Easy Company’s route into Carentan is shown in a recent photograph.

“You’re gonna die here! Move!” he shouted at them. If he could not get them moving, the Germans would eventually start picking them off. Worse, the men bunched up along the road made for a perfect stationary target. If he could not get the rest of his company to join the isolated spearhead, those men would be killed and the attack delayed. He had led some of these men on a successful attack just six days earlier and nothing like this had happened. Up ahead, Welsh and a handful of his men dueled with the machine gunner, while Welsh tried to figure out what happened to the rest of his platoon. Enraged and unable to reinforce Welsh’s tiny force, Winters crossed back to the left side, enemy bullets snapping by or ricocheting off the road, and tried again. Then he ran to the right side of the road and continued cajoling the men to join the attack. Tossing off his gear, Winters dashed to the ditches on the left side of road and, while kicking some of the cowering men, shouted, “Get going!” and spouted more expletives. “Get them moving, Winters! Get them moving!” The battalion officers, seeing the critical breakdown, shouted at Winters. No one moved, some even burrowed into the ground with their hands. When they wouldn’t budge he jumped into middle of the road and furiously shouted, “Move out! Move out!” and started cursing. “Keep moving! Keep moving!” Winters shouted at the men. Six of the charging paratroopers stayed with Welsh while the rest dove for ditches on either side of the road, hiding from the fire. Bullets popped by the men’s ears and struck the ground, spraying them with dirt and rocks. His men followed until someone yelled, “Look o-o-o-u-u-u-t!” A German machine gunner in a second-story window perpendicular to the road opened up, firing rounds straight down the street. Lieutenant Harry Welsh dashed forward, leading his 1st Platoon over a small rise and down the slope into the town. It was 6 o’clock on the morning of June 12, 1944, and Easy Company’s paratroopers braced themselves to attack the southern section of Carentan. Especially to the veterans.“Move out!” shouted Lieutenant Richard “Dick” Winters to the men of Easy Company. Please forward this email to everyone you know. Let’s give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way. No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage. Shifty died on June 17 after fighting cancer. And mine are brimming up now as I write this. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an old man very happy.” His eyes were filling up as he said it. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I’d take his in coach. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach, while I was in First Class. And it’s real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can’t make the trip.” My heart was in my throat and I didn’t know what to say. I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France, and he said “Yes. and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day. At that point he said “I also made a second jump into Holland, into Arnhem.” I was standing with a genuine war hero. I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was, and I know what D-Day was. do you know where Normandy is?” At this point my heart stopped. ' at which point my heart skipped.Īt that point, again, very humbly, he said “I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy. Quietly and humbly, he said 'Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until sometime in 1945. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. Making conversation, I asked him if he’d been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the “Screaming Eagle”, the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them. If you’ve seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. This came in my email, today, and I wanted to pass it on…

Shifty powers banod of brothers