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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/Ardennes Alsace Campaign (1944-45)/Battle of the Bulge
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
January / 1945
Description The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. Hitler planned the offensive with the primary goal to recapture the important harbour of Antwerp. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. United States forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred the highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's war-making resources.
The battle was known by different names. The Germans referred to it as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), while the French named it the Bataille des Ardennes ("Battle of the Ardennes"). The Allies called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive. The phrase "Battle of the Bulge" was coined by contemporary press to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps and became the best known name for the battle.
The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. As well as stopping Allied transport over the channel to the harbor of Antwerp, Germany also hoped these operations would split the British and American Allied line in half, and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers' favor. Once that was accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theatre of war.
The offensive was planned by the German forces with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Despite their efforts to keep it secret, the Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, and Ultra indicated that a "substantial and offensive" operation was expected or "in the wind", although a precise date or point of attack could not be given. Aircraft movement from the Russian Front and transport of forces by rail, both to the Ardennes, was noticed but not acted upon, according to a report later written by Peter Calvocoressi and F. L. Lucas at the codebreaking centre Bletchley Park.
Near-complete surprise was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of heavily overcast weather conditions, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive around Elsenborn Ridge and in the south around Bastogne blocked German access to key roads to the northwest and west that they counted on for success; columns that were supposed to advance along parallel routes found themselves on the same roads. This and terrain that favored the defenders threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
About 610,000 American forces were involved in the battle,[2] and 89,000 were casualties, including 19,000 killed. It was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II.
