Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Medal of Honor for Richard Winters - Band of Brothers
Support our Veterans ^

Posted on 03/06/2006 7:08:13 PM PST by thorshammer

I just read about this petition to get Major Winters a Medal of Honor, for his action on 6 June 1944 at Brecourt Manor, to disable a battery of German 105mm guns, that were shelling Utah beach. The award was passed by Congress in 2002(HR2790) To award the MOH. It has been stalled by an under secretary of Defence, and has not been sent to Rumsfeld's desk.

Major Winters is 87 years old and in ill health with Parkinson's Disease, and a weak heart.


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: 101stairborne; americanhero; bandofbothers; bandofbrothers; dday; dickwinters; pennsylvania; richardwinters; wwii
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-34 last
To: Taliesan

"If that man ever walked into a restaurant where I was eating, I'd stand till he was seated."

I agree with you. The man still feels remorse that he wasn't able to bring everyone one of his guys home. The man is a true hero, and of course doesn't recognize it.


21 posted on 03/06/2006 8:08:55 PM PST by kenth (Phil! Phil Connors! I thought that was you!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: puppypusher
Lt/Maj Winters WAS awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (our nation's second highest honor) for his role in leading the assault.

I'm sure Dick Winters believes the DSC was appropriate at the time and having it upgraded to MoH now is just misplaced sentimentality.

22 posted on 03/06/2006 8:09:51 PM PST by Procyon (the lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: thorshammer
Absolutely one of the greatest small unit combat leaders of all time...

Maj Winters should be the model for all combat leaders...

imo

23 posted on 03/06/2006 8:25:29 PM PST by joesnuffy (A camel once bit our sister..but we knew just what to do...we gathered rocks and squashed her!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thorshammer

bump


24 posted on 03/06/2006 8:34:22 PM PST by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thorshammer

Done and hope they act soon.

mc


25 posted on 03/06/2006 8:44:30 PM PST by mcshot (Rusty but trusty or vice versa.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Procyon
I'm sure Dick Winters believes the DSC was appropriate at the time and having it upgraded to MoH now is just misplaced sentimentality.

Agreed.

26 posted on 03/06/2006 8:47:40 PM PST by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Procyon

I'm sure Dick Winters believes the DSC was appropriate at the time and having it upgraded to MoH now is just misplaced sentimentality.



I agree. There is no greater admirer of Winters than I, but I don't think we should belatedly give the MOH to those who Hollywood decides to honor.

Winters himself would believe that it was because of the publishing/movie angle, and a tainted MOH. Do we really want to turn the MOH into a Pulitzer prize?

In fact, he is more famed, loved, and admired for what he did than are 99% of MOH winners. That is ample and justified honor. After all, the MOH (and any medal or ribbon) is a surrogate for such honor, which Winters has in undiluted direct form.


27 posted on 03/06/2006 8:54:11 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Bringbackthedraft

Its a great gesture but for some unknown reason, I don't believe Winters would go along with the award. I'm sure he would be flattered with the idea but would he want it? He doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would seek it or accept it at this time, or any other.

I've noticed that most MOH recipients don't feel as if what they did to earn that medal was exceedingly heroic. Humility seems to be a character trait amongst this group.

28 posted on 03/06/2006 9:43:23 PM PST by frankiep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: thorshammer

Sorry but medals for valor should not be awarded on the basis of publicity campaigns and congressional pressure.


29 posted on 03/06/2006 9:54:58 PM PST by tlb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Proud_USA_Republican

I hope so to! Maybe they should create something to honor the whole unit. But more than a unit citation.


30 posted on 03/06/2006 11:22:23 PM PST by Always Independent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Procyon
While doing some research on Dick Winters a little while ago, I found an interesting letter concerning the debate over his possible Medal of Honor.

November 28, 2001

Honorable Rick Santorum
U.S. Senate
120 Russell Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3802

Dear Senator Santorum:

I am a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 30 years commissioned service. Prior to my retirement last June, I served as the chief of Military History, U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The purpose of this letter is to solicit your support in correcting a 57-year injustice to one of your constituents, Major Dick Winters of Hershey, Pennsylvania. You may recall major Winters from Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers and the recent HBO mini-series of the same name. During World War II, Winters commander Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division. As with most members of "The Greatest Generation," Winters served honorably and dedicated his life to defending our way of life. Thought he earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on D-Day, I respectfully request your support in up-grading his Distinguished Service Cross to the Medal of Honor, our nation's highest award for valor.

A brief recapitulation of Winters' heroism under fire is in order. Landing at Ste. Merc-Eglise on D-Day, 1st Lieutenant Winters assembled his company (the company commander had been killed in the airborne drop) and joined his battalion in the village of Le Grande-Chemin just three kilometers from Ste. Maric-du-Mont, just to the rear of Utah Beach. There Winters, now acting company commander, received orders to destroy a four-gun German battery near a French farmhouse named Brecourt Manor, which was wrecking havoc on the 4th Infantry Division landing at Utah. With only 12 men, Winters set out to destroy the battery and its 50-man platoon infantry. Carefully reconnecting the enemy position under fire, Winters directed several soldiers to lay down covering fire, while he led the charge straight down the hedgerow leading to the first gun. When one of his men's weapon jammed, Winters yelled, "Follow me!" and assaulted the first gun. Repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire and firing his M-1, he destroyed the first gun. In the process, Winters killed two Germans as the remainder of the crew fled. Now in the connecting trench, Winters crawled forward and looked in the direction of the second gun. Seeing two enemy soldiers setting up a machine gun, he fired and shot them both. Now it was time to assault the second gun. Leaving three men to hold the first gun, Winters led the other five in a wild charge down the trench, throwing grenades ahead of them, firing their rifles. As he approached the gun, the crew fled and was cut down. Next Winters charged the third gun and captured it. Finally reinforcements arrived from a sister company and they took the last gun. Now under intense direct fire, Winters ordered a withdrawal after destroying all the guns with TNT. As was his custom, Winters was last to leave.

With only two men, what amounted to a squad. Winters had destroyed a German battery that was looking straight down causeway No. 2 and onto Utah Beach. Winters' casualties were four dead, two wounded. He and his men had killed fifteen Germans, wounded many more, and taken twelve prisoners; in short, they had wiped out the fifty-man platoon of elite German paratroops defending the guns and scattered the gun crews. As Ambrose summarizes in Band of Brothers (p.84), Winters had done everything right, from scouting the position, to laying down a base of covering fire, to putting his best men on the challenging missions, to leading the charge personally at exactly the right moment. It was in personally leading the attack, repeatedly exposing himself to direct enemy fire, and for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty outside Brecourt Manor on D-Day that Winters merits favorable reconsideration for the President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, to award in the name of The Congress the Medal of Honor to first Lieutenant Dick Winters, United States Army.

Colonel Robert Sink, the 506th regimental commander, initially recommended Winters receive the Medal of Honor, but his recommendation was down-graded to the DSC, which General Omar Bradley presented to Winters. Having studied this engagement for several years and in reviewing the combat record of the company, I believe Winters action at Brecourt deserves reconsideration for three reasons. First, Major General Maxwell Taylor, the commander of the 101st Airborne division, placed an artificial limit of a single MOH for the Normandy campaign. In the 101st that went to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole for leading a bayonet charge. Thought Winters displayed conspicuous gallantry under fire at the risk of his own life, Taylor's decision ensured Winters and other deserving soldiers would not be properly recognized. Second, European Theater historian S.L.A Marshall misreported the action at Brecourt in his book Night Drop: The American Airborne Invasion in Normandy (p. 281). Marshall erroneously reported that Winters "hiked to Utah Beach, borrowed four Sherman (tanks) from the 4th Infantry Division, and sicked them on the enemy guns. When the armor wiped out the battery, the (Winters' 2nd) battalion arose and went." Marshall simply got in wrong. When he conducted his interviews in July 1944, he relied on hastily written operational reports that would have better explained Winters' attack on the battery. The guns were indeed destroyed, not by armor, but by a direct infantry attack personally led by Lieutenant Winters. Last, but not least, Winters'' own after-action report of the attack compiled on June 9, 1944, down-played his personal role in the engagement. Crediting a number of soldiers, who certainly critical in the unit's success, Winters refused to mention his own name, confining his summary to "Mission completed, we rejoined our battalion, which had departed after the four 88's were destroyed."

Senator Santorum, please support this request for reconsideration for the MOH while Dick Winters is still with us. His intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on June 6, 1944, his Fighting spirit and his daring leadership under fire inspired his men and exemplify the highest traditions of military service. I will gladly assist the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Army in any additional research and assistance that hey may require in support of this request. Now is the time to honor this gallant officer whose selfless service to the United States and to the men of Easy Company, 506th PIR inspire us all. On a final note, I assure you that I am making this request on my own accord, with no knowledge of Winters, because I firmly believe that his intrepid leadership under fire the merits the thanks of a grateful nation.

Very respectfully

signed: Cole C. Kingseed

Cole C. Kingseed

Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.)

31 posted on 02/22/2008 11:27:08 PM PST by Stonewall Jackson (Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory. - George Patton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: thorshammer

Major Winters is 90. He was born on January 21, 1918. He has the same birthday as my mom. This action to get his medal upgraded to the MOH has been going on for years now. Many of us petitioned for it several years ago. I have corresponded with Major Winters since the BOB movie came out. He sent me some very nice articles and I had a special BOB baseball style cap made and sent one to him and one to Wild Bill.


32 posted on 02/22/2008 11:33:55 PM PST by RetiredArmy (Obama: NOT the next JFK. He is the NEXT STALIN!!!! Wake up America!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Procyon
I'm sure Dick Winters believes the DSC was appropriate at the time and having it upgraded to MoH now is just misplaced sentimentality.

The reason that Major Winters only got the DSC was because the commanding general of the 10lst Airborne Division made a decision that ONLY ONE MOH would be given out for D-Day actions. It was presented to a LT Col Cole for actions on D-Day. Cole later died in combat. If not for this decision to only award one MOH, Major Winters probably would have had it years ago.

33 posted on 02/22/2008 11:36:42 PM PST by RetiredArmy (Obama: NOT the next JFK. He is the NEXT STALIN!!!! Wake up America!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: thorshammer
Dick Winters is already an American Hero to the Americans that count (minus the Dems) whether the Sec Def or DOD gets it or not!
34 posted on 02/22/2008 11:41:56 PM PST by Bender2 ("I've got a twisted sense of humor, and everything amuses me." RAH Beyond this Horizon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-34 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson