April 29, 2024 • 40 mins
🎙️
Band of Brothers at Arlington video
Scott and Jenn paid a visit to Arlington National Cemetery to honor the real-life heroes of Easy Company, featured in the book and miniseries Band of Brothers. They explore the lives and service of five Easy Company veterans buried at Arlington, offering insights into the inaccuracies surrounding Albert Blythe's portrayal in the miniseries, and highlighting the contributions of Lt. Col. Robert Strayer, Arthur 'Art' Moserall, Forrest Guth, and Amos 'Buck' Taylor.
They go on to delve into each veteran's history, their actions during World War II, and the impact they had both during and after the war. The episode serves as both a tribute to these courageous men and a reflection on the lasting bonds of camaraderie forged in combat. The storytelling is enriched by insights into historical facts, personal anecdotes from the soldiers, and the significance of their final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery.
00:00 Intro
00:56 Honoring the Heroes of Easy Company at Arlington
01:59 Band of Brothers buried in Arlington National Cemetery
04:59 Deep Dive into Albert Blithe's True Story
09:05 Dick Winters on Albert Blithe
16:57 Exploring the Leadership and Legacy of Robert Strayer
25:20 Uncovering the Lesser-Known Easy Company Soldiers
27:14 Forrest Guth: The Engineer and Marksman
33:31 Remembering Tech Sergeant Amos Buck Taylor
39:18 Easy Company's Legacy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jenn (00:00):
His writing that he died in 19 I don't know where the 1948 comes
(00:03):
from, but his dying that he diedin 1948 doesn't really get fact
checked until the miniseries comes
Scott (00:09):
Then of course it gets really popular
Jenn (00:11):
He gets really popular, and his family sees it, and
this is in the miniseries.
It says it at the end,Blythe dies in 1948.
His family will see thisand be like, hold up.
No he's not.
Scott (00:35):
Welcome to Talk with History.
I am your host, Scott, here withmy wife and historian, Jenn.
Hello.
On this podcast, we give you insightsto our history inspired world travels,
YouTube channel journey, and examinehistory through deeper conversations
with the curious, the explorers,and the history lovers out there.
(00:56):
Today, we're heading back tohallowed ground, Arlington
National Cemetery, one last time.
We're on a mission to honor somereal life heroes, the men of Easy
Company, immortalized in the bookand mini series Band of Brothers.
From jumping into occupied France onD Day to braving the brutal winter
offensive in the Battle of the Bulge,these soldiers faced unimaginable horrors.
(01:22):
But their courage, their camaraderie, andtheir unwavering spirit became legend.
today, five of these easy company veteransrest in Arlington, a place of quiet
reflection and immense national pride.
us as we locate their headstones and sharethe stories of these extraordinary men.
(01:43):
So grab your headphones, lace up yourwalking shoes and prepare to be inspired.
This is a journey of remembrance.
and a tribute to the band of brothersburied in Arlington National Cemetery.
All right, Jen, so we knowwhat we're talking about
Jenn (02:02):
talking about today.
Walk With History has done manyvideos from Arlington, and we
are very now intimately familiarwith the topography of Arlington.
We know what areas you're going tocover, and basically, if you're going
there to cover a certain topic, howyou want to plan your day, because you
(02:28):
can't be walking across the cemeterytwo or three times in one visit.
I would recommend.
Not even walking across it in one visit.
It is a massive space and You reallydon't get any kind of vehicle access
unless you have someone buried there.
So you must walk and it is hillyand it is a lot of exercise and
(02:51):
if it's Anytime in the heat ofthe summer it can be very tiring.
Scott (02:57):
what we we have for those listening to this Podcast episode, right?
So on our youtube channel, we've cutwe've probably made Maybe almost a
dozen videos from from arlington.
I've got a whole playlist and i'lllink that that video playlist in the
show notes of this podcast episode,but we've been there numerous times
in almost every season in almostevery condition Covered it's just some
(03:19):
incredibly amazing people You actors andactresses and, obviously all veterans.
It's been, we've done women, we've
Jenn (03:30):
done Tuskegee Airmen, Arlington House.
We do John F.
Kennedy, Tomb of the Unknown, so wedo the big ones that you're going
to see on like an original visit.
And then we started to domore off the beaten path.
So we got into the back of Arlingtonand some randoms like when we
did Gunny Ermey, he's way off onthe right side in a new section.
(03:51):
And so it was after wedid Masters of the Air.
That took us to all the way back to theright to the left section where we found
Egan There we started to go well Whatother series have people that could be
buried at Arlington and we really werelike band of brothers We couldn't and
we couldn't believe that we a hadn'tdone that and be really no one has
Scott (04:17):
Right, and because we've done Tuskegee Airmen, we've danced all
around World War II, all throughoutArlington, and we don't know how we
didn't cover the Band of Brothers,but you found out that there's five
that are currently buried there.
Jenn (04:27):
They're currently buried there.
And what's nice?
I would say nice about the band ofbrothers is there in it really three
sections that are pretty close together.
So if you're going to visit theband of brothers in Arlington,
you can see all of them relativelyeasily and quickly, which is nice.
Scott (04:45):
Now, one of the, the first ones that we're going to talk about here was
actually featured in the mini series.
Relatively prominently
. Jenn (04:59):
We're going to talk about a more controversial character right
off the get go because he has aprominent part in in the series.
And he also was depictedinaccurately by Stephen Ambrose,
who wrote the book in 1992.
It's published.
The show was made in2001, right after 9 11.
(05:20):
It airs.
So it gets a lot of notorietyand camaraderie around the
patriotism of the time.
But Stephen Ambrose, who's a greatscholar, really messes up on this person.
And this person has a veryprominent role in the series.
So we're talking about Albert Blythe.
He
Scott (05:43):
Yeah, so tell me a little bit about when now he was he a private first class
Jenn (05:47):
was private first class with the Easy company, second
battalion, 506th Parachute InfantryRegiment and the 101st Airborne.
He.
makes that initial jump on D Day withthe rest of Easy Company, the original
men of Easy Company and he gets separatedfrom everybody and he's depicted in the
series as he gets separated and he'sScared he doesn't quite know what to do.
(06:12):
So he just goes to sleep
Band of Brothers (06:14):
Sir, when I landed on D Day, I found myself
in a ditch all by myself.
I fell asleep.
I think it was, it was airsickness pills, I guess.
(06:35):
When I woke up, I didn'treally try to find my unit.
To fight.
Just
I just stayed put.
What's your name, Trooper?
(06:57):
Blithe, sir.
Albert Blithe.
Scott (07:00):
The nice thing about doing covering miniseries like this sometimes or
Historical figures covered in miniseriesis you can cut in good examples.
And so I actually cut in An example ofhim saying I don't in the miniseries.
He wasn't explaining it to dickwinters It was someone else and you
can tell the way that they craftedfor the miniseries this character
(07:21):
was someone who was afraid, right?
He said, hey, when I landed on D Day,I woke up and I was in my foxhole
and I didn't go look for my company.
I just laid there.
And he he's portraying someonewho, who it's, you put in the
category of coward, unfortunately.
Jenn (07:38):
I want to debunk that because I want people to understand.
First of all, Blythe iscoming from Philadelphia.
He only went to three years of high schoolbefore he enlisted in the paratroopers.
So he's 18, 19 years old whenhe's enlisting from his hometown.
There's no cowardice here.
He's what they call a misdrop.
So a misdrop is, there was a number ofparatroopers who didn't hit the target
(08:04):
and got scattered out in different areas.
Scott (08:07):
We'll talk a little bit more about, one of the other band of
brothers buried here talks about itin an interview and we'll talk we'll
discuss that later and how that happens
Jenn (08:15):
you have to imagine to, to have trained with everybody to plan for D Day.
And then this huge invasion of D Dayand then to get misdropped and lost
he teams up with other misdrops andthey found the rest of Easy Company.
But what you do in those initialmoments is like scary because you're
(08:35):
by yourself across enemy linesin France occupied Nazi Germany.
And and you can understand likewhat he's saying is, I didn't
know what to do, so I fell.
I went to sleep or I juststayed in my position and waited
till other people found me.
That's more of what he did.
He's basically just stoodfast and he just waited.
(08:55):
Now they depicted in this.
So I went to sleep like, he maybe hefell asleep, but it wasn't as if he
was like, I don't know what to do.
I'm scared.
I'm gonna fall asleep.
I'm gonna go to sleep.
Scott (09:05):
even his show he says oh, I think it was the air sickness medicine But I
also found in an interview later wheredick winters, you know in a interview
says the same thing that you're sayingis he debunks that he's listen, the
miniseries was exaggerated, right?
And he goes on to say, letme tell you about this man
Jenn (09:24):
I think the problem Winters had with this, and this is a problem that you and I
both have with this, is he's not a coward.
He is doing his duty.
He did jump and he got lost.
He got, not by any fault of his own.
He did find his group.
He does continue to fight.
You will see he, he'sactually injured by a sniper.
(09:45):
He does receive the Purple Heart.
So what happens after he's reunitedis it shows some kind of, he gets
hysterical blindness, they call it.
So it's basically like a temporary caseof PTSD where you're just so overwhelmed.
by the stress of everything thatyour body reacts to stress and we've,
Scott (10:04):
down.
Jenn (10:05):
we've talked about this a lot, whether or not you want your body to
react to stress, your body will react to
Scott (10:11):
The thing is, is there are certain things that you can train to
and there's certain things that youjust can't a good example that always
pops into my head is for mountaineers.
Mountaineers, they can train to bein good physical condition, have good
cardio, but until you actually get toaltitude, you, you won't know until
how your body's gonna react to it.
You can be in peak physical conditionhere at sea level, be a marathon
(10:33):
runner and all this stuff, andcarry heavy pa heavy, heavy packs.
You get to altitude and you might,your body just might not be able to
handle it and that's, no, there'sno conditioning around that.
Yeah.
So this is to me, an examplenow, I think for the mini series.
about again in the past, they capturea bunch of what happens to other
people and they tend to embody multipleexamples of something into a character.
(10:59):
I have a feeling that's whathappened because what the, of known
for in this mini series is hisinteraction later with Dick Winters.
Jenn (11:10):
And that is true.
So Winters does.
Winters goes to the infirmary foranother reason, and as he's in the
infirmary, he goes down the line to seehis guys, and Blythe is one of them.
And Blythe is having a case oftemporary hysteria blindness,
and Winters talks to him.
And Winters basically levelswith him, humanizes it, and tells
him, we're, we're all scared.
(11:31):
Right?
Even Winters admits we're all scared.
We all, we all are not reallyknowing what we're doing.
We're hoping training takes over.
All of us are in this together.
This is war.
Winters even says it happens relativelyquickly where Bly gets this understanding.
He feels some camaraderie.
He feels understood.
(11:51):
I think he feels a little bit of a shared.
Kinship there, which happens withsoldiers and starts to come out of
it because it is a physical ailmentthat is brought on by stress.
And once you can start to alleviate thatstress or at least deal with the stress,
the physical element heals itself.
(12:11):
And so hysterical blindness basicallyclears and then He is part of a
group that investigates a farmhouse.
Days later, he's shot inthe collarbone by a sniper.
He recovers from the wound.
He's awarded the Purple Heart.
Now the series will say that he neverrecovers from the wounds and dies in 1948.
(12:39):
I have no idea where Stephen Ambrosegot that, but most people say it's
because no one ever really talkedto Blythe again after he's injured.
Scott (12:49):
I think Dick Winters said in that later interview he mentioned
that he got wounded and he saidthat they thought they had lost him.
Yeah.
So I'm I'm connecting some dots basedon what we've seen in your research
is that my assumption is that hewas injured Right ended up surviving
it but the rest of easy company hadalready moved on They didn't realize
(13:11):
that he survived and then from there.
I think he was he's probably shipped home
Jenn (13:14):
Yeah, he was shipped home and he was released from the
army hospital in October 1945.
So it's after the end of the war and hebasically loses touch with everybody.
Now he eventually will serve in Korea.
He re ups and serves in the Korea in the187th Airborne where he's awarded a bronze
star and a silver star for jumping behind
(13:35):
.enemy lines surrounded by a Chinese battalion.
He never gets to retire frommilitary service because he dies
at age 44 in December of 1967.
So I think this is a perfect storm.
Since Ambrose writes Band of Brothersand it's published in 1992, he's doing
his research in the 80s, publishing it.
(13:57):
Blythe does die in the 60s, sohe doesn't have to fact check
Blythe's death, but Blythe is dead.
So it works, and if you're not talkingspecifically to family or reaching out
to family or finding people who knewhim and remembered him, His writing
that he died in 19 I don't know wherethe 1948 comes from, but his dying
(14:19):
that he died in 1948 doesn't really getfact checked until the miniseries comes
Scott (14:24):
Then of course it gets really popular
Jenn (14:25):
He gets really popular, and his family sees it, and
this is in the miniseries.
It says it at the end,Blythe dies in 1948.
His family will see thisand be like, hold up.
No he's not.
He has a wife.
With Kay, he has a son Gordon, who will,who will see this and talk about what
(14:46):
really happened on active duty in Germany.
He felt nauseated, returned froma weekend at Bastogne in Belgium.
He had taken part in a commemoratingceremony of the Battle of the Bulge,
and he was taken to the emergencydepartment in Germany where he was
met, admitted with a perforatedulcer and he dies in intensive care.
And then he's Buried at ArlingtonNational Cemetery with full honors.
(15:07):
So in Band of Brothers, it is depicted,unfortunately, it isn't accurate.
The Blythe family comes out and itled to corrections in subsequent
books of Band of Brothers.
So if you have new editions of Band ofBrothers, it is corrected but you will
still see it in the original series.
And we just want to honor all of you.
Blythe because he was a hero and somepeople will say he's depicted not as one
(15:31):
and I just want to make it clear justbecause you suffer from hysteria blindness
or just because you suffer from some kindof PTSD or just because you get separated
from your group and you hold fast.
instead of taking on a thousandGerman soldiers by yourself
does not make you a coward.
You are doing your duty.
You're doing your job and you have toovercome challenges and challenges don't
(15:54):
just happen to you after your service.
Your PTSD doesn't just happento you after you're done.
PTSD can happen during your service.
Your time during yourservice as you're fighting.
And if you overcome it, thenin the moment you are still
overcoming and you're still a hero.
And so we wanted to honor Blythe.
He's the first personI visited in Arlington.
(16:16):
He's right by Robert, Todd Lincoln.
So most people will go see Robert ToddLincoln, that is Lincoln's oldest son.
Scott (16:23):
just like down the hill.
Jenn (16:24):
down the hill from it and it's so very easy to find and there's
a path to Robert Todd Lincoln'sSarcophagus, and so just right
down the hill you will see Blythe.
I actually met other people there whowere looking for Blythe and I Directed
them to Egan from Masters of the Air.
They didn't know Egan was there andwe took pictures They were from Poland
and we talked for a little while.
(16:44):
So Blythe is a visited personfrom Band of Brothers at Arlington
and he's at Easygrave to findand he's there waiting for you.
Scott (16:54):
It was, it was cool to be able to make that part of the video for him.
Now, the next person we're goingto talk about was was actually
part of the leadership portrayedin the show band of brothers.
And this was LieutenantColonel Strayer, if I remember
Jenn (17:14):
Yeah, Robert Strayer.
He was the battalion commanderfor a time over Easy Company.
He supported making the showBand of Brothers, but he said
it was hard for him to watch.
He's depicted by actor Phil McKee.
He is in charge of Easy Company,hands it over to Dick Winters.
Scott (17:33):
Now, if, if you are a Band of Brothers fan, and you remember the show
so picture there's, I don't know thename of the episode, but they are still
in England and they are training, right?
And it's the scene where some ofthe soldiers kind of trick Captain
Sobel . Into cutting the fenceof this farmer's field, right?
One of the soldiers is yellingfrom behind some bushes Imitate and
(17:56):
basically imitating like a major,
. Band of Brothers (17:58):
Connie, Bobo's lost again, right?
Yeah, he's lost.
Hey, Luz.
Luz.
Can you do Major Horton?
That's a wild pair ofcrap in the woods, son.
That's good.
If you get a good major,you can go see Smuck.
Can I just move it?
(18:19):
Oh, yeah.
Yes.
Luz, you got it.
You got it.
Come on.
All right, just this once.
No, sir.
It's here.
You're a full grid off.
Goddamn it.
Is there a problem, Captain Sobel?
Who said that?
Who broke silence?
I think it's Major Horton, sir.
(18:41):
Major Horton?
What is he?
Did he join us?
I think maybe he's movingbetween the platoons, sir.
What is the goddamn holdup, Master Sobel?
A fence!
Sir, um God.
A barbed wire fence!
Oh, that dog just ain't gonna hunt!
Now you cut that fence and getthis god damn platoon on the move!
(19:07):
Yes, sir!
Scott (19:09):
Then It flashes forward to, Dick Winter seeing Sobel come up, they're
completely lost and all this stuff.
Band of Brothers (19:16):
You've done it now, Yanks.
You've captured me.
Would that be the enemy?
As a matter of fact, yes.
Scott (19:35):
And then again, it steps right into Sobel getting yelled
at by then Major Strayer.
Band of Brothers (19:41):
Who was the idiot who cut that man's fence?
I was ordered to, sir.
By who?
Major Horton, sir.
Major Horton?
Yes, sir.
Major Horton told you to do that?
Yes, sir.
Major Horton ordered you to cut the fence?
Yes, he did.
Major Horton is on leave.
Scott (19:59):
And then you just, you see, it's that moment in a show where the, you
the antagonist gets his comeuppance.
And that was one of those moments.
And it was, it was major Strayer that wasgiving him the, reading him the right act.
Jenn (20:11):
So he's in charge.
So in a major, as a major in1942, he's in command of the 2nd
Battalion of the 506 ParachuteInfantry Regiment, 101st Airborne.
In 1945, he's made executive officerof the 506, and his position as the 2nd
Battalion CO was filled by Major Richard.
Winters.
So that he basically gets promotedand then Winters takes his job.
(20:37):
During his service, he's goingto earn four bronze stars, one
silver star and one purple heart.
He's pretty badass too.
And I think he's a goodleadership example for winters.
I think winters looks up to him more,definitely more than Sobel , but
he fills that role because he had agood example from Strayer on how to
Scott (20:59):
a good example from Strayer on how to build that wall.
He's he's a little bit of that connectionbetween the colonel who ultimately who
finally sends Sobel off to Without hefires him without firing him He's like
(21:22):
this is a promotion to send some offto go do you know to to do training?
And major strayer is right there, right?
So again, if you if you rememberthat scene where Sobel is essentially
quote unquote promoted But he's sentoff to do to run a training company.
Major Strayer is the thirdperson in that scene.
It's the colonel in Sobel , butMajor Strayer is sitting
there right off to the side.
(21:43):
Doesn't have many lines,but he's right there.
And that's how, and that'show it would have been.
Jenn (21:47):
Yeah.
So you and I relate a lot to this, right?
Because we were both officers in themilitary and I always talk about Dick
Winters and what it takes to leadand then move up the rank politically
as the leadership role gets more andmore I wouldn't say important, but,
It's more difficult because you'reoverseeing more and more people and
it's more and more political and thenit's more and more your decisions are
(22:09):
very heavy at this point because theyhave lasting impact and they trickle
down over a ton of your personnel andthat is where this is where Strayer is.
And these are the hard decisions,because even though you see Sobel and
you're like, Oh, he's terrible leader.
(22:31):
He does prepare his men better than anyother leader because he makes them do
all this physical activity to a fault.
But they are so conditionedand ready for D Day.
And even though Sobel is not goodwith the leadership of taking any kind
of criticism, or learning from hismistakes, he really is one of those
(22:53):
leaders who feels like they're rightall the time and really rests on rank.
and You still as a leader of someonelike that, you are still trying to
teach and mentor them to be better.
You don't just automatically kick themout or change or you really do your best
to try to help them learn from that.
And unfortunately in thissituation, trouble didn't.
(23:16):
We're, we're getting into battle,time is of the essence, and they do
make this quick leadership change.
But you see how difficult itis even for the leaders to do
Scott (23:23):
Yeah.
And that's why I I liked that youcovered Strayer because, right, as,
as someone who's more senior now,right, as you go up, you deal with like
knuckleheads or even good soldiers andsailors that make knucklehead decisions.
And so if you think about it,Strayer dealt with Sobel when he cut
the fence, he probably dealt withthe NCOs during the kind of little
mutiny , right, when they said, Hey,we're not going to follow this man.
(23:45):
And the colonel's yelling at them,but you know that Strayer was
the one that first got that word.
He's I can just picture Strayerbeing like, seriously, come on.
He's I don't want to deal with this.
I can just picture him in between beforethe information got to the colonel.
Jenn (23:59):
I, I picture the colonel ripping Strayer apart before
he rips apart the NCOs, right?
He's gonna, believe me, your higherups are gonna take it out first on
the person next closest to them.
They don't take it out on
Scott (24:13):
Strayer probably got it first from the colonel and the colonel
probably calmed down after Strayertook the initial shots and then,
Jenn (24:21):
And that's your job.
Scott (24:22):
and that's, that's part of it.
So it was, it was really neat tobe able to cover him cause not one
of the core characters, but part ofthe leadership and then to see what
he did after the fact was really
Jenn (24:31):
Exactly.
And in just instrumental,just another good leader.
He's right beside the themain building of Arlington.
So when you walk into Arlington,the main building that has the
restrooms and the little, Visitorcenter, this set, he's in the next
section, rape recited to the left.
Very easy to walk toand very easy to find.
(24:53):
He's buried there with his wife, Mildred.
She's an army nurse.
They marry in January, 1942, and heretired from the army after the war.
They settled down in Pennsylvaniaand then they retired to Florida.
He dies on December 18th, 2002.
And so they're both atArlington National Cemetery.
And we thank them both for their service.
Scott (25:20):
Now, the next person we're talking about here is not quite as
much out there on him, but I believehe was, he was I don't know if he was
part of the original Easy Company,but he is buried in Arlington and he
did serve with, with Easy Company.
Jenn (25:35):
So Arthur Moserall there isn't a lot on him.
He's hard to find information on,but he is part of the original
and he's born in 1940, 1924.
So if he's making the jumpin 1944, he's 20 years old.
So these guys are so young.
He's born in Maine andhe was a paratrooper.
(25:59):
He marries Wanda.
Together they have Georgette and Hope.
He dies on June 11th, 1988 and he'sburied in Arlington National Cemetery.
Scott (26:07):
And that's one of the things that I liked.
About the miniseries overall was Obviouslyyou have the central figures right the
main characters that everybody knowsBut they are really a representation
of everybody else that was there thatwasn't written about that wasn't You
know didn't have journals that theycould be read and this that and the
(26:28):
other so for soldiers like mazerolThey are a representation because he
was right there with them during the
Jenn (26:35):
Yeah.
He was like, it even says on histombstone the 101st airborne.
I always like the ones that are simple.
Right?
So I appreciate that about it as well.
He's 63 years old when he dies,and he dies in Arlington, Virginia.
So he must have ended up there forhis retirement, even though he is from
Maine, but he has looks like he hastwo daughters, Georgette and Hope.
(26:58):
And there's not much else on him.
But we want to recognize him asone of He's the company's 101st.
Scott (27:10):
Our next figure that we're about to talk about, actually, he was
on the show, but he portrayed himself.
So he was in some of the interviews.
Jenn (27:17):
Yeah, so Forrest Guth, they had planned to put him as a character
in the show, and they actuallymade a uniform, because I guess his
uniform was, more specific to him.
He put a lot of pockets on hisuniform because I guess he liked
to have a lot of things on him,carry a lot of things on him.
And as most people know in the military,you can individualize your uniform
(27:38):
to a point, especially in combat.
Scott (27:41):
especially in combat, especially, I mean, when you're
spending, years away from home,you're going to customize your stuff.
Jenn (27:48):
I mean, you can think about the SEALs do it all the time, even
Scott (27:51):
And he was interesting because not only did he have some kind of brief
spots and interviews during the miniseries, but he stuck around long enough
that I actually found some, some otherinterviews done with him that I found
on YouTube that I was able to cut intoour video and him talking about, he must
have been some sort of like engineer.
He worked in an engineering plantbecause he, he, he talked about
(28:14):
how he could have been deferred.
he was working for.
like a defense industry company,but then him and some of his
friends in his hometown were like,you know what, we should join up.
Let's go join the 101st Airborne,because I think they're getting paid
50 bucks, 50 bucks more a month.
So I'm, we're going to join up with
Jenn (28:33):
Yeah, he, he's very money driven, which at a young age, you would be he's
a part of the original guys in Georgia.
He's in Aldeborne, our video from there.
So he'll be there as well.
What his ability to do that makeshim so special is he has this
ability to modify and repair weapons.
He was able to make hisM1 rifle fully automatic.
Scott (28:53):
Really?
Yeah.
Jenn (28:54):
So that's where his engineering brain comes in, and that's why he is
became the a member of the armor for theirfor his comrades, his uniform was unique.
He sold on the extra pockets tocarry extra equipment and ammunition.
Scott (29:07):
And you said that he was one of two.
The other was a character that wasin the main series, was Shifty Powers
who was like an expert sharpshooter.
Yeah.
Jenn (29:17):
They were the only two got expert.
So if you, you and I both know ifyou see ribbons, and you get your
rifle qual and your pistol qual.
Sometimes you'll see an S on the ribbon,which means you're a sharpshooter,
but sometimes you'll see an E on theribbon, which means you're an expert.
Scott (29:33):
Yeah.
And, and typically, especially,in companies like this, if you got
only two of your soldiers were,were expert, marksmen, they're
going to be doing some of that work.
Yeah.
That was, you're going to jumpin behind enemy lines and if
you need a sharpshooter, you'regoing to grab your two experts.
Jenn (29:49):
And if you can make your weapon fully automatic, which means he doesn't
have to reload as quick To make yoursharpshooter have an audit that it
just puts you ahead of the game.
So that's that's why hehas the extra pockets.
When you think about he's carryingthe extra equipment and doing things
like that, he made his first combatjump into Normandy on June 6th, 1944.
Scott (30:08):
If I remember correctly, he gets injured and I think he gets sent home.
Jenn (30:13):
was, he jumped into Operation Market Garden on September 17th, 1944.
And his, he was injured during the landingbecause of a parachute malfunction.
He's taken to an army hospital in England.
He rejoins Easy Company in France beforethey're transported to Bastogne and
to fight in the Battle of the Bulge.
So he is with
Scott (30:32):
So He comes back.
Okay.
Jenn (30:35):
And he's selected for the patrol mission.
led by Sergeant Ken Mercer becauseof his German speaking ability.
And he won a 30 day furloughto return to the States.
And then the war ended beforehe could rejoin his unit.
So he just has a lot going for him.
He can speak German.
Scott (30:53):
It's got that engineering brain,
Jenn (30:54):
an engineering brain and he's a expert marksman.
So he re he enrolls incollege when he's done.
He gets a master's degree.
He becomes a teacher in Norfolk, Virginia.
Scott (31:05):
is where we're recording
Jenn (31:06):
And that's where we're recording this.
And that's where hemeets his wife, Harriet.
They married 1949.
They moved to Delaware.
He becomes an electronicsteacher at high school there.
And then he dies in August in Delaware.
He does interpret the German at one point,but his role is replaced by another actor
in the episode Last Patrol, but that washim who really did that interpretation.
(31:30):
And we just want to honor him becauseit just goes to show you all these
skills you have that really canbe helpful in war, speaking the
language, being a good marksman,
Scott (31:45):
Well, and, and to our point earlier, he was another misdrop, so he
talks about in his later interview, itwas, 60s or 70s, something like that,
that got posted on YouTube about, he he'srecounting his experience for D Day, and
he's talking about seeing the tracers,he's talking about hearing bullets hitting
the wings of his plane, watching anotherplane go down, and then he, he says that
(32:08):
even he landed two miles from where hewas supposed to meet with his company.
And it was because these B 17 orwhatever they were, whatever the
aircraft were that they were flying,they were jumping out of the, the pilots
were still relatively new as well.
And so instead of going, much slower,they were going about twice the speed
that they should have been flying.
(32:29):
So they flew too far.
So when the green light, went on andeverybody jumps out of the plane.
They're two miles, two miles away.
Jenn (32:35):
So that nervousness of war, right?
And so that's what he'stalking about that.
Even though D Day was plannedso, specifically that because
they went faster than I thinkthey were supposed to go like 45
Scott (32:50):
He said 75 but they were doing one
Jenn (32:52):
Yeah.
So they went double 75 knots.
They went one 50.
And because of that, they landed twomiles off course and to land two miles
off course as an individual with noprotection and then trying to find the
rest of your crew, which he does, but.
to go two miles in enemy territory,which all the pockets with all the
ammunition on him, which means it'sheavier, which means he's gonna have to,
(33:14):
it's almost like rucking at that point.
But he does it.
So he talks about that.
So I just think he'sIt's just an unsung hero.
Again, that skill setthat comes into play.
And then to live in Norfolk, Virginia.
I think I, I shout that out inthe video since we're here as
Scott (33:30):
Yeah, you definitely do.
Now, the last person that, that wecovered for this video was, goes by
the last name of Taylor and thathe was interesting because he was
an NCO if I remember correctly.
And I, I believe you even had mentionedthat he had taken part in the when
(33:52):
the NCOs went to the colonel said,Hey, we're not gonna follow Sobel
.he as a person wasn't really portrayed in the show.
But he was one of those NCOs.
He
Jenn (34:00):
So we're talking about tech tech Sergeant Amos Buck Taylor.
Now I want to reiterate these lastcouple of graves are all in section 60.
So there's really only threesections you have to go to
in Arlington to see them all.
Like I said, Blythe is byRobert Todd Strayer is right.
Right to the left.
I think it's section 54 and then section60 is these last three which is again
(34:23):
60 is one of our most visited sections.
It's a large section.
It's an active section.
It's a more recent section.
So if you're out in section 60,more than likely you are going
to see people visiting graves.
And that's what Taylor is as well,but he is an NCO of Easy Company.
And he is a part of the original 140 men.
His life story is featured in a 2009 book.
(34:46):
We who are alive and remain the untoldstories of band of brothers, because
he is part of this whole original grouphe has this interaction with Sobel.
Because he goes AWOL fromthe training at Fort Benning.
He goes AWOL to meet his, to meetElaine, who he later will marry and his
(35:08):
three day pass is canceled by Sobel.
And He will marry her, and he wassupposed to marry her then, but
his 3 day pass gets cancelled, andthen he has to marry her later, and
then He has opinions about Sobol.
He says that he was, he never hated him.
He thought he could be unfair and he couldnot be trusted for battle situations.
(35:29):
And because of that, he's one of the NCOsthat participate in the mutiny in England.
So he is depicted in the show asjust one of the characters, but he
doesn't really have a distinct nameand everything like that, but just
know that he's one of those guys.
He does make the initial jump,his first combat jump on D Day.
(35:49):
He's one of the misdrops.
He finds the other three afterlanding and then they join their
own unit three or four days later.
He's wounded after the battle of Keraton.
He's evacuated to hospital in England.
That's where he lost his camerathat he brought with him to
Normandy, which is too bad.
In and September of 1944, he makesanother jump for Operation Market
(36:10):
Garden, which eventually failed.
He's a company that'sdefending the island.
He participates in OperationPegasus in October of 1944 and After
easy company has been relieved.
He gets involved in a traffic accident.
He fought in the Battle of the Bulge It'shim and another man who find and kill the
(36:31):
German soldier that shot Walter Gordon.
And in January 1945, Taylor shot inthe leg and sent to an aid station.
That wound was serious and he spent11 months in the hospital and then
he is discharged from the hospital.
Army.
He marries Elaine in 1945 whilestill at the rehab hospital.
Her dress, which I love is made fromTaylor's white silk reserve chute.
(36:57):
So I love a couple women did this.
They would make their wedding dressesfrom that white reserve chute.
So their second chute is madeof that white silk and because
silk was difficult to get.
during the war.
It's one of those ration materials.
Women didn't have this material availableto them to make their wedding dresses.
So she makes her wedding dressfrom his reserve chute, which
(37:20):
I think is just so beautiful.
Scott (37:22):
I thought it was really cool.
You called that out in the video.
Jenn (37:24):
He's discharged in December and he works for the VA.
He joins the CIA.
He spends 25 years with the CIAso we don't know what he did.
They live in Sewell's Point for 30 years.
They moved to Orange City in2010 and then he passes away in
2011, 18 days after his wife.
So I mentioned that too in the video.
(37:46):
So he's just one of those charactersthat I almost don't know if he's not
depicted because of his work with the CIA
Scott (37:55):
Oh, interesting.
Jenn (37:56):
he's important and he did some important things that could It could
be played by a character, but becauseof his work with the CIA, it's almost
like maybe you shouldn't focus onme and my life just so people aren't
digging more into my background.
It seems I don't know, I'm just, wehave friends that kind of work in that
(38:18):
area and it seems the longer they workin that area, the more they pull their
social media stuff or their life away.
Okay.
So I wonder about that.
that a little bit.
But I just think he's awesome.
And we just wanted to remember him.
So those are the five menfrom Easy Company that are in
(38:38):
Arlington National Cemetery.
So if you wanted to visit them, theyare a very easy group of men to visit.
You could do it on one day, youcould do it as you go Tomb of
the Unknown and Robert Kennedy.
Those are what people usuallysee when they go to Arlington.
And you can see the five bandof brothers as well, which
would be relatively easy to do.
(38:59):
So it was an honor for us to do it.
I think it's awesome to rememberthem and remember the series and
the series, it always goes upand down with its popularity.
And I think it, as masters of the aircome out, people revisit band of brothers.
So it's just was awesomefor us to be there.
Scott (39:26):
Well that brings us to the end of our visit
.to Arlington National Cemetery and our exploration of the lives of the Easy
Company soldiers laid to rest there.
Their bravery and sacrificeduring World War II helped shape
the world we live in today.
Their stories serve as a powerful reminderof the resilience of the human spirit
in the face of unimaginable adversity.
(39:49):
Before you go, I want toleave you with a thought.
Easy Company wasn't just a militaryunit, it was a brotherhood.
These men fought for each other.
relied on each other, and formed anenduring bond that transcended war.
Their unwavering loyalty andcommitment to one another is a message
that continues to resonate today.
So let's honor their memory, not just byremembering their wartime achievements,
(40:14):
but also by carrying forward thatspirit of camaraderie in our own lives.
Thank you for listening to the Talk WithHistory podcast, and please reach out
to us at our website, talkwithhistory.
com.
But more importantly, if you know someoneelse that might enjoy this podcast, shoot
them a text and tell them to look us up.
We rely on you, our community, to growand we appreciate you all every day.
(40:35):
We'll talk to you next time.
His writing that he died in 19 I don't know where the 1948 comes
(00:03):
from, but his dying that he diedin 1948 doesn't really get fact
checked until the miniseries comes
Scott (00:09):
Then of course it gets really popular
Jenn (00:11):
He gets really popular, and his family sees it, and
this is in the miniseries.
It says it at the end,Blythe dies in 1948.
His family will see thisand be like, hold up.
No he's not.
Scott (00:35):
Welcome to Talk with History.
I am your host, Scott, here withmy wife and historian, Jenn.
Hello.
On this podcast, we give you insightsto our history inspired world travels,
YouTube channel journey, and examinehistory through deeper conversations
with the curious, the explorers,and the history lovers out there.
(00:56):
Today, we're heading back tohallowed ground, Arlington
National Cemetery, one last time.
We're on a mission to honor somereal life heroes, the men of Easy
Company, immortalized in the bookand mini series Band of Brothers.
From jumping into occupied France onD Day to braving the brutal winter
offensive in the Battle of the Bulge,these soldiers faced unimaginable horrors.
(01:22):
But their courage, their camaraderie, andtheir unwavering spirit became legend.
today, five of these easy company veteransrest in Arlington, a place of quiet
reflection and immense national pride.
us as we locate their headstones and sharethe stories of these extraordinary men.
(01:43):
So grab your headphones, lace up yourwalking shoes and prepare to be inspired.
This is a journey of remembrance.
and a tribute to the band of brothersburied in Arlington National Cemetery.
All right, Jen, so we knowwhat we're talking about
Jenn (02:02):
talking about today.
Walk With History has done manyvideos from Arlington, and we
are very now intimately familiarwith the topography of Arlington.
We know what areas you're going tocover, and basically, if you're going
there to cover a certain topic, howyou want to plan your day, because you
(02:28):
can't be walking across the cemeterytwo or three times in one visit.
I would recommend.
Not even walking across it in one visit.
It is a massive space and You reallydon't get any kind of vehicle access
unless you have someone buried there.
So you must walk and it is hillyand it is a lot of exercise and
(02:51):
if it's Anytime in the heat ofthe summer it can be very tiring.
Scott (02:57):
what we we have for those listening to this Podcast episode, right?
So on our youtube channel, we've cutwe've probably made Maybe almost a
dozen videos from from arlington.
I've got a whole playlist and i'lllink that that video playlist in the
show notes of this podcast episode,but we've been there numerous times
in almost every season in almostevery condition Covered it's just some
(03:19):
incredibly amazing people You actors andactresses and, obviously all veterans.
It's been, we've done women, we've
Jenn (03:30):
done Tuskegee Airmen, Arlington House.
We do John F.
Kennedy, Tomb of the Unknown, so wedo the big ones that you're going
to see on like an original visit.
And then we started to domore off the beaten path.
So we got into the back of Arlingtonand some randoms like when we
did Gunny Ermey, he's way off onthe right side in a new section.
(03:51):
And so it was after wedid Masters of the Air.
That took us to all the way back to theright to the left section where we found
Egan There we started to go well Whatother series have people that could be
buried at Arlington and we really werelike band of brothers We couldn't and
we couldn't believe that we a hadn'tdone that and be really no one has
Scott (04:17):
Right, and because we've done Tuskegee Airmen, we've danced all
around World War II, all throughoutArlington, and we don't know how we
didn't cover the Band of Brothers,but you found out that there's five
that are currently buried there.
Jenn (04:27):
They're currently buried there.
And what's nice?
I would say nice about the band ofbrothers is there in it really three
sections that are pretty close together.
So if you're going to visit theband of brothers in Arlington,
you can see all of them relativelyeasily and quickly, which is nice.
Scott (04:45):
Now, one of the, the first ones that we're going to talk about here was
actually featured in the mini series.
Relatively prominently
. Jenn (04:59):
We're going to talk about a more controversial character right
off the get go because he has aprominent part in in the series.
And he also was depictedinaccurately by Stephen Ambrose,
who wrote the book in 1992.
It's published.
The show was made in2001, right after 9 11.
(05:20):
It airs.
So it gets a lot of notorietyand camaraderie around the
patriotism of the time.
But Stephen Ambrose, who's a greatscholar, really messes up on this person.
And this person has a veryprominent role in the series.
So we're talking about Albert Blythe.
He
Scott (05:43):
Yeah, so tell me a little bit about when now he was he a private first class
Jenn (05:47):
was private first class with the Easy company, second
battalion, 506th Parachute InfantryRegiment and the 101st Airborne.
He.
makes that initial jump on D Day withthe rest of Easy Company, the original
men of Easy Company and he gets separatedfrom everybody and he's depicted in the
series as he gets separated and he'sScared he doesn't quite know what to do.
(06:12):
So he just goes to sleep
Band of Brothers (06:14):
Sir, when I landed on D Day, I found myself
in a ditch all by myself.
I fell asleep.
I think it was, it was airsickness pills, I guess.
(06:35):
When I woke up, I didn'treally try to find my unit.
To fight.
Just
I just stayed put.
What's your name, Trooper?
(06:57):
Blithe, sir.
Albert Blithe.
Scott (07:00):
The nice thing about doing covering miniseries like this sometimes or
Historical figures covered in miniseriesis you can cut in good examples.
And so I actually cut in An example ofhim saying I don't in the miniseries.
He wasn't explaining it to dickwinters It was someone else and you
can tell the way that they craftedfor the miniseries this character
(07:21):
was someone who was afraid, right?
He said, hey, when I landed on D Day,I woke up and I was in my foxhole
and I didn't go look for my company.
I just laid there.
And he he's portraying someonewho, who it's, you put in the
category of coward, unfortunately.
Jenn (07:38):
I want to debunk that because I want people to understand.
First of all, Blythe iscoming from Philadelphia.
He only went to three years of high schoolbefore he enlisted in the paratroopers.
So he's 18, 19 years old whenhe's enlisting from his hometown.
There's no cowardice here.
He's what they call a misdrop.
So a misdrop is, there was a number ofparatroopers who didn't hit the target
(08:04):
and got scattered out in different areas.
Scott (08:07):
We'll talk a little bit more about, one of the other band of
brothers buried here talks about itin an interview and we'll talk we'll
discuss that later and how that happens
Jenn (08:15):
you have to imagine to, to have trained with everybody to plan for D Day.
And then this huge invasion of D Dayand then to get misdropped and lost
he teams up with other misdrops andthey found the rest of Easy Company.
But what you do in those initialmoments is like scary because you're
(08:35):
by yourself across enemy linesin France occupied Nazi Germany.
And and you can understand likewhat he's saying is, I didn't
know what to do, so I fell.
I went to sleep or I juststayed in my position and waited
till other people found me.
That's more of what he did.
He's basically just stoodfast and he just waited.
(08:55):
Now they depicted in this.
So I went to sleep like, he maybe hefell asleep, but it wasn't as if he
was like, I don't know what to do.
I'm scared.
I'm gonna fall asleep.
I'm gonna go to sleep.
Scott (09:05):
even his show he says oh, I think it was the air sickness medicine But I
also found in an interview later wheredick winters, you know in a interview
says the same thing that you're sayingis he debunks that he's listen, the
miniseries was exaggerated, right?
And he goes on to say, letme tell you about this man
Jenn (09:24):
I think the problem Winters had with this, and this is a problem that you and I
both have with this, is he's not a coward.
He is doing his duty.
He did jump and he got lost.
He got, not by any fault of his own.
He did find his group.
He does continue to fight.
You will see he, he'sactually injured by a sniper.
(09:45):
He does receive the Purple Heart.
So what happens after he's reunitedis it shows some kind of, he gets
hysterical blindness, they call it.
So it's basically like a temporary caseof PTSD where you're just so overwhelmed.
by the stress of everything thatyour body reacts to stress and we've,
Scott (10:04):
down.
Jenn (10:05):
we've talked about this a lot, whether or not you want your body to
react to stress, your body will react to
Scott (10:11):
The thing is, is there are certain things that you can train to
and there's certain things that youjust can't a good example that always
pops into my head is for mountaineers.
Mountaineers, they can train to bein good physical condition, have good
cardio, but until you actually get toaltitude, you, you won't know until
how your body's gonna react to it.
You can be in peak physical conditionhere at sea level, be a marathon
(10:33):
runner and all this stuff, andcarry heavy pa heavy, heavy packs.
You get to altitude and you might,your body just might not be able to
handle it and that's, no, there'sno conditioning around that.
Yeah.
So this is to me, an examplenow, I think for the mini series.
about again in the past, they capturea bunch of what happens to other
people and they tend to embody multipleexamples of something into a character.
(10:59):
I have a feeling that's whathappened because what the, of known
for in this mini series is hisinteraction later with Dick Winters.
Jenn (11:10):
And that is true.
So Winters does.
Winters goes to the infirmary foranother reason, and as he's in the
infirmary, he goes down the line to seehis guys, and Blythe is one of them.
And Blythe is having a case oftemporary hysteria blindness,
and Winters talks to him.
And Winters basically levelswith him, humanizes it, and tells
him, we're, we're all scared.
(11:31):
Right?
Even Winters admits we're all scared.
We all, we all are not reallyknowing what we're doing.
We're hoping training takes over.
All of us are in this together.
This is war.
Winters even says it happens relativelyquickly where Bly gets this understanding.
He feels some camaraderie.
He feels understood.
(11:51):
I think he feels a little bit of a shared.
Kinship there, which happens withsoldiers and starts to come out of
it because it is a physical ailmentthat is brought on by stress.
And once you can start to alleviate thatstress or at least deal with the stress,
the physical element heals itself.
(12:11):
And so hysterical blindness basicallyclears and then He is part of a
group that investigates a farmhouse.
Days later, he's shot inthe collarbone by a sniper.
He recovers from the wound.
He's awarded the Purple Heart.
Now the series will say that he neverrecovers from the wounds and dies in 1948.
(12:39):
I have no idea where Stephen Ambrosegot that, but most people say it's
because no one ever really talkedto Blythe again after he's injured.
Scott (12:49):
I think Dick Winters said in that later interview he mentioned
that he got wounded and he saidthat they thought they had lost him.
Yeah.
So I'm I'm connecting some dots basedon what we've seen in your research
is that my assumption is that hewas injured Right ended up surviving
it but the rest of easy company hadalready moved on They didn't realize
(13:11):
that he survived and then from there.
I think he was he's probably shipped home
Jenn (13:14):
Yeah, he was shipped home and he was released from the
army hospital in October 1945.
So it's after the end of the war and hebasically loses touch with everybody.
Now he eventually will serve in Korea.
He re ups and serves in the Korea in the187th Airborne where he's awarded a bronze
star and a silver star for jumping behind
(13:35):
.enemy lines surrounded by a Chinese battalion.
He never gets to retire frommilitary service because he dies
at age 44 in December of 1967.
So I think this is a perfect storm.
Since Ambrose writes Band of Brothersand it's published in 1992, he's doing
his research in the 80s, publishing it.
(13:57):
Blythe does die in the 60s, sohe doesn't have to fact check
Blythe's death, but Blythe is dead.
So it works, and if you're not talkingspecifically to family or reaching out
to family or finding people who knewhim and remembered him, His writing
that he died in 19 I don't know wherethe 1948 comes from, but his dying
(14:19):
that he died in 1948 doesn't really getfact checked until the miniseries comes
Scott (14:24):
Then of course it gets really popular
Jenn (14:25):
He gets really popular, and his family sees it, and
this is in the miniseries.
It says it at the end,Blythe dies in 1948.
His family will see thisand be like, hold up.
No he's not.
He has a wife.
With Kay, he has a son Gordon, who will,who will see this and talk about what
(14:46):
really happened on active duty in Germany.
He felt nauseated, returned froma weekend at Bastogne in Belgium.
He had taken part in a commemoratingceremony of the Battle of the Bulge,
and he was taken to the emergencydepartment in Germany where he was
met, admitted with a perforatedulcer and he dies in intensive care.
And then he's Buried at ArlingtonNational Cemetery with full honors.
(15:07):
So in Band of Brothers, it is depicted,unfortunately, it isn't accurate.
The Blythe family comes out and itled to corrections in subsequent
books of Band of Brothers.
So if you have new editions of Band ofBrothers, it is corrected but you will
still see it in the original series.
And we just want to honor all of you.
Blythe because he was a hero and somepeople will say he's depicted not as one
(15:31):
and I just want to make it clear justbecause you suffer from hysteria blindness
or just because you suffer from some kindof PTSD or just because you get separated
from your group and you hold fast.
instead of taking on a thousandGerman soldiers by yourself
does not make you a coward.
You are doing your duty.
You're doing your job and you have toovercome challenges and challenges don't
(15:54):
just happen to you after your service.
Your PTSD doesn't just happento you after you're done.
PTSD can happen during your service.
Your time during yourservice as you're fighting.
And if you overcome it, thenin the moment you are still
overcoming and you're still a hero.
And so we wanted to honor Blythe.
He's the first personI visited in Arlington.
(16:16):
He's right by Robert, Todd Lincoln.
So most people will go see Robert ToddLincoln, that is Lincoln's oldest son.
Scott (16:23):
just like down the hill.
Jenn (16:24):
down the hill from it and it's so very easy to find and there's
a path to Robert Todd Lincoln'sSarcophagus, and so just right
down the hill you will see Blythe.
I actually met other people there whowere looking for Blythe and I Directed
them to Egan from Masters of the Air.
They didn't know Egan was there andwe took pictures They were from Poland
and we talked for a little while.
(16:44):
So Blythe is a visited personfrom Band of Brothers at Arlington
and he's at Easygrave to findand he's there waiting for you.
Scott (16:54):
It was, it was cool to be able to make that part of the video for him.
Now, the next person we're goingto talk about was was actually
part of the leadership portrayedin the show band of brothers.
And this was LieutenantColonel Strayer, if I remember
Jenn (17:14):
Yeah, Robert Strayer.
He was the battalion commanderfor a time over Easy Company.
He supported making the showBand of Brothers, but he said
it was hard for him to watch.
He's depicted by actor Phil McKee.
He is in charge of Easy Company,hands it over to Dick Winters.
Scott (17:33):
Now, if, if you are a Band of Brothers fan, and you remember the show
so picture there's, I don't know thename of the episode, but they are still
in England and they are training, right?
And it's the scene where some ofthe soldiers kind of trick Captain
Sobel . Into cutting the fenceof this farmer's field, right?
One of the soldiers is yellingfrom behind some bushes Imitate and
(17:56):
basically imitating like a major,
. Band of Brothers (17:58):
Connie, Bobo's lost again, right?
Yeah, he's lost.
Hey, Luz.
Luz.
Can you do Major Horton?
That's a wild pair ofcrap in the woods, son.
That's good.
If you get a good major,you can go see Smuck.
Can I just move it?
(18:19):
Oh, yeah.
Yes.
Luz, you got it.
You got it.
Come on.
All right, just this once.
No, sir.
It's here.
You're a full grid off.
Goddamn it.
Is there a problem, Captain Sobel?
Who said that?
Who broke silence?
I think it's Major Horton, sir.
(18:41):
Major Horton?
What is he?
Did he join us?
I think maybe he's movingbetween the platoons, sir.
What is the goddamn holdup, Master Sobel?
A fence!
Sir, um God.
A barbed wire fence!
Oh, that dog just ain't gonna hunt!
Now you cut that fence and getthis god damn platoon on the move!
(19:07):
Yes, sir!
Scott (19:09):
Then It flashes forward to, Dick Winter seeing Sobel come up, they're
completely lost and all this stuff.
Band of Brothers (19:16):
You've done it now, Yanks.
You've captured me.
Would that be the enemy?
As a matter of fact, yes.
Scott (19:35):
And then again, it steps right into Sobel getting yelled
at by then Major Strayer.
Band of Brothers (19:41):
Who was the idiot who cut that man's fence?
I was ordered to, sir.
By who?
Major Horton, sir.
Major Horton?
Yes, sir.
Major Horton told you to do that?
Yes, sir.
Major Horton ordered you to cut the fence?
Yes, he did.
Major Horton is on leave.
Scott (19:59):
And then you just, you see, it's that moment in a show where the, you
the antagonist gets his comeuppance.
And that was one of those moments.
And it was, it was major Strayer that wasgiving him the, reading him the right act.
Jenn (20:11):
So he's in charge.
So in a major, as a major in1942, he's in command of the 2nd
Battalion of the 506 ParachuteInfantry Regiment, 101st Airborne.
In 1945, he's made executive officerof the 506, and his position as the 2nd
Battalion CO was filled by Major Richard.
Winters.
So that he basically gets promotedand then Winters takes his job.
(20:37):
During his service, he's goingto earn four bronze stars, one
silver star and one purple heart.
He's pretty badass too.
And I think he's a goodleadership example for winters.
I think winters looks up to him more,definitely more than Sobel , but
he fills that role because he had agood example from Strayer on how to
Scott (20:59):
a good example from Strayer on how to build that wall.
He's he's a little bit of that connectionbetween the colonel who ultimately who
finally sends Sobel off to Without hefires him without firing him He's like
(21:22):
this is a promotion to send some offto go do you know to to do training?
And major strayer is right there, right?
So again, if you if you rememberthat scene where Sobel is essentially
quote unquote promoted But he's sentoff to do to run a training company.
Major Strayer is the thirdperson in that scene.
It's the colonel in Sobel , butMajor Strayer is sitting
there right off to the side.
(21:43):
Doesn't have many lines,but he's right there.
And that's how, and that'show it would have been.
Jenn (21:47):
Yeah.
So you and I relate a lot to this, right?
Because we were both officers in themilitary and I always talk about Dick
Winters and what it takes to leadand then move up the rank politically
as the leadership role gets more andmore I wouldn't say important, but,
It's more difficult because you'reoverseeing more and more people and
it's more and more political and thenit's more and more your decisions are
(22:09):
very heavy at this point because theyhave lasting impact and they trickle
down over a ton of your personnel andthat is where this is where Strayer is.
And these are the hard decisions,because even though you see Sobel and
you're like, Oh, he's terrible leader.
(22:31):
He does prepare his men better than anyother leader because he makes them do
all this physical activity to a fault.
But they are so conditionedand ready for D Day.
And even though Sobel is not goodwith the leadership of taking any kind
of criticism, or learning from hismistakes, he really is one of those
(22:53):
leaders who feels like they're rightall the time and really rests on rank.
and You still as a leader of someonelike that, you are still trying to
teach and mentor them to be better.
You don't just automatically kick themout or change or you really do your best
to try to help them learn from that.
And unfortunately in thissituation, trouble didn't.
(23:16):
We're, we're getting into battle,time is of the essence, and they do
make this quick leadership change.
But you see how difficult itis even for the leaders to do
Scott (23:23):
Yeah.
And that's why I I liked that youcovered Strayer because, right, as,
as someone who's more senior now,right, as you go up, you deal with like
knuckleheads or even good soldiers andsailors that make knucklehead decisions.
And so if you think about it,Strayer dealt with Sobel when he cut
the fence, he probably dealt withthe NCOs during the kind of little
mutiny , right, when they said, Hey,we're not going to follow this man.
(23:45):
And the colonel's yelling at them,but you know that Strayer was
the one that first got that word.
He's I can just picture Strayerbeing like, seriously, come on.
He's I don't want to deal with this.
I can just picture him in between beforethe information got to the colonel.
Jenn (23:59):
I, I picture the colonel ripping Strayer apart before
he rips apart the NCOs, right?
He's gonna, believe me, your higherups are gonna take it out first on
the person next closest to them.
They don't take it out on
Scott (24:13):
Strayer probably got it first from the colonel and the colonel
probably calmed down after Strayertook the initial shots and then,
Jenn (24:21):
And that's your job.
Scott (24:22):
and that's, that's part of it.
So it was, it was really neat tobe able to cover him cause not one
of the core characters, but part ofthe leadership and then to see what
he did after the fact was really
Jenn (24:31):
Exactly.
And in just instrumental,just another good leader.
He's right beside the themain building of Arlington.
So when you walk into Arlington,the main building that has the
restrooms and the little, Visitorcenter, this set, he's in the next
section, rape recited to the left.
Very easy to walk toand very easy to find.
(24:53):
He's buried there with his wife, Mildred.
She's an army nurse.
They marry in January, 1942, and heretired from the army after the war.
They settled down in Pennsylvaniaand then they retired to Florida.
He dies on December 18th, 2002.
And so they're both atArlington National Cemetery.
And we thank them both for their service.
Scott (25:20):
Now, the next person we're talking about here is not quite as
much out there on him, but I believehe was, he was I don't know if he was
part of the original Easy Company,but he is buried in Arlington and he
did serve with, with Easy Company.
Jenn (25:35):
So Arthur Moserall there isn't a lot on him.
He's hard to find information on,but he is part of the original
and he's born in 1940, 1924.
So if he's making the jumpin 1944, he's 20 years old.
So these guys are so young.
He's born in Maine andhe was a paratrooper.
(25:59):
He marries Wanda.
Together they have Georgette and Hope.
He dies on June 11th, 1988 and he'sburied in Arlington National Cemetery.
Scott (26:07):
And that's one of the things that I liked.
About the miniseries overall was Obviouslyyou have the central figures right the
main characters that everybody knowsBut they are really a representation
of everybody else that was there thatwasn't written about that wasn't You
know didn't have journals that theycould be read and this that and the
(26:28):
other so for soldiers like mazerolThey are a representation because he
was right there with them during the
Jenn (26:35):
Yeah.
He was like, it even says on histombstone the 101st airborne.
I always like the ones that are simple.
Right?
So I appreciate that about it as well.
He's 63 years old when he dies,and he dies in Arlington, Virginia.
So he must have ended up there forhis retirement, even though he is from
Maine, but he has looks like he hastwo daughters, Georgette and Hope.
(26:58):
And there's not much else on him.
But we want to recognize him asone of He's the company's 101st.
Scott (27:10):
Our next figure that we're about to talk about, actually, he was
on the show, but he portrayed himself.
So he was in some of the interviews.
Jenn (27:17):
Yeah, so Forrest Guth, they had planned to put him as a character
in the show, and they actuallymade a uniform, because I guess his
uniform was, more specific to him.
He put a lot of pockets on hisuniform because I guess he liked
to have a lot of things on him,carry a lot of things on him.
And as most people know in the military,you can individualize your uniform
(27:38):
to a point, especially in combat.
Scott (27:41):
especially in combat, especially, I mean, when you're
spending, years away from home,you're going to customize your stuff.
Jenn (27:48):
I mean, you can think about the SEALs do it all the time, even
Scott (27:51):
And he was interesting because not only did he have some kind of brief
spots and interviews during the miniseries, but he stuck around long enough
that I actually found some, some otherinterviews done with him that I found
on YouTube that I was able to cut intoour video and him talking about, he must
have been some sort of like engineer.
He worked in an engineering plantbecause he, he, he talked about
(28:14):
how he could have been deferred.
he was working for.
like a defense industry company,but then him and some of his
friends in his hometown were like,you know what, we should join up.
Let's go join the 101st Airborne,because I think they're getting paid
50 bucks, 50 bucks more a month.
So I'm, we're going to join up with
Jenn (28:33):
Yeah, he, he's very money driven, which at a young age, you would be he's
a part of the original guys in Georgia.
He's in Aldeborne, our video from there.
So he'll be there as well.
What his ability to do that makeshim so special is he has this
ability to modify and repair weapons.
He was able to make hisM1 rifle fully automatic.
Scott (28:53):
Really?
Yeah.
Jenn (28:54):
So that's where his engineering brain comes in, and that's why he is
became the a member of the armor for theirfor his comrades, his uniform was unique.
He sold on the extra pockets tocarry extra equipment and ammunition.
Scott (29:07):
And you said that he was one of two.
The other was a character that wasin the main series, was Shifty Powers
who was like an expert sharpshooter.
Yeah.
Jenn (29:17):
They were the only two got expert.
So if you, you and I both know ifyou see ribbons, and you get your
rifle qual and your pistol qual.
Sometimes you'll see an S on the ribbon,which means you're a sharpshooter,
but sometimes you'll see an E on theribbon, which means you're an expert.
Scott (29:33):
Yeah.
And, and typically, especially,in companies like this, if you got
only two of your soldiers were,were expert, marksmen, they're
going to be doing some of that work.
Yeah.
That was, you're going to jumpin behind enemy lines and if
you need a sharpshooter, you'regoing to grab your two experts.
Jenn (29:49):
And if you can make your weapon fully automatic, which means he doesn't
have to reload as quick To make yoursharpshooter have an audit that it
just puts you ahead of the game.
So that's that's why hehas the extra pockets.
When you think about he's carryingthe extra equipment and doing things
like that, he made his first combatjump into Normandy on June 6th, 1944.
Scott (30:08):
If I remember correctly, he gets injured and I think he gets sent home.
Jenn (30:13):
was, he jumped into Operation Market Garden on September 17th, 1944.
And his, he was injured during the landingbecause of a parachute malfunction.
He's taken to an army hospital in England.
He rejoins Easy Company in France beforethey're transported to Bastogne and
to fight in the Battle of the Bulge.
So he is with
Scott (30:32):
So He comes back.
Okay.
Jenn (30:35):
And he's selected for the patrol mission.
led by Sergeant Ken Mercer becauseof his German speaking ability.
And he won a 30 day furloughto return to the States.
And then the war ended beforehe could rejoin his unit.
So he just has a lot going for him.
He can speak German.
Scott (30:53):
It's got that engineering brain,
Jenn (30:54):
an engineering brain and he's a expert marksman.
So he re he enrolls incollege when he's done.
He gets a master's degree.
He becomes a teacher in Norfolk, Virginia.
Scott (31:05):
is where we're recording
Jenn (31:06):
And that's where we're recording this.
And that's where hemeets his wife, Harriet.
They married 1949.
They moved to Delaware.
He becomes an electronicsteacher at high school there.
And then he dies in August in Delaware.
He does interpret the German at one point,but his role is replaced by another actor
in the episode Last Patrol, but that washim who really did that interpretation.
(31:30):
And we just want to honor him becauseit just goes to show you all these
skills you have that really canbe helpful in war, speaking the
language, being a good marksman,
Scott (31:45):
Well, and, and to our point earlier, he was another misdrop, so he
talks about in his later interview, itwas, 60s or 70s, something like that,
that got posted on YouTube about, he he'srecounting his experience for D Day, and
he's talking about seeing the tracers,he's talking about hearing bullets hitting
the wings of his plane, watching anotherplane go down, and then he, he says that
(32:08):
even he landed two miles from where hewas supposed to meet with his company.
And it was because these B 17 orwhatever they were, whatever the
aircraft were that they were flying,they were jumping out of the, the pilots
were still relatively new as well.
And so instead of going, much slower,they were going about twice the speed
that they should have been flying.
(32:29):
So they flew too far.
So when the green light, went on andeverybody jumps out of the plane.
They're two miles, two miles away.
Jenn (32:35):
So that nervousness of war, right?
And so that's what he'stalking about that.
Even though D Day was plannedso, specifically that because
they went faster than I thinkthey were supposed to go like 45
Scott (32:50):
He said 75 but they were doing one
Jenn (32:52):
Yeah.
So they went double 75 knots.
They went one 50.
And because of that, they landed twomiles off course and to land two miles
off course as an individual with noprotection and then trying to find the
rest of your crew, which he does, but.
to go two miles in enemy territory,which all the pockets with all the
ammunition on him, which means it'sheavier, which means he's gonna have to,
(33:14):
it's almost like rucking at that point.
But he does it.
So he talks about that.
So I just think he'sIt's just an unsung hero.
Again, that skill setthat comes into play.
And then to live in Norfolk, Virginia.
I think I, I shout that out inthe video since we're here as
Scott (33:30):
Yeah, you definitely do.
Now, the last person that, that wecovered for this video was, goes by
the last name of Taylor and thathe was interesting because he was
an NCO if I remember correctly.
And I, I believe you even had mentionedthat he had taken part in the when
(33:52):
the NCOs went to the colonel said,Hey, we're not gonna follow Sobel
.he as a person wasn't really portrayed in the show.
But he was one of those NCOs.
He
Jenn (34:00):
So we're talking about tech tech Sergeant Amos Buck Taylor.
Now I want to reiterate these lastcouple of graves are all in section 60.
So there's really only threesections you have to go to
in Arlington to see them all.
Like I said, Blythe is byRobert Todd Strayer is right.
Right to the left.
I think it's section 54 and then section60 is these last three which is again
(34:23):
60 is one of our most visited sections.
It's a large section.
It's an active section.
It's a more recent section.
So if you're out in section 60,more than likely you are going
to see people visiting graves.
And that's what Taylor is as well,but he is an NCO of Easy Company.
And he is a part of the original 140 men.
His life story is featured in a 2009 book.
(34:46):
We who are alive and remain the untoldstories of band of brothers, because
he is part of this whole original grouphe has this interaction with Sobel.
Because he goes AWOL fromthe training at Fort Benning.
He goes AWOL to meet his, to meetElaine, who he later will marry and his
(35:08):
three day pass is canceled by Sobel.
And He will marry her, and he wassupposed to marry her then, but
his 3 day pass gets cancelled, andthen he has to marry her later, and
then He has opinions about Sobol.
He says that he was, he never hated him.
He thought he could be unfair and he couldnot be trusted for battle situations.
(35:29):
And because of that, he's one of the NCOsthat participate in the mutiny in England.
So he is depicted in the show asjust one of the characters, but he
doesn't really have a distinct nameand everything like that, but just
know that he's one of those guys.
He does make the initial jump,his first combat jump on D Day.
(35:49):
He's one of the misdrops.
He finds the other three afterlanding and then they join their
own unit three or four days later.
He's wounded after the battle of Keraton.
He's evacuated to hospital in England.
That's where he lost his camerathat he brought with him to
Normandy, which is too bad.
In and September of 1944, he makesanother jump for Operation Market
(36:10):
Garden, which eventually failed.
He's a company that'sdefending the island.
He participates in OperationPegasus in October of 1944 and After
easy company has been relieved.
He gets involved in a traffic accident.
He fought in the Battle of the Bulge It'shim and another man who find and kill the
(36:31):
German soldier that shot Walter Gordon.
And in January 1945, Taylor shot inthe leg and sent to an aid station.
That wound was serious and he spent11 months in the hospital and then
he is discharged from the hospital.
Army.
He marries Elaine in 1945 whilestill at the rehab hospital.
Her dress, which I love is made fromTaylor's white silk reserve chute.
(36:57):
So I love a couple women did this.
They would make their wedding dressesfrom that white reserve chute.
So their second chute is madeof that white silk and because
silk was difficult to get.
during the war.
It's one of those ration materials.
Women didn't have this material availableto them to make their wedding dresses.
So she makes her wedding dressfrom his reserve chute, which
(37:20):
I think is just so beautiful.
Scott (37:22):
I thought it was really cool.
You called that out in the video.
Jenn (37:24):
He's discharged in December and he works for the VA.
He joins the CIA.
He spends 25 years with the CIAso we don't know what he did.
They live in Sewell's Point for 30 years.
They moved to Orange City in2010 and then he passes away in
2011, 18 days after his wife.
So I mentioned that too in the video.
(37:46):
So he's just one of those charactersthat I almost don't know if he's not
depicted because of his work with the CIA
Scott (37:55):
Oh, interesting.
Jenn (37:56):
he's important and he did some important things that could It could
be played by a character, but becauseof his work with the CIA, it's almost
like maybe you shouldn't focus onme and my life just so people aren't
digging more into my background.
It seems I don't know, I'm just, wehave friends that kind of work in that
(38:18):
area and it seems the longer they workin that area, the more they pull their
social media stuff or their life away.
Okay.
So I wonder about that.
that a little bit.
But I just think he's awesome.
And we just wanted to remember him.
So those are the five menfrom Easy Company that are in
(38:38):
Arlington National Cemetery.
So if you wanted to visit them, theyare a very easy group of men to visit.
You could do it on one day, youcould do it as you go Tomb of
the Unknown and Robert Kennedy.
Those are what people usuallysee when they go to Arlington.
And you can see the five bandof brothers as well, which
would be relatively easy to do.
(38:59):
So it was an honor for us to do it.
I think it's awesome to rememberthem and remember the series and
the series, it always goes upand down with its popularity.
And I think it, as masters of the aircome out, people revisit band of brothers.
So it's just was awesomefor us to be there.
Scott (39:26):
Well that brings us to the end of our visit
.to Arlington National Cemetery and our exploration of the lives of the Easy
Company soldiers laid to rest there.
Their bravery and sacrificeduring World War II helped shape
the world we live in today.
Their stories serve as a powerful reminderof the resilience of the human spirit
in the face of unimaginable adversity.
(39:49):
Before you go, I want toleave you with a thought.
Easy Company wasn't just a militaryunit, it was a brotherhood.
These men fought for each other.
relied on each other, and formed anenduring bond that transcended war.
Their unwavering loyalty andcommitment to one another is a message
that continues to resonate today.
So let's honor their memory, not just byremembering their wartime achievements,
(40:14):
but also by carrying forward thatspirit of camaraderie in our own lives.
Thank you for listening to the Talk WithHistory podcast, and please reach out
to us at our website, talkwithhistory.
com.
But more importantly, if you know someoneelse that might enjoy this podcast, shoot
them a text and tell them to look us up.
We rely on you, our community, to growand we appreciate you all every day.
(40:35):
We'll talk to you next time.
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