Pvt. Bradford C. Freeman
101st Airborne Division
506th PIR
“Easy Company”
Europe ’42-‘45
101st Airborne Division
506th PIR
“Easy Company”
Europe ’42-‘45
Bradford C. Freeman, also known as Mr. Brad, was a member of the 101st Airborne Division, 506th Parachutte Infantry Regiment, E Company. E Company was also known as Easy Company. “Easy” gained notoriety from the Stephen Ambrose book Band of Brothers as well as the HBO mini-series by the same name. If Mr. Brads recollections of the war remind you of scenes from the movie, it’s because Mr. Brad lived history.
Mr. Freeman grew up in rural Artesia, Mississippi which is in the northern third of the state close to the boarder of Alabama. According to the 1940 census, Artesia had a population of 520. In September of 1922 he was born into a farming family with 8 children and was the youngest of 4 boys. His father rented land and raised cotton, corn, hay and had a dairy. For a time, Brad played with a little girl named Willie Gurley. We’ll come back to her. Brad developed his work ethic early in life. At 11 years old his parents had him get a social security number and he got a job with his brother Earl measuring cotton. This was similar to surveying and gave Brad a good understanding of how to read maps. He and his brother Carry enjoyed reading about Russian and German paratroopers and thought they would like to do that one day. Once when a neighbor came to visit and left an umbrella to dry, Brad and Carry grabbed it and headed to the hayloft in the barn. Both boys decided to jump together while holding the umbrella. The umbrella inverted and they crashed onto the ground. “We ran into the woods and hid there until our mother called us to milk the cows.” No one said anything about the umbrella.
Brad attended Mississippi State College and studied agriculture. After Pearl Harbor he signed up for the Army when he turned 18. The Army let him finish his first semester and by April of 1943 Brad was in Hattiesburg, MS for induction. He then headed for Ft. McClellan for basic training. The Army issued him a uniform but had no size 6 boots for him. He had to complete basic training in his Sunday Shoes. Based on the prowess he developed jumping from the hayloft, Brad signed up to be a paratrooper and headed off to Ft. Benning in Georgia for airborne training. There he was initially assigned to the 541st PIR where he made 5 successful jumps, including a night jump, and earned his jump wings. On his third jump his legs got tangled up in his harness, but an instructor talked him through disentangling his leg and he landed safely, although he did swallow his chewing tobacco.
His PIR continued to train but they were not slated for overseas duty. Brad wanted to fight, and he was assigned to Major General Maxwell Taylor’s 101st Airborne which had already departed for England. In February of ’44 Mr. Brad was promoted to Corporal and boarded a ship to England. After a rough ocean voyage, he arrived in England and was picked up by Colonel Robert Sink’s lieutenant. When he arrived at camp Brad had is first encounter with Lieutenant Dick Winters. “We looked at each other like two bulldog’s that wanted to fight.” Winters stood up so Brad stood up thinking they might be having a fight. Winters told him to sit back down and the two ended up having a conversation that left Brad with a new appreciation for his new lieutenant. “We got to be good friends. We was raised alike”. The next morning Sergeant Guarnere took the new paratroopers to see Lieutenant Meehan who had recently replaced Captain Sobel. Brad was able to avoid the antics of Sobel which are highlighted in the mini-series. Brad was assigned to Sergeant Don Malarkey’s 4th squad where he was part of a mortar team. Brad developed a strong friendship with Malarkey and Guarnere. Brad was the only member of his company from Mississippi, and the guys liked his southern drawl. Despite joining the company late, he was readily accepted by the other guys. That was not the same for the replacements that came along later. “From my work surveying when I was young, I was able to help commanders read maps. They thought I was good.”
On the last day of May the 506th was moved to Upottery in southern England where they began to learn of the details of the D-Day invasion. Easy was to drop near St. Marie du Mont and eliminate a German garrison and capture Causeway 2 on Utah Beach. The troops readied for departure, but poor weather cancelled the invasion by a day to June 6th. I asked Brad how that affected him. “I didn’t mind. I hadn’t put on all my equipment on yet. On the evening of June 5th Easy boarded their C-47. Mr. Brad had the base plate for the mortar strapped to his chest. Malarky and the other guys were carrying the rounds for the mortar. Brad needed the help of British soldiers to get on the plane and through the door. “The equipment for the jump weighed as much as we did.”
The US planes took off as day light disappeared. “No one was saying nothing” during the flight. Brad remembers there being heavy flack en-route to the drop zone. When the red light came on the “stick” of 20 jumpers stood up and waited for the green light to jump. Because of the heavy flack the planes was traveling at 200 mph which is 100 mph more than the normal jump speed. “It wouldn’t hurt you. It just spread you out more when you landed.” I asked Brad if he was scared when he jumped. “No, it was alright. They trained us so we just did what they told us.”
Brad said his jump went fine and he landed in a cow pasture. It reminded him of home. He eventually found a group of paratrooers led by Lt. Winters. On the way to their assigned destination, they passed a line of German prisoners. Malarky stated talking to one of the prisoners and it turned out they knew each other from home in Oregon. Brad spent the rest of D-Day guarding the crossroads near Brecourt Manor farm. On D-Day +6 Brad and Easy helped capture Carentan. On June 28th Easy was relieved and head back to Utah beach for a trip back to England. As they prepared to board the LTS, Malarky asked Brad and Pvt Alton to help load a motorcycle into the ship. You may remember a scene in the mini-series with the men joy riding around England on that motorcycle.
Easy spent time training until they were called to jump into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden. On September 17th they loaded into the C-47’s for a daylight jump. The 101st was assigned to capture the Dutch cities of Eindhoven, Son, Veghel and Grave. They were to protect a series of bridges along a single road that the British forces would use attack the Germans. The jump was successful, and they proceeded to the first town of Son. They took the town unopposed and were greeted by the local citizenry who was ecstatic to be liberated. “They would give us anything” Brad remembers. He watched as a small boy walked up to Liebgott and wanted to see the bazooka strapped to his back. The boy was able to get his finger on the trigger before Joe Liebgott could see him and he fired a round down the middle of the street. Fortunately, it didn’t explode. They also witnessed the locals rounding up the “collaborators” and bringing them to the town square for retribution. I asked Brad what they were thinking when they saw that happening. “We just laughed. We just focused on what we was told to do.”
Easy Company spent the next two months engaging with the Germans trying to defend the single road leading into Arnhem. The Germans would cut the road and then then Easy would have to open it up. “We’d open the road and then the Germans would recapture it and we would have to go back and do it again.” This became known as “Hell’s Highway”. On September 20th Easy was involved in a battle outside of Nuenen. “There was a tank battle between the British and the Germans.” There was a German tank concealed behind a building and Sgt. Martin tried to warn the British tank driver but he wouldn’t fire on the German tank because he couldn’t see it. The German tank emerged and destroyed the British tank. “It was bad there. Burning bodies; it made you sick. I was just glad to get through it.”
Eventually Arnhem fell to the Germans trapping 125 British paratroopers, a few members of the Dutch Resistance and a few US Pilots. Operation Pegasus was to be a rescue mission conducted at night. The men were told it could be a suicide mission. Brad was part of a group of men chosen to cross the river at night. Freeman told the Easy Company’s commander that he couldn’t swim. “I told him I was from Mississippi and the only water was a watering hole where the cows drank and relieved themselves and it wasn’t a good place to swim.” “I told him I could dog-paddle and told me to teach the other men.” The men crossed the river, picked up the stranded allies and returned to the other side of the river amidst heavy enemy fire. After that mission Easy was pulled back for some rest. But not for long.
Two weeks later in mid December Easy was put on alert as the Battle of the Bulge began. The Germans attacked the American lines in the Ardennes. The 101st was rushed to Bastogne just before the Germans surrounded the town. The men traveled by truck and they arrived in cold, snowy and icy conditions. “We didn’t have much ammo.”
Bastogne was important to the Germans because it had multiple roads running in and out and was vital for communications and supplies. As the 101st began marching in they passed a column of American soldiers coming out of Bastogne that looked haggard, tired and in shock. It upset Brad because “that wasn’t our style. You were going in because you were going to live or die.” Lt Dyke had been promoted and assumed command of Easy at Bastogne. He was not portrayed in a flattering light in mini-series. Brad remembers, “He wasn’t a bad guy. They got him out of there because he didn’t know what he was doing.”
The Americans were under constant shelling and were running low on food, medical supplies and most importantly ammo. The Germans had the town surrounded making resupply by truck impossible and poor weather conditions and terrible visibility kept the Allies from resupplying by air. At one point the German commander sent a letter to General Anthony McAuliffe offering humane treatment to the US soldiers if they surrendered. McAuliffe’s one word answer was “NUTS”. “I thought it was mighty good. He let us know we weren’t giving up.” Eventually the weather cleared, and the troops were resupplied by air and then Patton’s 4th Division broke through and the Germans retreated ending one of the most historic stands by US forces.
The 101st moved on to Foy and then Noville where Mr. Brad and Pvt. Ed joint were ordered to help clear the town of snipers but two German rockets known as Screaming Meemies landed near Freeman and Joint and both were hit with shrapnel. “It wasn’t too bad.” Brad was hit in the leg and Ed in the arm. Doc Roe came over and began working on Brad and started to cut off his pants but “the other guy was screamin’ so I told him I’m from the south. Don’t cut of my britches. Help him first.” From there Brad was brought by jeep back to Bastogne and then was shipped to England where he spent the next three months recovering.
Brad rejoined Easy Company in early April and met up with them at Hitler’s personal retreat in Berchtesgaden. “The Eagles Nest was at the end of the lake and it was pretty nice.” On VE Day when the treaty was signed Brad was guarding a bridge very close to the signing. “I was just glad it was over.”
Brad had earned 126 points but others in the 101st had accumulated more and started to depart for the states. Mr. Brad remained and continued to train in preparation to deploy to Japan. When the Japanese surrendered Brad was happy to be headed home. He headed for Marseilles to sail to the US. Brad’s ship arrived in Boston and didn’t bother to call his parents because, “I didn’t know they had a phone.” He boarded a train to Camp Shelby in Mississippi and his brother Earl was there to pick him up. On the way they stop at Earl’s house to call his parents. Earl had a telephone. On December 2, 1945 Brad arrived at his house. He couldn’t hug his mother because a day earlier his brother Carry arrived home and he had hugged his mother so hard he cracked her ribs.
On his second day home he went to see Willie Gurley, his childhood friend. They started dating and were married on June 29, 1947. The couple had two daughters and were married 61 years before Willie passed away.
Brad started looking for employment and wanted a job with the post office, “but they told me nobody could work there until they were 30 years old”. At 21 years of age he could parachute into a barrage of flack, land in a country he had never been in filled with enemy soldiers ready to kill him, he could survive a Nazi siege of Bastogne, and he could survive a shrapnel wound but he needed to be 30 years old to drive a mail truck. Brad held a series of jobs including driving a truck at a gravel pit. He blew up the engine on his first day.
Brad’s brothers did not stay in Mississippi. He had a chance to take a job out west, but his dad didn’t want him to go. So, his dad gave him thirty acres and his grandmother gave him some money and Brad stayed in Mississippi. 30 days after his 30th birthday he got his job with the Post Office and he retired 32 years later “with a clean driving record”. During that time, he acquired a little more land and did some farming.
I asked Mr. Brad about Lt. Speirs who ultimately replaced Lt. Dyke and was portrayed as quite courageous in the mini-series. “He was a good leader”. It is also suggested the Speirs shot unarmed German POWs in the early hours of D-Day and I asked Brad about that. “I don’t know if he shot them. I heard about it but I wasn’t there.”
I asked his daughter Beverly if she knew about her father’s service in WW2. She said he never talked about and that she and her sister played with her father’s medals when they were younger. They didn’t learn of their father’s involvement in WW2 until he was involved in helping with the book and the mini-series. Brad did talk about his time in the war with his brother, who all served.
Brad kept in touch with the guys from Easy and in particular with his commanding officer and lifelong friend Dick Winters. Brad wrote the Forward to Dick Winters’ book, Hang Tough. There were annual reunions and Brad attended those at the closer locations when he could get the weekend off. Brad gained notoriety when the book and the mini-series came out. He has been interviewed by the National World War II Museum, met with Prince Charles, returned to Normandy with the Honor Flights, attended the 75th anniversary ceremonies of D-Day in Normandy and can be seen sitting in the first row behind President Trump during his speech. On his last trip Brad was able to find his fox hole in Normandy and brought home a rock as a souvenir. Brad is now one of two surviving members of Easy Company and it seems that Brad enjoys telling his story so that people never forget what it took to defeat the Nazi’s. We asked Brad about his thoughts on Band of Brothers. He said he liked it and it helped him to understand what was going on around him. “I just knew what I was in on”.
When he spoke, Mr. Brad talked quite matter-of-factly about what he had done and without any of the embellishments of a book or movie. Like so many other of his generation he risked it all to save the world from evil. When we finished our discussion, I said to Mr. Brad, “thank you for saving the world”. Mr. Brad’s response was, “I didn’t save the world. I just did what I was told”…..and there you have it!
Mr. Freeman grew up in rural Artesia, Mississippi which is in the northern third of the state close to the boarder of Alabama. According to the 1940 census, Artesia had a population of 520. In September of 1922 he was born into a farming family with 8 children and was the youngest of 4 boys. His father rented land and raised cotton, corn, hay and had a dairy. For a time, Brad played with a little girl named Willie Gurley. We’ll come back to her. Brad developed his work ethic early in life. At 11 years old his parents had him get a social security number and he got a job with his brother Earl measuring cotton. This was similar to surveying and gave Brad a good understanding of how to read maps. He and his brother Carry enjoyed reading about Russian and German paratroopers and thought they would like to do that one day. Once when a neighbor came to visit and left an umbrella to dry, Brad and Carry grabbed it and headed to the hayloft in the barn. Both boys decided to jump together while holding the umbrella. The umbrella inverted and they crashed onto the ground. “We ran into the woods and hid there until our mother called us to milk the cows.” No one said anything about the umbrella.
Brad attended Mississippi State College and studied agriculture. After Pearl Harbor he signed up for the Army when he turned 18. The Army let him finish his first semester and by April of 1943 Brad was in Hattiesburg, MS for induction. He then headed for Ft. McClellan for basic training. The Army issued him a uniform but had no size 6 boots for him. He had to complete basic training in his Sunday Shoes. Based on the prowess he developed jumping from the hayloft, Brad signed up to be a paratrooper and headed off to Ft. Benning in Georgia for airborne training. There he was initially assigned to the 541st PIR where he made 5 successful jumps, including a night jump, and earned his jump wings. On his third jump his legs got tangled up in his harness, but an instructor talked him through disentangling his leg and he landed safely, although he did swallow his chewing tobacco.
His PIR continued to train but they were not slated for overseas duty. Brad wanted to fight, and he was assigned to Major General Maxwell Taylor’s 101st Airborne which had already departed for England. In February of ’44 Mr. Brad was promoted to Corporal and boarded a ship to England. After a rough ocean voyage, he arrived in England and was picked up by Colonel Robert Sink’s lieutenant. When he arrived at camp Brad had is first encounter with Lieutenant Dick Winters. “We looked at each other like two bulldog’s that wanted to fight.” Winters stood up so Brad stood up thinking they might be having a fight. Winters told him to sit back down and the two ended up having a conversation that left Brad with a new appreciation for his new lieutenant. “We got to be good friends. We was raised alike”. The next morning Sergeant Guarnere took the new paratroopers to see Lieutenant Meehan who had recently replaced Captain Sobel. Brad was able to avoid the antics of Sobel which are highlighted in the mini-series. Brad was assigned to Sergeant Don Malarkey’s 4th squad where he was part of a mortar team. Brad developed a strong friendship with Malarkey and Guarnere. Brad was the only member of his company from Mississippi, and the guys liked his southern drawl. Despite joining the company late, he was readily accepted by the other guys. That was not the same for the replacements that came along later. “From my work surveying when I was young, I was able to help commanders read maps. They thought I was good.”
On the last day of May the 506th was moved to Upottery in southern England where they began to learn of the details of the D-Day invasion. Easy was to drop near St. Marie du Mont and eliminate a German garrison and capture Causeway 2 on Utah Beach. The troops readied for departure, but poor weather cancelled the invasion by a day to June 6th. I asked Brad how that affected him. “I didn’t mind. I hadn’t put on all my equipment on yet. On the evening of June 5th Easy boarded their C-47. Mr. Brad had the base plate for the mortar strapped to his chest. Malarky and the other guys were carrying the rounds for the mortar. Brad needed the help of British soldiers to get on the plane and through the door. “The equipment for the jump weighed as much as we did.”
The US planes took off as day light disappeared. “No one was saying nothing” during the flight. Brad remembers there being heavy flack en-route to the drop zone. When the red light came on the “stick” of 20 jumpers stood up and waited for the green light to jump. Because of the heavy flack the planes was traveling at 200 mph which is 100 mph more than the normal jump speed. “It wouldn’t hurt you. It just spread you out more when you landed.” I asked Brad if he was scared when he jumped. “No, it was alright. They trained us so we just did what they told us.”
Brad said his jump went fine and he landed in a cow pasture. It reminded him of home. He eventually found a group of paratrooers led by Lt. Winters. On the way to their assigned destination, they passed a line of German prisoners. Malarky stated talking to one of the prisoners and it turned out they knew each other from home in Oregon. Brad spent the rest of D-Day guarding the crossroads near Brecourt Manor farm. On D-Day +6 Brad and Easy helped capture Carentan. On June 28th Easy was relieved and head back to Utah beach for a trip back to England. As they prepared to board the LTS, Malarky asked Brad and Pvt Alton to help load a motorcycle into the ship. You may remember a scene in the mini-series with the men joy riding around England on that motorcycle.
Easy spent time training until they were called to jump into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden. On September 17th they loaded into the C-47’s for a daylight jump. The 101st was assigned to capture the Dutch cities of Eindhoven, Son, Veghel and Grave. They were to protect a series of bridges along a single road that the British forces would use attack the Germans. The jump was successful, and they proceeded to the first town of Son. They took the town unopposed and were greeted by the local citizenry who was ecstatic to be liberated. “They would give us anything” Brad remembers. He watched as a small boy walked up to Liebgott and wanted to see the bazooka strapped to his back. The boy was able to get his finger on the trigger before Joe Liebgott could see him and he fired a round down the middle of the street. Fortunately, it didn’t explode. They also witnessed the locals rounding up the “collaborators” and bringing them to the town square for retribution. I asked Brad what they were thinking when they saw that happening. “We just laughed. We just focused on what we was told to do.”
Easy Company spent the next two months engaging with the Germans trying to defend the single road leading into Arnhem. The Germans would cut the road and then then Easy would have to open it up. “We’d open the road and then the Germans would recapture it and we would have to go back and do it again.” This became known as “Hell’s Highway”. On September 20th Easy was involved in a battle outside of Nuenen. “There was a tank battle between the British and the Germans.” There was a German tank concealed behind a building and Sgt. Martin tried to warn the British tank driver but he wouldn’t fire on the German tank because he couldn’t see it. The German tank emerged and destroyed the British tank. “It was bad there. Burning bodies; it made you sick. I was just glad to get through it.”
Eventually Arnhem fell to the Germans trapping 125 British paratroopers, a few members of the Dutch Resistance and a few US Pilots. Operation Pegasus was to be a rescue mission conducted at night. The men were told it could be a suicide mission. Brad was part of a group of men chosen to cross the river at night. Freeman told the Easy Company’s commander that he couldn’t swim. “I told him I was from Mississippi and the only water was a watering hole where the cows drank and relieved themselves and it wasn’t a good place to swim.” “I told him I could dog-paddle and told me to teach the other men.” The men crossed the river, picked up the stranded allies and returned to the other side of the river amidst heavy enemy fire. After that mission Easy was pulled back for some rest. But not for long.
Two weeks later in mid December Easy was put on alert as the Battle of the Bulge began. The Germans attacked the American lines in the Ardennes. The 101st was rushed to Bastogne just before the Germans surrounded the town. The men traveled by truck and they arrived in cold, snowy and icy conditions. “We didn’t have much ammo.”
Bastogne was important to the Germans because it had multiple roads running in and out and was vital for communications and supplies. As the 101st began marching in they passed a column of American soldiers coming out of Bastogne that looked haggard, tired and in shock. It upset Brad because “that wasn’t our style. You were going in because you were going to live or die.” Lt Dyke had been promoted and assumed command of Easy at Bastogne. He was not portrayed in a flattering light in mini-series. Brad remembers, “He wasn’t a bad guy. They got him out of there because he didn’t know what he was doing.”
The Americans were under constant shelling and were running low on food, medical supplies and most importantly ammo. The Germans had the town surrounded making resupply by truck impossible and poor weather conditions and terrible visibility kept the Allies from resupplying by air. At one point the German commander sent a letter to General Anthony McAuliffe offering humane treatment to the US soldiers if they surrendered. McAuliffe’s one word answer was “NUTS”. “I thought it was mighty good. He let us know we weren’t giving up.” Eventually the weather cleared, and the troops were resupplied by air and then Patton’s 4th Division broke through and the Germans retreated ending one of the most historic stands by US forces.
The 101st moved on to Foy and then Noville where Mr. Brad and Pvt. Ed joint were ordered to help clear the town of snipers but two German rockets known as Screaming Meemies landed near Freeman and Joint and both were hit with shrapnel. “It wasn’t too bad.” Brad was hit in the leg and Ed in the arm. Doc Roe came over and began working on Brad and started to cut off his pants but “the other guy was screamin’ so I told him I’m from the south. Don’t cut of my britches. Help him first.” From there Brad was brought by jeep back to Bastogne and then was shipped to England where he spent the next three months recovering.
Brad rejoined Easy Company in early April and met up with them at Hitler’s personal retreat in Berchtesgaden. “The Eagles Nest was at the end of the lake and it was pretty nice.” On VE Day when the treaty was signed Brad was guarding a bridge very close to the signing. “I was just glad it was over.”
Brad had earned 126 points but others in the 101st had accumulated more and started to depart for the states. Mr. Brad remained and continued to train in preparation to deploy to Japan. When the Japanese surrendered Brad was happy to be headed home. He headed for Marseilles to sail to the US. Brad’s ship arrived in Boston and didn’t bother to call his parents because, “I didn’t know they had a phone.” He boarded a train to Camp Shelby in Mississippi and his brother Earl was there to pick him up. On the way they stop at Earl’s house to call his parents. Earl had a telephone. On December 2, 1945 Brad arrived at his house. He couldn’t hug his mother because a day earlier his brother Carry arrived home and he had hugged his mother so hard he cracked her ribs.
On his second day home he went to see Willie Gurley, his childhood friend. They started dating and were married on June 29, 1947. The couple had two daughters and were married 61 years before Willie passed away.
Brad started looking for employment and wanted a job with the post office, “but they told me nobody could work there until they were 30 years old”. At 21 years of age he could parachute into a barrage of flack, land in a country he had never been in filled with enemy soldiers ready to kill him, he could survive a Nazi siege of Bastogne, and he could survive a shrapnel wound but he needed to be 30 years old to drive a mail truck. Brad held a series of jobs including driving a truck at a gravel pit. He blew up the engine on his first day.
Brad’s brothers did not stay in Mississippi. He had a chance to take a job out west, but his dad didn’t want him to go. So, his dad gave him thirty acres and his grandmother gave him some money and Brad stayed in Mississippi. 30 days after his 30th birthday he got his job with the Post Office and he retired 32 years later “with a clean driving record”. During that time, he acquired a little more land and did some farming.
I asked Mr. Brad about Lt. Speirs who ultimately replaced Lt. Dyke and was portrayed as quite courageous in the mini-series. “He was a good leader”. It is also suggested the Speirs shot unarmed German POWs in the early hours of D-Day and I asked Brad about that. “I don’t know if he shot them. I heard about it but I wasn’t there.”
I asked his daughter Beverly if she knew about her father’s service in WW2. She said he never talked about and that she and her sister played with her father’s medals when they were younger. They didn’t learn of their father’s involvement in WW2 until he was involved in helping with the book and the mini-series. Brad did talk about his time in the war with his brother, who all served.
Brad kept in touch with the guys from Easy and in particular with his commanding officer and lifelong friend Dick Winters. Brad wrote the Forward to Dick Winters’ book, Hang Tough. There were annual reunions and Brad attended those at the closer locations when he could get the weekend off. Brad gained notoriety when the book and the mini-series came out. He has been interviewed by the National World War II Museum, met with Prince Charles, returned to Normandy with the Honor Flights, attended the 75th anniversary ceremonies of D-Day in Normandy and can be seen sitting in the first row behind President Trump during his speech. On his last trip Brad was able to find his fox hole in Normandy and brought home a rock as a souvenir. Brad is now one of two surviving members of Easy Company and it seems that Brad enjoys telling his story so that people never forget what it took to defeat the Nazi’s. We asked Brad about his thoughts on Band of Brothers. He said he liked it and it helped him to understand what was going on around him. “I just knew what I was in on”.
When he spoke, Mr. Brad talked quite matter-of-factly about what he had done and without any of the embellishments of a book or movie. Like so many other of his generation he risked it all to save the world from evil. When we finished our discussion, I said to Mr. Brad, “thank you for saving the world”. Mr. Brad’s response was, “I didn’t save the world. I just did what I was told”…..and there you have it!