Hang tough!

[PALADIN85020]

If you have ever served in the armed forces, you've probably seen good leadership and bad, and you how critical it is to have (and give) good leadership, because lives may depend on it.

One of the prime good leadership examples during WWII was an Army paratroop officer. Dick Winters was a member of Easy Company, 2d Battalion, 506th parachute infantry regiment, part of the 101st Airborne division. As a 1st Lt., he led Easy Company in a D-Day nighttime airborne drop on the Cherbourg peninsula, where they assaulted a key German artillery battery, saving many lives when they put it out of action. Dick later became a Major and eventually led the 2d Battalion, earning high decorations for valor along the way.

If you've seen "Band of Brothers," you learned a lot about Dick. He came from a Mennonite family - traditionally conscientious objectors. But Dick was different. He went to war.

If you have about 56 minutes to spare sometime, this documentary chronicles Dick's life and exploits. He's a shining example of GOOD military leadership. You will hear from many of his men that talked about him in reverent terms.

His men heard his admonition "Hang tough!" many times as he led them from the front and by example. A lesson for us all.

Worth watching.

John

Dick Winters Hang Tough Narrated by Emmy Award Winner Damian Lewis - YouTube

For some reason, this starts more than halfway through the presentation. Click on the beginning of the time line to get to the actual start.

 

[the ringo kid]

Thank you for this, and another name that would fit in perfectly with Dick Winters--is Lt. Col. Joseph Gordon Clemmens Jr-or) The Hero of Pork Chop Hill-fame. He was well respescted and liked by his soldiers.

 

[Watchdog]

That's one of the best photographs of Dick Winters I've ever seen. I'll have to watch that documentary...although I think I may have seen it before.

A childhood friend's father, Herman Alley, was in Fox Company, and knew all those guys in Easy Company. Fox Company and Easy Company basically went through the war together. Mr. Alley was one of the featured interviewees in a public television documentary on soldiers from North Carolina who participated in the D-Day invasion. He was also interviewed several times by Stephen Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers.

Mr. Alley passed away several years before Dick Winters. His uniform and campaign medals were displayed at his funeral, and he was buried with full military honors.

I've attached a small photo of Sgt. Alley...the only one I have available at this time.

Thanks for posting this about Dick Winters. He is, of course, one of thousands of brave soldiers who will be remembered and honored on June 6 of 2017.

Men like Dick Winters and Herman Alley made this old world safe for my generation.

We won't ever see men like them again.

 

[PALADIN85020]

That's one of the best photographs of Dick Winters I've ever seen. I'll have to watch that documentary...although I think I may have seen it before.

A childhood friend's father, Herman Alley, was in Fox Company, and knew all those guys in Easy Company. Fox Company and Easy Company basically went through the war together. Mr. Alley was one of the featured interviewees in a public television documentary on soldiers from North Carolina who participated in the D-Day invasion. He was also interviewed several times by Stephen Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers.

Mr. Alley passed away several years before Dick Winters. His uniform and campaign medals were displayed at his funeral, and he was buried with full military honors.

I've attached a small photo of Sgt. Alley...the only one I have available at this time.

Thanks for posting this about Dick Winters. He is, of course, one of thousands of brave soldiers who will be remembered and honored on June 6 of 2017.

Men like Dick Winters and Herman Alley made this old world safe for my generation.

We won't ever see men like them again.

Thanks for posting this. WWII vets are now dying off at a terrible rate. Dick Winters himself died on June 2, 2011 at age 92, suffering from Parkinson's disease.

In my lifetime, I've seen Civil War veterans, and had talks with the grandfather of a girl I dated in college who served in Cuba in the Spanish-American war. I shed some tears when he died. Grand old gentleman. Our human links with history are disappearing.

John

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

In her childhood my mom watched as her brothers had a conversations with relatives that were veterans of both sides of the Civil War, an Indian War veteran, a Boxer Rebellion veteran, Philippian and Cuban SA veterans and WWI vets. One of those brothers invaded Lebanon in 1956, went to Haiti under arms, sailed the world, and served in Vietnam (arrived just in time for Tet '68)

At family reunions, the women get miffed when I get him to tell us the tails his (great, great) uncles Billy, Johnny, and Jimmy shared with him in his youth. Military life, in war and peace from 1861 to 1971. It is a treasure! (Besides, nobody tells a tale like a Marine with a free beer!)

Ivan

 

[M E Morrison]

In her childhood my mom watched as her brothers had a conversations with relatives that were veterans of both sides of the Civil War, an Indian War veteran, a Boxer Rebellion veteran, Philippian and Cuban SA veterans and WWI vets. One of those brothers invaded Lebanon in 1956, went to Haiti under arms, sailed the world, and served in Vietnam (arrived just in time for Tet '68)

At family reunions, the women get miffed when I get him to tell us the tails his (great, great) uncles Billy, Johnny, and Jimmy shared with him in his youth. Military life, in war and peace from 1861 to 1971. It is a treasure! (Besides, nobody tells a tale like a Marine with a free beer!)

Ivan

I hope you have recorded all this for posterity?

 

[richardw]

I saw the movie. It really is fantastic.

 

[Bat Guano]

Just watched "Hang Tough". Shorted myself on sleep, but well worth it!

Thanks for the link.