Look. I just want to take a minute to talk about the relationship between Johnny Martin and Bill Guarnere, mostly in light of the following: 1. Johnny was notoriously a loner bordering on a misanthrope. Within a month of meeting Bill, he had a) tagged him with the Gonorrhoea nickname, b) made Bill best man at his wedding. (1a. After said wedding Johnny’s wife and Bill’s fiancée wrote each other regular letters and seemed to have bonded for life.) 2. They seemed to spend the vast majority of their free time together, including the notorious trip to Scotland where they got drunk and ended up with matching tattoos. 3. When Bill lost his leg, Johnny completely friggening lost his shit and started crying uncontrollably in the middle of the CP. The hardass misanthrope? Cried in front of SPEIRS. Just saying. 4. When Bill and Frannie got married, they drove out to Johnny and Pat’s and spent their honeymoon hanging out there. (4a. In fact, both Bill and Johnny seemed to make the eight-hour drive between Philly and Columbus, OH, regularly so that they could hang out.) That is all, thank you for reading my Bill and Johnny friendship facts.

this is a bob blog but . well .

some piercintyre moments from season one

No, after after.

Band of Brothers - 1x10 “Points”

lipton be like

“June 3, I was resting in the barracks, and Johnny’s bunk was above mine, and I had to go to the latrine. I grabbed a jump jacket, thinking it was mine, but I picked up Johnny’s by mistake. I sat down and while I’m there, I’m going through my pokets, and I felt a letter. It was from Johnny’s wife, Pat. It said, ‘Don’t tell Bill Guarnere, but his brother Henry was killed in Cassino.’ It felt like the floor fell out from under me… I left that bathroom enraged, but I went out of there like a man.”

—

Bill Guarnere, Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends

because apparently a lot of people didn’t know how bill actually found out about his brother? curahee liveblog, this is for you!

(via renelemaires)

Reblog to have your blog signed by Skip Muck

Joseph “Joe” David Liebgott

The Real Joseph Liebgott:

Joseph David Liebgott was born in Lansing, Michigan in May 17, 1915 to Joseph (Josef) Liebgott Sr and Mary. Joseph Liebgott Sr was of German descent, but he was born in Beresztocz, Hungary. Joe’s mother was Yugoslavian, but was reported as born in either Yugoslavia or Hungary I am not sure which one because records show both. On his father’s side his grandparents were Yugoslavian as well. On his mother’s sider, they seem to be from Hungary. His mother immigrated in 1909, Lieb’s father immigrated in 1912.

Below is a picture believed to be his parents. 

 He was the oldest of his siblings. He has four sisters: Mary, Elizabeth, Anna, and Barbara, and one brother, Stephen/Steffen . Both of his parents spoke German, which would later help him during the war. His father worked in the auto industry before they moved. 

His family soon moved to California around 1927 and his dad became a barber. He was the oldest of his siblings, one brother and four sisters. He was extremely protective of his younger sisters

Liebgott and his siblings attended Catholic schools. This is where learned how to box and played soccer.

After high school, Liebgott drove a taxi around San Francisco. This career was temporary and he soon attended barber college.

He was also previously married before the war. He was married in July 31, 1933  to  a woman named Frances. They had one child, David Albert together on February 27, 1934. But the couple soon divorced within a year, and he was living with his family again by 1940, where he was working on a forestry project. Meanwhile his ex-wife and son moved into her family. Here is Joe and Frances:

He eventually became a barber and this was his career when he enlisted at the age of 26. Liebgott chose the paratroopers to be able to make more money to be able to put a down payment on his parents’ house. 

Included is a photo of Joe and his mother

He has a Jewish service card, registered under his mother’s name. But his family denied he was Jewish, stating he was a German Roman Catholic. I’ll attach it below (filtered for safety). 

In his draft card he is listed as 5 feet and 5 inches tall and was 109 pounds. He had blue-grey eyes and brown hair.

Malarkey remembers meeting Liebgott on his way to Toccoa where they became part of the original Toccoa men. Liebgott was trained under the harsh command of Herbert Sobel.

Liebgott didn’t talk much about the war, so there will be little but other’s words to put here. This is a photo from 1945 in France.

Right before the jump out of the airplane, he put his barber skills to use and gave a few of the men Mohawks. 

He would jump out of the airplanes with the rest of the men on June 6, 1944. He received the bronze star for his bravery at Brecourt Manor, where he worked with Winters and several other men, Compton, Guarenere, Wynn, Lipton, Toye, Malarkey, and Ranney to destroy a German Battery firing on Utah Beach on the day of the D-Day Invasion.

He cut off the finger of a German that he had bayoneted and took the man’s ring near Carentan. At Carentan, Ed Tipper was seriously wounded after clearing out a house with Liebgott. Liebgott grabbed Tipper, yelled for a medic, and told Tipper that he’d be okay. Welsh and Lieb dragged Tipper into the street until Welsh could get him back to the aid station.

After Brecourt, Compton recalls a painful memory with Liebgott in his book, Call of Duty, Compton and Liebgott were patrolling along hedges at dusk. Across the way, in another set of hedges were two men. Both were dressed in German ponchos, one was holding a German gun. Assuming that these men were in fact German, he and Liebgott shot the men. Come to find out, when they checked their dog tags, they were not Germans. They were Americans. They had just killed fellow soldiers in friendly fire.

October 5, 1944. Winters sent a few Youmen out on patrol to take an outpost near a windmill. Liebgott and a few other men (James Alley among them) went with Sgt. Youmen. They sent one man ahead, to look out over the dike. The man spotted German machine guns. German voices approached the remaining boys. Lieb called out for the Youman, as we was trailing behind, only to have grenades thrown at him and the other men. Liebgott got minor wounds while James Alley received 32 shrapnel wounds in his left side, stretching from his face down. They’d run into a company of SS.

Liebgott was known for being rough with prisoners, the fighting that followed the injuries wit the SS company was a prime example of this. After Winters led his patrol to attack these Germans, in which during the fighting they lost William Dukeman, 7 Germans surrendered. The most famous story of Liebgott is as follows, in Dick Winter’s words.

As Winters explains in his book, “Tech/5 Joseph D. Liebgott had been slightly wounded in the arm, but he was ambulatory so I assigned him the mission of escorting seven German prisoners to the rear. Liebgott had earned the reputation of being one of Easy’s best combat soldiers, but we had all heard stories that he was very rough on prisoners. Liebgott was one of Easy Company’s “killers,” so I deemed  it appropriate to take a bit of caution. When he heard me say, “Take the prisoners back to the battalion command post,” he replied. “Oh, boy! I’ll take care of them.” In his exuberance, Liebgott stood up and paced back and forth and he was obviously very nervous and concerned. I stopped him in his tracks. “There are seven prisoners and I want seven prisoners turned over to battalion.” Liebgott was highly incensed and started to throw a tantrum.Somewhat unsure of how he would react, I then dropped my M-1 to my hip, threw off my safety, and said, Liebgott, drop all your ammunition and empty your rifle.” There was much grumbling and swearing, but he did as I had ordered. “Now,” I said, “you can put one round in your rifle. If you drop a prisoner, the rest will jump you.””

Liebgott got all 7 prisoners back.  

Joe would recover in a hospital in England with Webster, but he was back before Bastogne. Here is the record for that: 

Name:Joseph D Liebgott Race:White, includes Mexican (White) Rank:Enlisted Man Admission Age:29 Birth Date:abt 1915 Admission Date:Oct 1944 Discharge Date:Nov 1944 Military Branch:Infantry, Parachute Troops or Units Diagnosis:FirstLocation: Ulna, generally; CausativeAgent: Artillery Shell, Fragments, Afoot or unspecified Type of Injury:Casualty, battle Injured in Line of Duty:In line of duty Type of Discharge:Duty Length of service:2 Year(s), 6 Month(s)

In Bastogne, Winters made him a runner to get away from the tension and constant stress of fighting.  One story of his service was outside of Foy is the battle of Noville, he and Earl Hale ducked into a barn and took 6 SS officers prisoner. Outside the barn, a shell exploded. One of the SS officers took this as an opportunity and jumped Hale. He slit Hale’s throat. Liebgott instantly shot and killed the officer. He then killed the others. Hale survived miracuously. 

At some point, before the end of the war, Liebgott became first platoon’s interpreter-radioman. This was because he could speak some German. But Webster claimed in his book that the German’s didn’t understand his Yiddish. 

He was with Webster when they took Hitler’s Nest. They spent their time drinking Hitler’s alcohol together with a few other men. He was living with Headquarters Company while there.  

Of course, the war came to an end and everyone who wanted to was discharged.

Over the course of the war, Lieb was injured 3 times and won 3 purple hearts. He refused one because the wound was “just a scratch”. He would receive partial disability for his wounds.

When he returned home, he disappeared for two years. Eventually he was found living in  Yuma, California. He didn’t come to reunions, even when offered multiple times. His father simply told the vets “not to mess with him”. 

After the war, Liebgott was a barber for a short time. He married again to a woman named Peggy in 1949. They had eight kids together. Making Lieb’s total children come to nine, although he was mostly involved with the last eight. They lived on a barber’s salary, not leaving much room for fun activities but everyone had their basic needs met. He often  only had one day a week off and would take his kids to a Long Beach pike, where they would visit an amusement park. 

Liebgott liked to bet on the ponies at the racetrack. Every other sunday, him and his boss would take the boss’ airplane down to Mexico.

He is believed to have never contacted anyone from his days in Easy Company. He just wanted to get away from the war. 

The Liebgotts divorced in  April of 1969. She remarried, but he never did. He was described as really quiet by his granddaughter. 

She states, in Marcus Brotherton’s book Company of Heroes (pages 120-121) “His hands looked like a man who worked with his hands, sunspots all over. He absolutely loved his grandkids. he had false teeth that he flipped out of his mouth and smiled, threatening to kiss us with his gums. He was a tickler. He never held babies over his shoulder…because he wanted them to see everything….He didn’t have a lot of money - I’m pretty sure all he had was his veteran’s benefits…He made all of the bikes for the grandkids by scouring thrift stores for dilapidated bikes. He stripped the bikes down to their frame, fixed and assembled them as good as new. He let each grandchild pick the color of new paint for his or her bike….I always knew the specific foods we were going to eat at his house. He had bite-sized candy bars and store brand soda-pop. There was no drinking water in his house. He always lived in rental houses…” 

He was very neat, and keep his house and appearance orderly. However, he was always working in the garage, so the house had black smudges from the dirt on his hands. 

However, Liebgott was not perfect. While he hated the Nazis, he was also seen as a bigot, maybe even harsher. Rhonda explained that he threw the n word around like it wasn’t a big deal. He blamed the wrong goings of the world on different ethnic groups. Rhonda started seeing a guy from El Salvador, he asked if her partner “even spoke English?”

As he grew older, Lieb got sicker. He eventually lost the use of one of his legs from a hernia. He was confined to a chair and hated any new technology. He was stuck in a wheelchair, angry when he would hit a cabinet. 

Lieb did not talk about his military career until towards his end. He would spend time with his son Jim, watching tv talking about the war during a war movie.  He would talk about the war when he was mad, possibly angry at himself for doing a lot of killing and other things that people his age shouldn’t have to do.

In 1992, Liebgott developed a tumor in his neck, near his windpipe that would cause a lot of pain. Jim took him to the hospital on Father’s Day. Shortly later, on June 28, 1992 Liebgott died. He was against a funeral and just wanted to be cremated, so his family did as he wished. They still have his ashes and letters and the Toccoa book. 

Easy Company after taking the Eagle’s Nest

“The news every GI in Europe was hoping for arrived on May 7. Winters received a dispatch from Col. Sink.

“Effective immediately. All troops will stand fast on present positions. German Army Group G in this sector has surrendered. No firing on Germans unless fired upon. Notify French units in vicinity. Full details to be broadcast, will be issued by SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces).”

Winters took the memo to the Eagle’s Nest where he read it to his officers who had gathered there to enjoy the magnificent view from Hitler’s patio. The men listened, then, after allowing a few moments for the news to truly sink in, broke out in grins and handshakes. They next cracked open some of Goering’s wine, posed for Krochka’s camera, and partied on the same spot where Hitler had entertained before them. The war was over. They had made it.”

okay but im thinking ! i find this specific scene significant for two reasons (1) this is the first scene that blatantly establishes babe as “not innocent” ; he’s not a child (realistically, babe was probably around 22 at this time - the same age as guarnere), which ive noticed that the fanbase discredits a lot (there are ! so many posts ! infantilizing him) (2) it is one of many instances in which there is an emphasis placed on the notion that Men Are Dying Too Young, which i think might be the most frequent / prominent motif in the show, combined with foreshadowing of julian’s death. the first occurrence of this theme - if im remembering correctly - is in e2 day of days after the “oh, and by the way, im not a quaker” interaction between guarnere & winters. here, winters talks to nix about hall dying, and he says, “he was a good man ... ‘man’ - not even old enough to buy a beer,” which is even more poignant due to the fact that it immediately followed a scene in which winters drinks for the first time despite his aversion to alcohol (he winces & his face sours after the sip) - “it’s been a day of firsts ... don’t you think, guarnere ?” this isnt an isolated incident, though, for this theme persists in further episodes as well. chronologically, the next notable example that i can remember is julian’s arc in s6 bastogne. john julian is introduced as the replacement in babe’s foxhole, and babe’s conversation with spina - calling julian "a goddamn virgin - just a kid !" - is intended to establish an air of julian’s naivety and youth. regardless, julian dies, and it really gnaws at babe, which instigates a separate demonstration of babe’s age / life experience with the foxhole scene wherein roe gives babe the chocolate but with a slightly different tone ; it feels more “im not as young as i used to be” than it does representing him as a grown-up the last instance of this that im going to highlight for the sake of this post might also be my favorite because i totally missed its significance my first time watching & was left with more of a “why did they do this” than a talking point in a blog post about analyzing emotional propaganda - janovec ! janovec's sex scene in e9 why we fight marks the only one in band of brothers, and watching it the first time Infuriated me because i thought it was out of place and didnt understand why the producers thought it important to include at all. However, it’s important to consider this scene in the full scope of janovec’s showtime and specifically the fact that he dies of a motorcycle accident a little later in the very same episode. in a sense, janovec is lucky because he didnt die a virgin, but He Still Died, and him dying after hitler’s death shifts the motivation from “he died valiantly” to “he died for nothing” with the only consistent / linking sentiment being “he should still be here” ; julian’s death was a tragedy due to him being a virgin (a symbol of his youthfulness), whereas janovec’s death was a tragedy because it was wholly unnecessary. anyways ! there are my thoughts <3 just some light posting for tonight (my apologies for this post not being the most comprehensive ; this is all stream of consciousness about some band of brothers moments that are constantly rattling around in my noggin)

also thanks to @ghostlightwisp & @liebgottish for critiquing & proofreading ... real ones ... *this can be a wholly separate post on babe’s dialogue and the separate motif of him swearing in (vaguely) religious contexts (as in both “a goddamned virgin” “the only virgin i know is the mother mary” and “only the goddamned nuns call me edward”), but oh jeez ! that’s a conversation for another day

The only virgin I know is the Virgin Mary.

YOU ARE OFFICERS, YOU ARE GROWN-UPS, YOU OUGHTA KNOW

a bit late, but happy birthday to the quintessential gemini of easy

three miles up, three miles down

↪ band of brothers 1.01

Alex Penkala Jr.

The Real Alex Penkala 

Alex’s parents, Mary and Alex Sr., immigrated from Poland to America in 1907. They were married the next year in Indiana. They moved to Taylor Spring, Illinois in 1910 and in 1918, moved back. They mostly spoke Polish. 

They had their son Alex M. Penkala Jr on August 30, 1924. He was the tenth of thirteen. He was given the nickname Junior, and it is still used today. Only a few of his siblings survived to hear about the show. 

Alex’s mother died during childbirth in 1928. The thirteenth child, a son, was given to relatives and lived under a different name. 

Alex’s family was catholic. They were considered devoutly Catholic, it is probably why he got along with Muck.

In 1920s they lived near Notre Dame University, where both Alex and his father worked. It was a family job center practically. Most of Alex’s siblings worked in various jobs around the university. With all of them working, the family managed to get by better than most people. 

Alex and his siblings spoke both Polish and English. Alex Sr. did not pick up on English and till his death, never could quite speak it. They spoke Polish first and then learned English from school and other events. 

Alex was described by others as an active, muscular kid. He did not talk much, and stood about five feet seven inches. He loved baseball and football. Alex and his friends snuck out to a barn near Notre Dame often and play around in the hay. 

Alex attended a Catholic High School, South Bend Catholic High School, and he enlisted with only one year under his belt. This was common for students to attended one year and drop out to help out around the house to keep money flowing. Alex had a girlfriend, Sylvia, during this time.  It is not for sure, but Alex could’ve been an 18-year old sophomore in high school when he enlisted. 

Alex enlisted on February 27, 1943. His occupations read “motorcycle mechanic or packer high explosives, munitions worker, or tool room keeper, or stock control clerk, or stock clerk.” 

Alex was shipped off to basic training and eventually cook school. No one knew quite why he was picked to be a cook, it’s believed that’s just where the Army put him. Two friends during cook school told him about the paratroopers and they all tried out together, only Alex made it. Alex did not train at Toccoa with the others. His paratrooper training took place else where. 

Alex was one of the first replacements for Easy. His first photo with them is at Fort Bragg, but little is known where he took his training. Only one photo survives of Alex and Skip, one they took at Camp McCal

Alex wrote to his family often. His letters were short and breezy. Most contained the general “I am doing well, how is family, send candy (Alex really wanted candy), I’ll write soon, I got your letter.” For example, 

“Dear Sis, 

I received your letter and was I glad to hear from you. As you probably know by now, I am going to cook’s school for eight weeks, as I am going to make the best of it.

No, I don’t need anything and I don’t want anything for Easter. Thanks anyways. I am not coming home for Easter because no one gets to go home during this time in school. 

You should see the WACs (Women’s Army Corps) here at camp! There are about 150 of them. You should know that Sylvia really doesn’t know how much I love or should I say like her. I don’t even go no place because I keep thinking of her so much.

Well, I am out of time so I’ll have to say goodbye until I write again.

Your brother,

Alex

P.S. Send box candy if you want to.”

“Dear Sis,

Well, I’m ok. Boy and do I like the army….I might get shipped to some other camp. How do you like my writing? I am in a hurry, so you’ll have to excuse it. Write more often. I’ll keep thinking of you.

So long, 

Your brother 

Junior.” 

Alex and Skip Muck got along fairly well because they were both Catholic with rather large families. They worked together on the mortar team, Alex was Skip’s assistant. Everyone claims Alex and Skip were a great, reliable team. 

Alex sailed for England with Easy on September 21, 1943 aboard the Samaraia. Alex had recently visited his home for the last time and they threw a party for him. His family noticed a little Airborne habit he had picked up since he had left: smoking. Alex had never smoked before, but suddenly he was smoking. 

When across the seas, Alex’s letters got shorter and shorter. His sister sent him candy, gloves, and t-shirts. He mostly talked about food and candy. Alex really seemed to love eating. He constantly asked for candy, or fudge, or peanuts. Most of his letters ended with him asking for food. “Send me something to eat-anything!”

 Alex went on a trip with Perconte to Ireland. Alex spotted a lady with her luggage and helped her. Perconte saw this and tried to convince Alex to flirt, Alex protested saying she was married. He had already gotten to know her fairly fast, or the lady just assumed other intentions were involved and told him straight out. He still helped her.

Speaking of relationships. While in England, Alex got a “Dear John Letter” from Sylvia. The break up didn’t affect him much and soon he was dating another girl in England. He talked about various girls in his letters.

A new replacement, Joe Lesniewski, said the first person to talk to him when he transferred was Alex. They both spoke Polish and became good friends. Joe taught them how to sing western songs. 

Alex jumped on D-Day and landed on a barn roof. He climbed down and joined his unit somehow. No one knows much about Alex’s D-Day experience other than he and Skip were the only ones from his squad to survive and he was acting as corporal. Alex signed a parachute after D-Day. His niece currently owns that as a gift from Joe. 

Alex made the jump into Holland in September 1944. Alex wrote only one letter home after that. 

On January 10, 1945, the Germans were raining a hard artillery strike on the American forces in Bois Jacques Woods near Foy, Belgium. The men scrambled to find foxholes under the shelling. Alex and Skip were in their large foxhole when a shell landed directly on them and killed them instantly. Not much remained of either man.

Alex was buried twice. Originally in France and then in Luxembourge with Skip Muck. He had two burial flags, one for each burial. The Penkala and Muck families remain close to this day.

i hate to say that i get it, but i get it

The real men of Band of Brothers and their astrological signs:

Aries: Col. Robert F. Sink, Ronald Speirs, Smokey Gordon

Taurus: John Martin, Joseph Liebgott, Alton More, Babe Heffron, Bill Guarnere

Gemini: George Luz, David Webster, Roy Cobb

Cancer: Popeye Wynn, James Alley, Donald Hoobler

Leo: Donald Malarkey, Pat Christenson, Edward Tipper

Virgo: Floyd Talbert, Alex Penkala

Libra: Lewis Nixon, Eugene Roe, Harry Welsh

Scorpio: Bull Randleman

Saggitarius: Antonio Garcia

Capricorn: Chuck Grant, Buck Compton

Aquarius: Richard Winters, Herbert Sobel, Carwood Lipton, Skip Muck

Pisces: Shifty Powers, Skinny Sisk, Frank Perconte, Joe Toye

ah, sweet faye tanner

bonus:

so are we allowed to talk about the antisemitism and homophobia embedded in the hbo war fandoms yet or should i check back in next month?