[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 9 (Monday, January 24, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MOURNING THE LOSS OF DICK WINTERS
(Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Shakespeare penned the
words that gave title to a true story of the 101st Airborne during
World War II. In ``King Henry V,'' he wrote:
``We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
``For he today that sheds his blood with me
``Shall be my brother.''
Stephen Ambrose wrote a book that became the miniseries, ``Band of
Brothers.'' Dick Winters was part of that story. Actor Damien Lewis
brought his character to life in the series, but for Pennsylvanians,
Winters was a real-life hero, and his story, the stuff of legends.
Winters died in Campbelltown, Pennsylvania. He was 92.
On D-day, June 6, 1944, Winters and his men parachuted in to take on
a German artillery nest on Utah Beach. His troops from Easy Company
fought through the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of a death camp
at Dachau, and made it to Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden.
Winters never sought fame, never thought of himself as a hero, and
characteristically he asked that his funeral be private. But as Tom
Hanks put it, ``When the world needed heroes, he served in a company of
heroes.''
Pennsylvania and the Nation mourn the loss of this ``brother.''
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