Home > Media > Books > William Guarnere, Robyn Post, Edward Heffron - Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story
William Guarnere, Robyn Post, Edward Heffron - Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story
imm476's Full Review: William Guarnere, Robyn Post, Edward Heffron - Bro...
Being a huge fan of the HBO Mini Series "Band of Brothers", so when I noticed when William "Wild Bill" Guarnere and Edward "Babe" Heffron published and autobiography I new I just had to read it. Having read "Band of Brothers", the biography and autobiography of Richard "Dick" Winters and the war autobiography of Daniel Kenyon Webster, this book is a great addition to the Easy Company story. Robyn Post did and excellent job in helping with this book, and arranging the format in an enjoyable easy manner that makes the reader feel as these two men where setting there telling their story to the reader. The words are all their own as Bill and Babe, (To help make this review easy to understand I will be refereeing to Williams Guarnere as Bill and Edward Heffron as Babe since this is how they are referred to in the book.) tell there story in an easy to follow fashion. The story starts in South Philly, where Bill and Babe talk about there lives before the war. Life was not easy before the war, kids did want they could to help earn money and in a time when most families had several mouths for feed it was often a battle at the dinner table to put food on the table. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor there was no question that these two men would enlist in the military, although there jobs did give them and exemption for doing so. Both enlisted in the Army to be paratroopers, at that choice would start the events that would lead to a friendship that had stood the test of time. Bill Guarnere was a part of the original group of Easy Company members that trained in Toccoa, Ga; he recounts those days of Captain Solbal and the drive to earn those wings. Easy Company was driven to be the best, when Easy company arrived at jump school at Fort Benning , they where is such great shape that they skipped A phase or the physical portion of the training and jumped right into B phase. Since Babe did not join Easy Company till after Normandy, the recount of Normandy is all Bill. From the time to they landed in England till they jumped into Normandy, most of Easy Company's time was spent training. They new that they where training for something big but they did not know when or what it was. At the end of May the men of Easy Company where moved from Aldbourne to Upottery Field to be briefed on their mission. Right before the D-day jump on June 3, 1944 Bill found out, by accident, that his brother Henry has been killed at Monte Casino. On D-day when he landed in Normandy he was hell bent on killing every German he saw. He recalls the events that happened on June 6th, and the events that occurred following the D-day invasion till they returned to England. He recalls the anger he felt after finding out that his brother had died and how he wanted to kill ever single German and make them pay for his brother's death. He also recalls how he was not quite sure what type of combat leader LT. Dick Winters would be? Sure he preformed well in training situations, but how would he perform in combat, would he be another man like Sobal and get his man killed. It was on D-day that Bill had a new respect for Dick Winters, the man that he always referred to a "Quaker" Unlike Bill Babe Heffron joined the Airborne but unlike Bill who did his basic training at Toccoa GA, Babe did his at Fort Eustus VA, and everyday this thoughts where on getting into the Airborne, and on February 1944 Babe finally got to jump school at Fort Benning GA. In May of 1944 Babe left for England on the ship Queen Elizabeth, and off to war. When he arrived in England the 101st and the 82nd Airborne had already made the jumps into Normandy, and it was here that he found out that he was going to be assigned to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st.When Bill returned from Normandy in mid July of 1944, this was the first time he meet Babe. Bill knew instantly that he was from South Philly because Babe did the South Philly shuffle. It was at that moment a friendship started that would last a lifetime. From here till the battle of Bastogne Bill and Babe both talk about the wild days of the time that they spent in England before being shipped off to Holland. Days spend training partying, jitterbugging, going to pubs and raising hell. They talk about the trials and frustrations of Operation Market Garden and the hard times and inspirations of the Battle of the Bulge. They talk about those who where lost at both Operation Market Garden and Bastonge,E Company men from Toccoa, and friends that Babe knew from jump school. From the Battle of the Bulge the Bill and Babe story splits off. Bill talks about his life after loosing his leg at the Battle of the Bulge. The road to recovery and the road back home. Bill and his fiancée Frannie eloped despite both their parents' misgivings. Babe continues he Easy Company, from Bastogne ,to the capturing of Hitler's Eagles nest and the liberation of concentration camps to the end of the war in Europe and the journey home from war. After the war neither man could talk about the war. Even though each had brothers who served in the military, it was difficult to talk about those who where lost, and the experience that still bring the men to tears today. After the war Babe had been home for about a year and decided to look up Bill. One day he went out for a walk and found Bill one day shooting dice on a street corner. From that day forward Bill and Babe became inseparable. They have worked together, Bill is the godfather to Babe's daughter and calls him Uncle Bill, they gave gotten together or talked on the phone almost every day, they have made several trips to Europe together to visit those who where lost. I really enjoyed reading this book and hated to put this book down. These two veterans not only tell the "Band of Brothers" story in there own words but they also tell a story that is slowly being lost with each passing of a WWII veteran. This book is a great addition to any one who is a fan of "Band of Brothers" or any one who enjoys reading military history books.
The rousing story of two inseparable friends and World War II soldiers portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers is a tribute to the lasting bo...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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