Eddie Shames, last remaining ‘Band of Brothers’ officer, dies at 99

[oldbrownhat]

Article here (and just about everywhere else)

Edward D. Shames, 99, died at home Friday in Virginia Beach. He was the last surviving officer of E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division — the famous "Easy Company" that inspired the miniseries and book "Band of Brothers."...

...Shames' perhaps most memorable exploit came after Germany surrendered and he and other 101st members stormed into Hitler's Eagle's Nest. "Ed managed to acquire a few bottles of cognac, a label indicating they were 'for the Fuhrer's use only,'" according to the obit. "Later, he would use the cognac to toast his oldest son's Bar Mitzvah."​

 

[Beemerguy53]

...Shames' perhaps most memorable exploit came after Germany surrendered and he and other 101st members stormed into Hitler's Eagle's Nest. "Ed managed to acquire a few bottles of cognac, a label indicating they were 'for the Fuhrer's use only,'" according to the obit. "Later, he would use the cognac to toast his oldest son's Bar Mitzvah."​

What a way to spit in Hitler's eye!

God bless those guys. When duty called, they left their schools and jobs...their homes and families...their wives and sweethearts...and they put on our nation's uniforms and went off to save the world.

There's no doubt why we call them "the Greatest Generation"...

 

[oldbrownhat]

What a way to spit in Hitler's eye!...

Definitely a prime candidate for the "Revenge is sweet, but not fattening" Award.

From the NY Times obit (very good if you can access it)

Lieutenant Shames's company entered the Dachau concentration camp in Germany a few days after it was liberated by American troops in April 1945.

In "Airborne: The Combat Story of Ed Shames of Easy Company" (2015), written with Ian Gardner, Mr. Shames, in one of many recollections in the book, told of the battlefield carnage he had encountered. But Mr. Shames, who was Jewish, struggled to find words for what he had seen at Dachau.

"The stench and horror of that place will live with me as long I live," he wrote. "Now, 70 years later, I'd like to tell you more, but it's buried so deep in my soul that I don't think the rest of the story can ever come out."​

 

[mckenney99]

Rest In Peace Sir. My hope is that his heart and soul are now cleansed of the horror and pain that they have carried for all these years.

 

[quikdraw67]

Article here (and just about everywhere else)

Edward D. Shames, 99, died at home Friday in Virginia Beach. He was the last surviving officer of E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division — the famous "Easy Company" that inspired the miniseries and book "Band of Brothers."...

...Shames' perhaps most memorable exploit came after Germany surrendered and he and other 101st members stormed into Hitler's Eagle's Nest. "Ed managed to acquire a few bottles of cognac, a label indicating they were 'for the Fuhrer's use only,'" according to the obit. "Later, he would use the cognac to toast his oldest son's Bar Mitzvah."​

Talk about flipping a giant middle finger to Hitler and the Nazis

RIP to you, Sir.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Definitely a prime candidate for the "Revenge is sweet, but not fattening" Award.

From the NY Times obit (very good if you can access it)

Lieutenant Shames's company entered the Dachau concentration camp in Germany a few days after it was liberated by American troops in April 1945.

In "Airborne: The Combat Story of Ed Shames of Easy Company" (2015), written with Ian Gardner, Mr. Shames, in one of many recollections in the book, told of the battlefield carnage he had encountered. But Mr. Shames, who was Jewish, struggled to find words for what he had seen at Dachau.

"The stench and horror of that place will live with me as long I live," he wrote. "Now, 70 years later, I'd like to tell you more, but it's buried so deep in my soul that I don't think the rest of the story can ever come out."​

I have been to Dachau three times. The spirits of the dead haunt that place...you can feel their presence. I will go to my grave never understanding how human beings can do such brutal things to others...

 

[oldbrownhat]

I have been to Dachau three times. The spirits of the dead haunt that place...you can feel their presence. I will go to my grave never understanding how human beings can do such brutal things to others...

Looking at those pictures gives me the shivers.

I often wonder, of the hundreds of soldiers who ran those camps, how many survived the war and how they lived with what they did. Very, very few have been brought to court. Did they all go to their graves feeling their actions were justified? Some, perhaps, as we know there were Nazi support groups after the war, but I suspect many were brainwashed into complicity and some must have "come to their senses" after the war, esp. as Germany recovered and became a respected nation. Naturally they could not speak of their activities, but I wonder if there are long-forgotten journals or deathbed confession letters still remaining to be found that may shed some light on how they coped.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

Beemerguy , something you forgot to add . They stayed until either they died or the war was over . There were guys that were at Pearl Harbor and they didn't go home until the papers were signed in Tokyo Bay . Same in the ETO .

 

[ShivasIrons]

Fair Winds and Following Seas Mr. Shames...

 

[Rudi]

RIP. We are all in debt to these men, all.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Beemerguy , something you forgot to add . They stayed until either they died or the war was over . There were guys that were at Pearl Harbor and they didn't go home until the papers were signed in Tokyo Bay . Same in the ETO .

Excellent point...thanks for that reminder.

My ex-wife's uncle graduated from high school six months after Pearl Harbor, and enlisted in the US Navy immediately. He became an anti-aircraft gunner on a destroyer in the Pacific, and his family didn't see him at all until he was mustered out after the war was over. He left home in June of '42 as an 18-year old kid, and returned in the late autumn of '45 as a 21-year old combat veteran.

Those guys really did give up the "best years of their lives" for the cause of freedom...

 

[Beemerguy53]

Looking at those pictures gives me the shivers.

I often wonder, of the hundreds of soldiers who ran those camps, how many survived the war and how they lived with what they did. Very, very few have been brought to court. Did they all go to their graves feeling their actions were justified? Some, perhaps, as we know there were Nazi support groups after the war, but I suspect many were brainwashed into complicity and some must have "come to their senses" after the war, esp. as Germany recovered and became a respected nation. Naturally they could not speak of their activities, but I wonder if there are long-forgotten journals or deathbed confession letters still remaining to be found that may shed some light on how they coped.

Like you, I have often wondered how those camp guards lived with what they did.

Dachau was the very first concentration camp established by the 3rd Reich, and it's in a beautiful, ancient town just northwest of Munich, in Bavaria. It held political prisoners at first, and then became a slave labor camp, where the inmates were simply worked until they died. Grotesque medical experiments were also conducted there.

Conditions were brutal, and even though Dachau was not an extermination camp (like Auschwitz, for example) sources on the internet cite more than 30,000 documented deaths, and probably many more than that which were undocumented. There were group executions there, via firing squad, hanging, or the gas chamber.

I don't have any documentation to support this opinion, but I suspect a lot of those camp soldiers lived with the guilt of what they'd done, and with the fear of exposure, for the rest of their lives. Some, I'm sure, rationalized that they were "following orders", but I don't see how somebody who isn't a true sociopath could participate in something so monstrous and not feel guilty over it...

 

[Rustyt1953]

If I may, about a month ago Ruthie got a new resident at the NH. His closest family is in Tennessee. Ruthie believes he was basically dumped there as no family has shown up to visit.

His name is Constantine. He is 97 years old and small in stature. He is originally from Russia and he has the crude tattoo near his wrist of his days as a young man sentenced to labour. He was treated horribly. He survived alone as his parents were taken from him. He was liberated by the US Army. He speaks broken English so the nurses use smart phone Russian interpreter apps to communicate.

He is a sweet, humbly man full of grace. She says he pats the back of her hand saying thank you, how appreciative he is and how kind everyone there is to him. They all want to adopt him.

He told her that many years ago after carrying bitterness, anger and hate for so long he knew it was eating at who he really is so he started working on forgiving all who had hurt and wronged him. He let it go. It changed his life. He no longer carries the chains with him but tries to bring joy and a gentle disposition wherever he is.

He blames no one now. His heart now is filled wth love, gravity and humility.

She is so enamored by him that I want to meet him.

 

[raisedin99]

If I may, about a month ago Ruthie got a new resident at the NH. His closest family is in Tennessee. Ruthie believes he was basically dumped there as no family has shown up to visit.

His name is Constantine. He is 97 years old and small in stature. He is originally from Russia and he has the crude tattoo near his wrist of his days as a young man sentenced to labour. He was treated horribly. He survived alone as his parents were taken from him. He was liberated by the US Army. He speaks broken English so the nurses use smart phone Russian interpreter apps to communicate.

He is a sweet, humbly man full of grace. She says he pats the back of her hand saying thank you, how appreciative he is and how kind everyone there is to him. They all want to adopt him.

He told her that many years ago after carrying bitterness, anger and hate for so long he knew it was eating at who he really is so he started working on forgiving all who had hurt and wronged him. He let it go. It changed his life. He no longer carries the chains with him but tries to bring joy and a gentle disposition wherever he is.

He blames no one now. His heart now is filled wth love, gravity and humility.

She is so enamored by him that I want to meet him.

Certainly sounds like a man who is doing his best to be rewarded with God's grace.


terry

 

[oldbrownhat]

If I may, about a month ago Ruthie got a new resident at the NH. His closest family is in Tennessee. Ruthie believes he was basically dumped there as no family has shown up to visit.

His name is Constantine. He is 97 years old and small in stature. He is originally from Russia and he has the crude tattoo near his wrist of his days as a young man sentenced to labour. He was treated horribly. He survived alone as his parents were taken from him. He was liberated by the US Army. He speaks broken English so the nurses use smart phone Russian interpreter apps to communicate.

He is a sweet, humbly man full of grace. She says he pats the back of her hand saying thank you, how appreciative he is and how kind everyone there is to him. They all want to adopt him.

He told her that many years ago after carrying bitterness, anger and hate for so long he knew it was eating at who he really is so he started working on forgiving all who had hurt and wronged him. He let it go. It changed his life. He no longer carries the chains with him but tries to bring joy and a gentle disposition wherever he is.

He blames no one now. His heart now is filled wth love, gravity and humility.

She is so enamored by him that I want to meet him.

That is a simply wonderful story, all the more so right at Christmas. Worth multiple "likes."

If my gf Sandra's 93 y.o. mother, who is Russian, lived nearby, she'd likely be talking his ear off, in slightly quaint Russian. Her family escaped the 1917 Revolution and lived, stateless, in China, where Lu was born, then moved to Australia. A few years ago we got her an iPad, and she has the world at her fingertips in English, French and Russian.