To Stephen E. Ambrose, the men of the Easy Company were the best men he had ever met. Easy Company is officially known as the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army. The men of this infantry served during World War II. They had different jobs and came from different areas, classes, and backgrounds (Ambrose 15). However, these differences did not deter this infantry of men from becoming a family. Through all the battles and causalities, the infantry experienced, these men persevered due to bravery, comradery, and most importantly, the will to live. Easy Company was first formed at Camp Toccoa in Georgia. It was the job of Colonel Sink to put the men through basic training, toughen them up, and teach
During D-Day, General Eisenhower gave Easy Company the mission of capturing causeway exits. Causeways are coastlines, roads, railways used as military defenses. The goal of this was to throw Germany into disarray. Easy Company planned to do a night drop, surprise the Germans by destroying the big guns, and gain control of the causeway exits so the Germans could not escape warfare. They knew this mission would be tricky, so they practiced on a similar coastline (Ambrose 58). “Easy Company had not put one man into combat yet, and it had already lost platoon leader Schmitz, company commander Meehan, and its first sergeant” (Ambrose 69). The men of the Easy Company jumped out planes and were instantly thrown into combat, a foreign experience to them. Men lost their leg packs, some lost all of their equipment, and many of them hit the ground hard (Ambrose 71). Easy Company planned a quick frontal attack with the support of machine guns for cover fire. The attack was a success and made Germany realize that they had underestimated the Americans, who took out an entire platoon of German paratroopers. (Ambrose 84). Ambrose was right in his statement that, “Normandy was a soldier’s battle. It belonged to the riflemen, machine gunners, mortarmen, tankers, and artillerymen who were on the front lines”
48 soldiers of the Easy Company gave their lives for their country and more than 100 soldiers were severely wounded multiple times. Most of the men suffered from severe stress as well. They spent the best years of their life fighting for their country. They were trained to kill and accustomed to a world of violence. Most of them had no college education and thought they lacked skills needed to survive in the real world since all they had was combat experience. Once the soldiers returned home, they were able to attend college, get married, and have kids. They intended to build prosperous lives for themselves. There were also a number of soldiers from the Easy Company who decided to stay in the Army and continue fighting for their country. For instance, Lieutenant S. H. Matheson, an original company officer was moved up to regimental staff and eventually became a two-star general and commander. He had the honor working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (Ambrose 292 and