Major Richard D. Winters

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“We few, we happy, we Band of Brothers” is what my hero was a part of in WWII, a famous quote by Shakespeare and the name of a show with my hero in it, Major Dick Winters. Winters adapted to being a company commanding officer then a battalion commanding officer with only basic training. He had his leadership thrust upon him.

Richard Winters was born on January 21, 1918, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Euphrata, Pennsylvania and while he was growing up he would paint electrical towers. Winters graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1941.

Winters enlisted for the war in 1941. He joined the war because he didn’t want to get drafted at the wrong time in his life. He went through training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. He was training to become a paratrooper who is in the airborne. The airborne was a brand new concept in the military during WWII. After about two years of training, he and his company took their final test and earned their jump wings. After their training they went to New York. Then they sailed to England. They kept training in preparation for the largest invasion in history, D-Day.

The time came and they all loaded up the planes headed for Normandy, France. Early the morning of June 6, 1944, they jumped. His plane was going too fast when he jumped so the impact and speed snapped his 40 pound leg pack off along with his gun. He ended up fighting through most of D-Day with no weapon; he later picked up a German weapon. Later that day, he captured and destroyed 3 German 105 mm howitzers with his company. That attack is still used as a textbook example at West Point today.

Winters’ commanding officer went missing during D-Day. Many believe that his plane was shot down; therefore, Winters’ took command of his company. Throughout the European tour he fought in major battles including the Battle of Normandy, Operation Market Garden, and Battle of the Bulge. His company was also one of the first allied forces to go inside the Eagles Nest which was their supreme commander’s, Adolf Hitler, birthday gift.

One of their most memorable battles was Battle of the Bulge. They had held the front line for many weeks, in freezing weather and snow, with little to no food, clothes, blankets, and most importantly, ammunition. This made fighting hard and many men never made it out of this battle.

Winters had many awards in the service. He received the: • Distinguished Service Cross • Bronze Star with One Oak Leaf Cluster • Purple Heart • Presidential Unit Citation with One Oak Leaf Cluster • American Defense Service Medal • European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Three Service Star and An Arrow Device • World War 2 Victory Medal • Army of Occupation Medal • National Defense Service Medal • Orange Lanyard of the Royal Netherlands Army • Combat Infantryman Badge • Parachutist Badge with Two Jump Stars • Medal of the City of Eindhoven While earning all of these medals and awards, Winters began his training as a First Lieutenant and ended his career as a Major.

After the war he worked for his wartime friend, Lewis Nixon. He was reactivated to train men for the Korean War. After the war ended, he went into business for himself selling animal feed to local farmers in Pennsylvania. Winters retired to Hershey, Pennsylvania, with his wife Ethel.

Major Winters inspired me a lot by his great leadership. He was a regular man out of college who became a great Army officer with lots of determination and perseverance. He also inspired me because of the awards and medals he earned.

He is my hero because he proved to me that you can do things you thought you couldn’t do, with perseverance. Major Richard “Dick” Winters was a great man and Army officer who persevered and was determined to do his job to the best of his ability.