden. Both men fought side by side—until Guarnere lost his leg in the Battle of the Bulge and was sent home. Heffron went on to liberate concentration camps and take Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest hideout. United by their experience, they reconnected at the war’s end and have been best friends ever since. Their story is a tribute to the lasting bond forged between comrades in arms—and to all those who fought for freedom.

A Company of Heroes, Marcus Brotherton

After the Band of Brothers went home, they never forgot the lessons of war...
After chronicling the personal stories of the Band of Brothers in "We Who Are Alive and Remain," author Marcus Brotherton presents a collection of remembrances from the families of the soldiers of Easy Company-and how their wartime experiences shaped their lives off the battlefield.
"A Company of Heroes" is an intimate, revealing portrait of the lives of the men who fought for our freedom during some of the darkest days the world has ever known-men who returned home with a newfound wisdom and honor that they passed onto their families, and that continue to inspire new generations of Americans

 

Product details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Penguin USA; Reprint edition (3 May 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425240959
• ISBN-13: 978-0425240953
• Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 2.5 x 22.9 cm

Easy Company Soldier

Sgt. Don Malarkey takes us not only into the battles fought from Normandy to Germany, but into the heart and mind of a soldier who beat the odds to become an elite paratrooper and lost his best friend during the nightmarish engagement at Bastogne. In the darkness of D-Day morning, Malarkey parachuted into France and within days was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroism in battle. This is his dramatic tale of those bloody days fighting his way from the shores of France to the heartland of Germany, and the epic story of how an adventurous kid from Oregon became a leader of men.

Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

The New York Times bestselling World War II memoir from Major Dick Winters, the commander of the legendary Band of Brothers, with a new preface from the hero himself.

They were called Easy Company, but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered 150% casualties while liberating Europe, an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, Dick Winters was their legendary commander. This is his story, told in his own words for the first time, offering readers an astonishing, unvarnished account of his service as a World War II combat leader.

On D-Day, Winters assumed leadership of the Band of Brothers when its original commander was killed, and led them through the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany, by which time each member had been wounded. Based on Winters's wartime diary, Beyond Band of Brothers also includes his comrades' untold stories. This is a moving memoir by the man who earned the love and respect of Easy Company, and who is a hero to new generations worldwide.

From Publishers Weekly

In his well-intentioned but impersonal memoirs, Winters tells the tales left untold by Stephen Ambrose, whose Band of Brothers was the inspiration for the HBO miniseries, but Winters's memoir is disappointingly sparse on details unrelated to troop position. It is in the battles and tactical maneuvers of Easy Company that Winters is most at home: on D-Day, when Easy Company's commanding officer is killed, Winters takes charge minutes after landing deep in German territory and leads an assault against a German battery. He carefully explicates the reasoning behind his strategy, leading the reader along as the Company attacks German machine gun and mortar outposts. The narrative is laced with Winters's soldierly exaltations of pride in his comrades' bravery: "My God, it's beautiful when you think of a guy who was so dedicated to his company that he apologizes for getting hit." Although the intrepidness of the group induces more than a tinge of pride, the memoir is devoid of powerful reflections. In the last, sluggish chapters, Winters devotes an excessive amount of time to letters he has received and to expositions on leadership. Winters is too humble for a genre that requires a little bit of conceit.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose

**THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER** The book that inspired Steven Spielberg's acclaimed TV series, produced by Tom Hanks and starring Damian Lewis. In Band of Brothers, Stephen E. Ambrose pays tribute to the men of Easy Company, a crack rifle company in the US Army. From their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the dangerous parachute landings on D-Day and their triumphant capture of Hitler's `Eagle's Nest' in Berchtesgaden. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. Repeatedly send on the toughest missions, these brave men fought, went hungry, froze and died in the service of their country. A tale of heroic adventures and soul-shattering confrontations, Band of Brothers brings back to life, as only Stephen E. Ambrose can, the profound ties of brotherhood forged in the barracks and on the battlefields. `History boldly told and elegantly written . . . Gripping' Wall Street Journal `Ambrose proves once again he is a masterful historian . . . spellbinding' People