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SFC Edwin Sierra
to remember
Winters, Richard, MAJ.
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Contact Info
Home Town Ephrata, Pennsylvania
Last Address Winters was buried in the Bergstrasse Evangelical Lutheran Church cemetery in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, in a private ceremony. He is buried next to his parents in the Winters family plot. His grave is marked Richard D. Winters WW II 101st Airborne
Date of Passing Jan 02, 2011
Wall/Plot Coordinates Bergstrasse Evangelical Lutheran Church
Maj. Winters was recommended for the Medal of Honor for his leadership at Brécourt Manor, but the recommendation was downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. Army's second highest award for combat valor, due to the policy of awarding only one Medal of Honor per division (Lieutenant ColonelRobert G. Cole was the 101st Airborne Division's soldier to receive the Medal of Honor for the Normandy Campaign). After the release of the Band of Brothers television miniseries, a letter-writing campaign to have Winters awarded the Medal of Honor retroactively was started, but so far without success.
Major Winters was 1st Lieutenant of Easy Company in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944. He and his men parachuted into enemy territory during the early hours of D-day. After landing and finding his men, Winters realized that his Company Commander's plane went down. He was given command of Easy Company when dawn broke on D-day. Winters and a squad of twelve men were told to take out four German guns that were firing down upon the men on Utah Beach. Winters successfully completed his mission, destroying four guns at Brecourt Manor. Winters capturing of the guns on D-day is still taught at West Point today. While there, Major Winters found a map, pointing out every German defense firing upon Utah Beach. The map was passed up the ranks, and, though the Major will never admit it, saved many lives that day. Major Winters received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions there. Only one Medal of Honor was awarded to his division; Major Winters did not receive it.
Throughout the course of World War II, Winters proved himself to be a leader. He led his men from England, to France, to Belgium, and Holland, and he eventually became Battalion Executive Officer and a captain. Captain Winters was then faced with his toughest challenge. He was to lead his men into the Ardennes Forest to hold the front line, while short of warm clothing, food, and ammunition. This experience in the Ardennes Forest, Foy, and Bastogne, would later be known as the Battle of Bulge. Winters faced the challenge as any good leader would; he cared for his men to the best of his ability.
The freezing men survived Christmas in snowy foxholes, while listening to the German soldiers sing "Silent Night." It was there that many of the men became united, where they began to realize how truly amazing Captain Winters was.
After surviving the Battle of the Bulge, Captain Winters was then promoted to Major. The planning of more patrols and liberating a concentration camp marked Easy Company's arrival into Germany. There, Major Winters and Easy Company were the first Americans to enter Hitler's Berchestgaden, or "Eagle's Nest," his own private hideaway. It was there that they received the news of Hitler's surrender. After such, Easy Company moved onto Austria.
In Austria, Winters was forced to try to find ways for his men to go home. It was thought that the United States would be invading Japan soon. To leave the Army, a man needed 85 points. Points were accumulated through wounds or Purple Hearts. As a result of this high number, usually only officers had enough points to make it home. The rest of these men, men who had simply joined up to fight for America, not knowing how long they would be gone, would now be stuck in Japan. Now, these men who had fought on D-day, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge, would begin to train to go to war with Japan.
Shortly after training began, news of the Japanese surrender reached the men. For the men of Easy Company, it would be D-day plus 434. They had not seen home in more than two years. Each man would be forced to re-enter the world back home as best he could.
That was sixty years ago. Some of the men of Easy Company are still alive today, and they are all fighting for the Medal of Honor for their commander who fought to protect them. In 2002, some of the surviving veterans traveled down to Washington, D.C., in a personal attempt for Winters Medal of Honor. Some of these veterans have passed on, some are in decline, and, yet, during their time here, they fought for something for Major Winters. Still, you have yet to sign. Again, why?
Sadly, this matter has become urgent because of both the increasing age of Major Winters and his health. He has written that his health was failing. Some who have seen him recently mentioned that he did indeed look frail. Sadly, with his increasing age, Major Winters also suffers from Parkinsons Disease.
After leaving the Army, Winters worked for his close wartime friend Captain Lewis Nixon at Nixon's family business, Nixon Nitration Works of Edison, New Jersey, rising to become general manager in 1950.On May 16, 1948, Winters married Ethel Estoppey and continued to pursue his education through the GI Bill, attending a number of business and personnel management courses at Rutgers University
In June 1951, Winters was recalled to active duty in the Army during the Korean War.He was ordered to join the 11th Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but he was given six months to report and in this time he traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak to GeneralAnthony McAuliffe, in the hope that he could convince the Army not to send him to Korea. He explained to McAuliffe that he had seen enough of war and apparently McAuliffe understood his position, but explained that he was needed because of his command experience. Winters then reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he was assigned as a regimental planning and training officer.
While at Fort Dix, Winters became disillusioned with his job, finding that he had little enthusiasm for training officers who lacked discipline and did not attend their scheduled classes. As a result, he volunteered to attend Ranger School, where he passed and became a Ranger. He then received orders to deploy to Korea and traveled to Seattle, where, during pre-deployment administration, he was offered the option of resigning his commission, which he accepted.
Band of Brothers is a ten-part television World War II mini-series based on the book of the same title written by historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose. It was co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks after their successful collaboration on the Academy Award winning World War II film, Saving Private Ryan (1998). The mini-series first aired in 2001 on HBO and still runs frequently on various TV networks around the world. The main character of the show is arguably MajorRichard Winters (1918), played by Damian Lewis.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Rhineland Campaign (1944-45)/Siege of Bastogne
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
January / 1945
Description The Siege of Bastogne was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbour at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German mechanized forces had to seize the roadways through eastern Belgium. Because all seven main roads in the Ardennes mountain range converged on the small town of Bastogne, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack. The siege lasted from December 20–27 when the besieged American forces were relieved by elements of General George Patton's Third Army.
Initial combat at Noville[edit]
On 19–20 December, the 1st Battalion of the 506th PIR was ordered to support Team Desobry (Maj. William R. Desobry), a battalion-sized tank-infantry task force of the 10th Armored Division assigned to defend Noville[7] located north-northeast of both Foy and of Bastogne just 4.36 mi (7.02 km) away. With just four M18 tank destroyers of the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion to assist, the paratroopers attacked units of the 2. Panzerdivision, whose mission was to proceed by secondary roads via Monaville (just northwest of Bastogne) to seize a key highway and capture, among other objectives, fuel dumps — for the lack of which the overall German counter-offensive faltered and failed. Worried about the threat to its left flank in Bastogne, it organized a major combined arms attack to seize Noville. Team Desobry's high speed highway journey to reach the blocking position is one of the few documented cases wherein the legendary top speed of the M18 Hellcat (55 mph (89 km/h)) was actually used to get ahead of an enemy force as envisioned by its specifications.
The attack of 1st Battalion and the M18 Hellcat tank destroyers of the 705th TD Battalion together destroyed at least 30 German tanks and inflicted 500-1,000 casualties on the attacking forces in what amounted to a spoiling attack.[citation needed] A Military Channel expert historian[who?] credited the M18 tank destroyers with 24 kills, including several Tiger tanks, and believes that, in part, their ability to "shoot and scoot" at high speed and then reappear elsewhere on the battlefield and therefore appear to be another vehicle entirely played a large part in confusing and slowing the German attack, which subsequently stalled, leaving the Americans in possession of the town overnight. The 3rd Battalion was ordered forward from a reserve position north of Bastogne to ease the pressure on 1st Battalion by occupying a supporting position in Foy to the south.
The heavy losses inflicted by the tank-destroyers induced the German commander into believing the village was being held by a much stronger force[7] and he recoiled from further attacks on the village, committing a strategic error while seeking tactical advantage — significantly delaying the German advance and setting the stage for the Siege of Bastogne just to the south. This delay also gave the 101st Airborne Division enough time to organize defenses around Bastogne. After two days, the 2nd Panzer Division finally continued on its original mission to the Meuse River. As a consequence of its involvement at Bastogne, and its failure to dislodge the airborne forces, the column ultimately ran out of fuel at Celles, where it was destroyed by the U.S. 2nd Armored Division and the British 29th Armoured Brigade.
By the time the 1st Battalion pulled out of Noville on the 20th, the village of Foy half-way to Bastogne center had been captured from the 3rd Battalion by a separate attack, forcing the 1st Battalion to then fight its way through Foy. By the time 1st Battalion made it to the safety of American lines, it had lost 13 officers and 199 enlisted men, out of about 600 troops, and was assigned as the division reserve. Team Desobry lost a quarter of its troops and was reduced to just four medium tanks when it passed through the lines of 3rd Battalion.
Battle
19–23 December 1944
The 101st Airborne formed an all-round perimeter using the 502nd PIR on the northwest shoulder to block the 26th Volksgrenadier, the 506th PIR to block entry from Noville, the 501st PIR defending the eastern approach, and the 327th GIR scattered from Marvie in the southeast to Champs in the west along the southern perimeter, augmented by engineer and artillery units plugging gaps in the line. The division service area to the west of Bastogne had been raided the first night, causing the loss of almost its entire medical company, and numerous service troops were used as infantry to reinforce the thin lines. CCB of the 10th Armored Division, severely weakened by losses to its Team Desobry (Maj. William R. Desobry), Team Cherry (Lt. Col. Henry T. Cherry), and Team O'Hara (Lt. Col. James O'Hara) in delaying the Germans, formed a mobile "fire brigade" of 40 light and medium tanks (including survivors of CCR 9th Armored Division and eight replacement tanks found unassigned in Bastogne).
Three artillery battalions were commandeered and formed a temporary artillery group. Each had twelve 155 mm (6.1 in) howitzers, providing the division with heavy firepower in all directions restricted only by its limited ammunition supply. Col. Roberts, commanding CCB, also rounded up 600+ stragglers from the rout of VIII Corps and formed Team SNAFU as a further stopgap force.
As a result of the powerful American defense to the north and east, XLVII Panzer Corps commander Gen. von Lüttwitz decided to encircle Bastogne and strike from the south and southwest, beginning the night of 20/21 December. German panzer reconnaissance units had initial success, nearly overrunning the American artillery positions southwest of Bastogne before being stopped by a makeshift force. All seven highways leading to Bastogne were cut by German forces by noon of 21 December, and by nightfall the conglomeration of airborne and armored infantry forces were recognized by both sides as being surrounded.
The American soldiers were outnumbered approximately 5-1 and were lacking in cold-weather gear, ammunition, food, medical supplies, and senior leadership (as many senior officers, including the 101st's commander—Major General Maxwell Taylor—were elsewhere). Due to the worst winter weather in memory, the surrounded U.S. forces could not be resupplied by air nor was tactical air support available due to cloudy weather.
However, the two panzer divisions of the XLVII Panzer Corps—after using their mobility to isolate Bastogne, continued their mission towards the Meuse on 22 December, rather than attacking Bastogne with a single large force. They left just one regiment behind to assist the 26th Volksgrenadier Division in capturing the crossroads. The XLVII Panzer Corps probed different points of the southern and western defensive perimeter in echelon, where Bastogne was defended by just a single airborne regiment and support units doubling as infantry. This played into the American advantage of interior lines of communication; the defenders were able to shift artillery fire and move their limited ad hoc armored forces to meet each successive assault.
The 26th VG received one panzergrenadier regiment from the 15th Panzergrenadier Division on Christmas Eve for its main assault the next day. Because it lacked sufficient troops and those of the 26th VG Division were near exhaustion, the XLVII Panzer Corps concentrated its assault on several individual locations on the west side of perimeter in sequence rather than launching one simultaneous attack on all sides. The assault—led by 18 tanks carrying a battalion of infantry—pierced the lines of the 327th's 3rd Battalion (officially, the 1st Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry), and advanced as far as the battalion command post at Hemroulle.
However, the 327th held its original positions and repulsed infantry assaults that followed, capturing 92 Germans. The panzers that had achieved the penetration divided into two columns, one trying to reach Champs from the rear, and were destroyed in detail by two companies of the 1st Battalion 502nd PIR under Lt. Col. Patrick F. Cassidy and four tank destroyers of the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
Allied control of Bastogne was a major obstacle to the German armored advance, and the morale of Allied forces elsewhere on the Western Front was boosted by news of the stubborn defense of the besieged town.
