I think the word "hero" has been diminished over the years. The word is over overused and hardly ever applied correctly. I don't think an athlete's performance on the field makes them a hero. Actors are not heroes for the movies they make. Most radio personalities, politicians, doctors, and teachers are not heroes. So what is a hero? Webster's says it is "someone distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength". By definition, Dick Winters is a true hero.
I was made aware of Major Dick Winters when I read about the HBO series Band of Brothers which aired in 2001. The series chronicled the story of Winters leading his men of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, or Easy Company. Dick Winters changed history. On D-Day, Winters led an attack on a German gun battery, destroying the weapons firing at the American troops on Normandy's Utah Beach. He and his company liberated a Nazi concentration camp, and later captured Hitler's mountaintop retreat. For his service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest award for valor.
But Winters always played down his heroism. In the HBO series, he recalled a question that a fellow veteran was asked by his grandson. Here's how Winters told it: " 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' Grandpa said, 'No, but I served in a company of heroes.' "
Winters wasn't sure he would live through the war. He told writer Stephen Ambrose that he knelt down and prayed after D-Day. That comment inspired a scene in Band of Brothers.
Portraying Winters, actor Damian Lewis says, "If somehow I manage to get home again, I promised God and myself that I would find a quiet piece of land someplace and spend the rest of my life in peace."
Winters did keep his promise to God. He came back and quietly raised a family in Hershey, PA. On January 2nd, 2011, Major Dick Winters passed away. Rest in peace Dick Winters. You were truly an American hero.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
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