On Saturday, in Hershey, a memorial service was held for Dick Winters. He was the leader of Easy Company which was part of the 101st Airborne. This company was the subject of Stephen Ambrose’s book Band of Brothers and the HBO miniseries of the same name. These men—like some of the special groups before them like the 20th Maine in the War Between the States—were incredible examples of character, perseverance, and sacrifice. Winters was chief among them.
Winters was from Lancaster County. Lived until very recently in Ephrata. Grew up here. He took with him a humility and straightforwardness that is a true reflection of the best of Lancaster County. He blended it with incredible personal courage and care for his men. After parachuting into Normandy (behind German lines). He pulled his men together, took out some German artillery, discovered a map detailing the position of every German gun in Normandy, returned this to his commanders, and then sat down for a rest. They had only a few hours to eat—most had not eaten for more than a day. Winters could not eat, however, because he was too heavy-hearted because he had lost one of his men during the assault on the German guns. That night he walked away from the camp. Looked over to see the battle that he and his men would enter into the next day. There he prayed that God would protect he and his men and get them through “D-Day+1” (as they called it). He also prayed that if God would see him through the war, he would go home, buy a small patch of land, and live in peace. That is what he, in fact, did.
I know of no better more respectable soldier or man produced in this County. As someone who thinks about inspiring character in young men and women, Dick Winters is about as good a model as one could have.
