John Dupre wrote:
""Were these guys from Easy Comapnay well known to the public before the Amrose Book and the TV series, or have they suddenly found themselves the centre of attention late in life? I suspect the latter.""
I am a pretty complete history and WW2 buff, though by no means an expert on any particular unit, and I can say that I had never heard of the men of Easy company in any distinct way before Band of Brothers. I read all of the Cornelius Ryan books, [/i] The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far etc. [i] I will have to revisit his books and see if the Easy Co. men are mentioned.
You won't find them in any of Corneilius Ryans books. Stepehen Ambrose was a neighbor of Walter "Smokey" Gordons'. The Easy reunion was in New Orleans and Mr Gordon invited teh author to come to it. Dr Ambrose was beggining work on what was to become D-Day. he had written Pegusus Bridge as an exercise for the D-Day opus.
A company of Paratroopers who jumped on D-Day was just what Ambrose was looking for.
He was amazed to find a company of men who encompassed the whole ETO. From Omaha to Bertchesgaden these men took part in every phase of the campaign.
Major Winters had kept a meticulous record of war and had all the company records and years of letters from the men. These were from only one company out of the 9 infantry companies in the 506th PIR. The basis for a book was established just by the depth of the Major's records. Meeting the men and the personal letters gave Ambrose a trove of material to personalize the narrative.
I won't go into it , but the good Dr A, had a nack of finding material that he could use as a "Blueprint" for his work. The combination along with the accessibility of the men and written narrative of Major Winters made his efforts much easier.
Thus began the start of the Easy saga. Band of Brothers the book came out in 1992. The story if Dick Winters and Easy is mentioned in the major works about the 101st since the end of WW2. SLA Marshall interviewed the major in Normandy in 1944 and mentions the Brecort Mannor assault in "Night drop", his 1962 work about the airborne invasion of Normandy. The narrative by Ambrose much like Connie Ryans, is easier to read.
The 1949 book called "Rendevous with Destiny" By Rappport and Norwood also has intel about the company's exploits
the story was always out there , but it took Tom Hanks to bring it to fruition form his experience in developing Saving Private Ryan.
The Niland story was a personal one to Don Malarky of Easy. He was best friends with Skip Muck who grew up with the Niland family. The research for Ryan led to the idea of a bigger story. From there the mini series was an no brainer , Just as Appolo 13 led to the Space miniseries by Hanks so did Private Ryan lead to BOB.
Thats it in a nutshell.
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