We Who Are Alive & Remain bookreview

[Dutchman]

I have received the book "Untold Stories of the Band of Brothers" published in may 2009, only two days ago and are almost half through the reading of it. My impression: a great book with great stories contributed by twenty members of the Easy Company of the 506th PIR of the 101st Airborne Division.
A great book that I can recommend to all the serios students of the history of WW II. A long time I've not visited the forum because of work. Now that I am retired I will have some more time for reading and writing posts. Happy V.E. Day and sincere greetings to all of you on this forum.
Hang Though. Dutchman

[Dutchman]

I have noted an error in Appendix I in the book "Untold stories of the Band of Brothers (may 2009)

Victory in Europe Day is mentioned there as have taken place April 8, 1945, I think it was rather the 8th of May 1945, as it will be celebrated as a public holiday tomorrow in France and in the U.K..

Second battalion of the Easy Company moved after V.E. Day to Kaprun near Zell am See in Austria as an occupation force, while the other battalions waited in Berchtesgaden to be relieved. (source: "Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends" on page 209).

Dutchman

[Dutchman]

May 12, 2010 I have finally finished the reading of this great book. The twenty interviewed survivors of Easy Company had all a succesfull civil lives after the Second Word War. When asked by youngsters and students if they considered themselves as heroes in WW II, they all gave the same answer: "the real heroes are those who rest under the white crosses." I do thank the author to have corrected the point of view of many persons about Herbert Sobel who was misrepresented in the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers." It was due to his hard training the Easy Company had undergone in Toccoa that they could endure the hardships of the war and survive it.
"We who are alive - Untold stories of the Band of Brothers" is a book I would like to see in the hands of those who have not read it yet.

[Dutchman]

Of all the readers of the book, only Dutchman could have remarked this error on the top of page 130.
The factory that was searched floor by floor by members of H Co. of the 506th PIR was the Philips Electric building, and not the Heineken Beer brewery as was mentioned in Marcus Brotherton's book. see page 161 of Mark Bando's book "Vanguard of the Crusade, the 101st Airborne Division in World War II." The Heineken Beer brewery was in s' Hertogenbosch some 30 km. north of Eindhoven. The author of the book, Marcus Brotherton, has thanked me for the pertinent remark.
"A German sniper with a Mauser was on the top floor of the Philips Electric factory". see page 132 in the book "Hell's Highway - a Chronicle of the 101st Airborne in the Holland Campaign September-November 1944" by George E. Koskimaki (1989).

[Dutchman]

"Clearing out high-rise buidlings was a new experience for the paratroopers who were experienced mainly in hedgerow fighting (as in Normandy in June 1944). The giant four floor Philips Electric buildings in the centre of Eindhoven was searched floor by floor. As the electricity was not cut, the paratroopers of the 506th PIR used the elevators and went up to the last floor of the buiding. Exciting they worked down the building floor by floor but found no ennemies" - read Mark Bando's book "Vanguard of the Crusade - the 101st Airborne Division in World War II " (page 161). This story is confirmed by T/5 George E.Koskimaki of the Item Company of the 502nd PIR in chapter 9 of his book "Hell's Highway" first published in the USA in 1989.

[Dutchman]

The year 2011 has asked a big toll of members of Easy Company of the 506th PIR mentioned in this book who have passed away:
Major Richard 'Dick' Winters on the 2nd of January; Hank Zimmerman on the 15th of January; Eddie Mauser on the 21st of January; Amos 'Buck' Taylor on the 24th of August and Bill Maynard on the 24th of September. They will not be forgotten and be forever remembered. Source http://www.menofeasycompany.com/home/index.php

A beautiful poem to all WW II veterans and to the memory of all those who are Airborne Forever:

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them."