Comrades of Easy Company

Comrades of Easy Company

Easy Company from its inception in July of 1942 to its disbandment at the end of World War II was an elite paratrooper force made up of “voluntary citizen soldiers” meaning they were in Easy Company of their own accord and for the most part where all previously not in any form of military. (Ambrose p. 16-17) "Easy company included three rifle platoons and a headquarters section. Each platoon contained three twelve-man rifle squads and a six-man mortar team squad.” Easy also had one machine gun attached to each of its rifle squads, and a 60mm mortar in each mortar team. The training they would endure was much more rigorous, as the conditions would be more perilous, “of the 500 officers who had volunteered, only 148 successfully completed the course. The enlisted men had it equally tough, with only 1,800 men being selected out of 5,300 volunteers” (Ambrose, 18) this left them feeling that themselves and the man watching their back would be much more prepared for battle than your average draftee.

Easy company starts training in July of 1942 and ends in December of the same year; their setting is a basic training camp for US Army called Camp Toccoa. Here the men are weeded out due to a lack of inner determination, and a growing base of the relationship between the men was founded here. The men’s relationship with one another was a major point of emphasis making it obvious that the company could never have completed such amazing tasks without a trust between the men that went beyond friendship; the idea that you would not only die for your fellow man, but murder for him, it is regarded by the men as being comrades. Leaders were made and broken Toccoa such as Major Winters at this time was platoon leader o...

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...ponded with a counter attack. Easy company would stay on the counter attack all the way to Hitler’s “Eagles Nest”. Once the men arrived at Hitler’s palace it was a matter of waiting to receive your papers home, most of the men in easy went home to very normal almost mundane lines of work, which really drove home the reality that these men set out to survive the war and the process won it.

Many best-selling books have been written on the men of easy company as well as a popular HBO series that was named Band of Brothers. Beyond the gore and action of these stories it is still easy to see why millions want to learn about these men. I believe it is so well documented because they exemplify what it is to be American, that many men from different backgrounds can come together and complete unbelievable tasks through un-daunting determination, even in the face of death.