Winters, Richard “Dick” Band of Brothers.

Winters, Richard “Dick”, born 21-01-1918 in Epharata, Pennsylvania, to Richard and Edith Winters. He moved to nearby Lancaster when he was eight years old. He graduated from Lancaster Boys High School  in 1937 and matriculated to Franklin and Marshall College. At Franklin and Marshall, Winters was a member of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity and participated in intramural football and basketball as a member of Upsilon Chapter. He had to give up wrestling, his favorite sport, and most of his social activities for his studies and the part-time jobs that paid his way through college. He graduated in 1941 with the highest academic standing in the business college. The war had broken out in Europe, and he enlisted in the Army.  Winters enlisted in the army on 25-08-1941, in order to shorten his time in service. In September he underwent basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina. Afterwards he remained at Camp Croft to help train draftees and other volunteers, while the rest of his battalion was deployed to Panama. In April 1942 he was selected to attend Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was there he met his friend Lewis Nixon,   with whom he served throughout the war in the 101^st Airborne Division . Nixon died age 76, on 11-01-1995, from diabetes, in Los Angeles. Winters was commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduation from OCS on 02-07-1942. In February 1944, First Lieutenant Thomas Meehan III

     was given command of Easy Company, with Richard Winters. Meehan remained in command of the company until the Normandy invasion, when at approximately 1:15 a.m. on June 6, 1944, D-Day, the C-47 Skytrain transporting the company headquarters section was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire, killing everyone on board. Winters jumped that night and landed safely near Sainte-Mère-Église. Less luck had private John Steele  who was caught on a piller church spire  after having lost his weapon during the drop, Winters was able to orient himself, collect several paratroopers, including members of the 82^nd Airborne , and proceed toward the unit’s assigned objective near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. With Lieutenant Meehan’s fate unknown, Winters became the acting commanding officer of Easy Company, with sniper Darrell “Shifty” Powers,  Frederick “Fritz ” Niland  and Forrest Guth,  for the duration of the Normandy campaign. In September 1944, the 506^th PIR   took part in Operation Market Garden, an airborne operation in the Netherlands. They liberated my hometown Eindhoven on September 17^th . On 05-10-1944, a German force launched an attack on the 2^nd Battalion’s flank, and threatened to break through the American lines. At the same time, four men in an Easy Company patrol were wounded. Returning to the headquarters, they reported that they had encountered a large group of Germans at a crossroads about 1.300 yards to the east of the company command post in estate Schoonderlogt.

  Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Winters took one squad from 1^st Platoon, and moved off toward the crossroads, where they observed a German machine gun firing to the south, toward the battalion headquarters. After surveying the position, Winters then led the squad in an assault on the gun crew.^.Soon after taking the position, the squad took fire from a German position opposite them. Estimating that this position was held by at least a platoon, Winters called for reinforcements from the rest of the 1^st Platoon, and led them in an assault. Later it was discovered there were at least 300 Germans. On October 9, Winters became the battalion executive officer, following the death of the battalions’ former XO, Major Oliver Horton.

    Horton was killed in action on 05-10-1944. Although this position was normally held by a major, Winters filled it while still a captain. On 16-12-1944, German forces launched a counter-offensive against the Western Allies in Belgium. After the 101^stAirborne was moved by truck to the Bastogne area on December 18. Still serving as executive officer of the 2^nd Battalion, Winters took part in the defense of the line northeast of Bastogne near the town of Foy during what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. The entire 101^st Airborne and elements of the 10^th Armored Division, nickname “Tiger Division”  battled about 15 German divisions, supported by heavy artillery and armor, for nearly a week before the U.S Third Army under George Smith Patton  broke through the German lines surrounding Bastogne. After being relieved, the 2^nd Battalion carried out an attack on Foy on 09-01-1945. On 08-03-1945, following the 2^nd Battalion’s move to Hagenau, Winters was promoted to major and shortly afterward he was made acting battalion commander of 2^nd Battalion, when Lieutenant Colonel Strayer was elevated to the regimental staff. Second Battalion saw little combat after this. Robert Lytle Strayer

   died old age 92 on 18-12-1990 in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

  Winters, a resident of Hershey, died on 02-01-2011, old age 92, at an assisted living facility in nearby Campbelltown, Pennsylvania. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for several years. Winters had requested a private, unannounced funeral service, which was held on 08-01-2011. Dick Winters was buried on the Bergstrasse Evangelical Lutheran Church cemetery in Epharata, Pennsylvania, in a private ceremony. He is buried next to his parents in the Winters’ family plot. His grave is simple marked Richard D Winters WW II 101^st Airborne.