Who was Dick Winters?

An American paratrooper officer (1918 to 2011) of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, made famous by Band of Brothers.

What did Winters do at Brécourt Manor?

On D-Day he led a small group of paratroopers in an attack that silenced German guns firing on Utah Beach.

What decoration did Dick Winters receive?

The Distinguished Service Cross, for the Brécourt Manor assault.

Was Dick Winters at Bastogne?

Yes. He served with the 101st Airborne Division when it was surrounded at Bastogne in December 1944.

Dick Winters: the leader of Easy Company

On the morning of D-Day, Lieutenant Dick Winters gathered a handful of paratroopers and attacked a German battery that was firing on Utah Beach. It was the start of a war that took him from Normandy to Holland, Bastogne and Hitler's Eagle's Nest, and of a reputation as one of the finest small-unit leaders of the war.

A paratrooper

Born in Pennsylvania in 1918, Winters graduated from Franklin and Marshall College and enlisted in the army in 1941¹. Commissioned as an officer, he joined Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division, and trained with it for the invasion of Europe.

Brécourt Manor

Scattered by the night drop on 6 June 1944, Winters found himself in command of Easy Company. That morning he led a small group of men in an attack on German guns² at Brécourt Manor that were firing on the troops landing at Utah Beach, and put the battery out of action². The action is still taught as an example of a small-unit assault³, and it earned him the Distinguished Service Cross².

Black and white photograph of a heavily laden paratrooper climbing through the door of a transport aircraft at night — Sergeant Joseph F. Gorenc of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment climbs into a C-47 at RAF Exeter on the night of 5 to 6 June 1944, bound for a drop behind Utah Beach. US Army photograph. Public domain

Holland and Bastogne

In Operation Market Garden in September 1944, Winters led his men in Holland, where in October he directed a successful attack against a much larger German force¹. In December his division was surrounded at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, where he served as executive officer of the 2nd Battalion, 506th PIR, and the 101st held until it was relieved. He took command of the battalion in March 1945.¹

Coloured map of the roads and villages around Bastogne with the American perimeter in blue and German thrusts in red — The encirclement of Bastogne, 19 to 23 December 1944, with the American positions around the town and the German attacks against it. US Army Center of Military History map. Public domain

War's end

By the end of the war Winters was a major.³ After returning home he lived quietly in Pennsylvania, working in business and farming, and rarely spoke of the war.

Band of Brothers

Stephen Ambrose's 1992 book⁴ Band of Brothers and the 2001 television series based on it made Winters and Easy Company famous. He always insisted that the real heroes were the men he served with. Winters died in 2011, and a monument to leadership in his honour stands in Normandy².

Shallow overgrown foxholes among tall pine trees with a small wooden cross and flowers — Foxholes in the Bois Jacques near Foy, used by Easy Company to defend Bastogne in December 1944 and January 1945. The wood appears in the Band of Brothers series. Photographed in 2015. Public domain

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Dick Winters with Cole C. Kingseed, Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters (Berkley Caliber, 2006). ↩ a b c
U.S. Army (army.mil), “Normandy monument dedicated to Maj. Richard Winters” ↩ a b c d
Eisenhower Foundation, “Richard Winters” ↩ a b
Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Simon & Schuster, 1992). ↩
Wikipedia, “Richard Winters”
Wikipedia, “Wikipedia: Brécourt Manor Assault”