Winters, Dick 1918- (Richard D. Winters)

views updated

Winters, Dick 1918- (Richard D. Winters)

PERSONAL:

Born January 21, 1918, in Lancaster, PA; married, c. 1948; wife's name Ethel.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Hershey, PA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Nixon Nitration Works, Nixon, NJ, employee, 1945-c. 1950; then entered business in Hershey, PA. Military service: U.S. Army, 1944-45, served in Europe, commanding officer of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment; became major; received Distinguished Service Cross.

WRITINGS:

(With Cole C. Kingseed) Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters, Berkley Caliber (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Dick Winters was an Army major whose heroic actions taken during the Normandy invasion of World War II were chronicled in the Home Box Office (HBO) television miniseries Band of Brothers. Written with Cole C. Kingseed, Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters tells of Winters, who instantly became commanding officer (CO) of his regiment when the former CO's plane was shot down. Scattered and missing most of his men, Winters led his team to destroy German artillery positions and cleared the way for Allied troops to move inland from Utah Beach.

C.D. Bledsoe II, writing on the Armchair General Web site, commented that he would "recommend this to be read by current service members who are in command of troops or may be in command one day, from fire team leaders all the way up to generals," adding that "much could be learned from his experiences." Bledsoe remarked that, "on the whole, the book is well written and held my interest as a person interested in history." Booklist contributor Frieda Murray mentioned Winters' impressive wartime record and accomplishments in her review, saying that in the book "he shows what he did to earn that praise and how he" succeeded in doing so. Murray concluded that Winters's performance, as well as the writing in the book, were "very well done."