The Real-life Heroes of Band of Brothers: Easy Company

The Story of Easy Company

HBO's Band of Brothers series documents the true story of the Easy Company of the United States Army during World War II. Officially regarded as the E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the real-life squad was also referred to as the 'Screaming Eagles'. The masterful HBO series from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg chronicles a dramatized version of the historical events that a group of real-life American paratroopers experienced and witnessed firsthand.

Easy Company on and around a tank in Band of Brothers

Based on the 1992 book of the same name by Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers follows actual soldiers such as Richard 'Dick' Winters (Damian Lewis), Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston), Donald G. Malarkey (Scott Grimes), David Kenyon Webster (Elon Bailey), and several other integral and courageous members. The HBO miniseries has received similar praise to Spielberg's WWII epic Saving Private Ryan for its marvelous and terrifying realism and its in-depth look into the real-life members of the East Company.

Edward Shames Band of Brothers

The Legacy of Easy Company

None of the members of the original Easy Company that were depicted in HBO's Band of Brothers are still alive today. Among the members of the Easy Company who survived the war were Dick Winters, Lewis Nixon, Lynn Davis 'Buck' Compton, William J. Guarnere, Joesph D. Toye, Myron Mike Ranney, Bob Rader, Walter S. (Smokey) Gordon Jr., Frederick T. (Moose) Heyliger, Harry F. Welsh, Clarence Hester, and Major Robert L. Strayer. As of 2021, only two members of Easy Company that were depicted in Band of Brothers were still alive, Ed Shames and Bradford Freeman.

Major Dick Winters, one of the most notable characters in Band of Brothers, passed away in 2011 due to Parkinson's at the age of 92. Lewis Nixon died at age 76 from complications due to diabetes in Los Angeles, California in January 1995. Buck Compton died of a heart attack in 2012 and Bill Guarnere died of a ruptured aneurysm in 2014 at age 90. Notable characters such as Tom Hardy's John A. Janovec, James McAvoy's James W. Miller, and Simon Pegg's William Evans all tragically died in combat.

The Lasting Impact

Edward Shames was the last officer in Easy Company to die and Bradford Clark Freeman was the last person in general. Shames passed away on December 3, 2021 at the age of 99. According to Shames' obituary, the soldiers 'made his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day as part of Operation Overlord' (via CNN). Freeman, the last living member of Easy Company, did not have any speaking parts in the HBO series Band of Brothers but was depicted by actor James Farmer. He was the last official member of the Army paratrooper squad to pass away on July 3, 2022 at the age of 97.