120 Fun Facts About Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers reunited Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg for the first time since which film?

Saving Private Ryan, the 1998 film Spielberg directed with Hanks in the lead, came first; the series took many of its visual cues and crew members from it.

Whose 1992 book was the Band of Brothers miniseries based on?

Stephen E. Ambrose built the 1992 book from interviews with the surviving veterans of Easy Company.

What is the nickname of the 101st Airborne Division, Easy Company's parent division?

The Screaming Eagles take their nickname from the division's shoulder patch, a bald eagle on a black shield that recalls Old Abe, the eagle mascot of a Civil War regiment from Wisconsin.

The title Band of Brothers comes from a speech in which Shakespeare play?

Henry V: the title comes from the St. Crispin's Day speech ('we few, we happy few, we band of brothers'), which veteran Carwood Lipton recites in the finale.

Who plays Major Richard Winters?

Damian Lewis, an English actor, plays Richard Winters with an American accent; he later narrated the 2012 documentary Dick Winters: Hang Tough.

How many episodes does Band of Brothers have?

Ten episodes aired from September to November 2001, each opening with interviews of the real Easy Company veterans, who are not named until the end of the finale.

On which network did Band of Brothers first air in September 2001?

HBO drew about ten million viewers to the two-hour premiere on 9 September 2001; when the September 11 attacks came two days later, it halted the marketing campaign at once.

On D-Day night in Band of Brothers, which password answers the paratroopers' challenge "Flash"?

Thunder was the real Allied password for D-Day; in the series a startled Private Hall swears instead, and Winters tells him that is not the correct reply.

What is Currahee?

A steep hill the men ran up and down, Currahee had a trail the paratroopers summed up as 'three miles up, three miles down', and its name became their regiment's motto.

Who plays Easy Company's hated first commander, Herbert Sobel?

David Schwimmer, then starring as Ross in Friends, plays Herbert Sobel; veterans who loathed the real Sobel still credited his harsh training with making Easy Company so good.

How did Easy Company's NCOs force Sobel's removal before D-Day?

They threatened to surrender their stripes: the sergeants' ultimatum got ringleaders Harris and Ranney demoted and transferred, but Colonel Sink still moved Sobel out to run a jump school.

Which retired Marine, Band of Brothers' military adviser, also plays Colonel Robert Sink?

Dale Dye, a retired Marine captain and the show's military adviser, plays Colonel Robert Sink; he also ran the cast through a ten-day boot camp before filming began.

Why did Winters end up leading Easy Company on D-Day?

Commander Meehan's plane was lost: Lieutenant Thomas Meehan's aircraft was shot down over Normandy with everyone aboard, and because his death was confirmed only later, Winters led as acting commander.

What did Winters' men destroy at Brécourt Manor on D-Day?

A battery of four 105 mm howitzers had been shelling the causeways that led inland from Utah Beach, so silencing it protected the troops coming ashore there.

Which decoration did Winters receive for Brécourt Manor, having been recommended for the Medal of Honor?

The Distinguished Service Cross: Winters was recommended for the Medal of Honor for Brécourt Manor but received the Army's second-highest valor award; later congressional efforts to upgrade it did not succeed.

Which general pinned Winters' Brécourt Manor decoration on him in Normandy in July 1944?

Omar Bradley, then commanding the US First Army, presented the medal on 2 July 1944; soon afterwards Easy Company was pulled out of France and sent back to England.

Who plays Captain Lewis Nixon, Winters' closest friend?

Ron Livingston, best known as Peter Gibbons in Office Space, plays Nixon; he also shot the boot-camp video diary included on the DVD.

Nixon was famous for always having a supply of which whisky?

Vat 69 Scotch was Nixon's whisky of choice, and his hunt for a bottle runs through the series; after the war he went back to his family's New Jersey firm and gave Winters a job there.

Easy Company's fight in the woods outside Bastogne was part of which larger battle of December 1944?

The Battle of the Bulge was Germany's surprise winter offensive through the Ardennes; the 101st Airborne, rushed to the front short of winter gear and ammunition, held Bastogne all the same.

What did Ronald Speirs famously do during the attack on Foy?

Ran through the German lines and back again: at Foy, Speirs sprinted through the Germans to link up with I Company, then ran back; Lipton recalled the Germans were too stunned to shoot.

Which future Gossip Girl star plays Ronald Speirs in Band of Brothers?

Matthew Settle plays Ronald Speirs, the officer who takes over Easy Company in the middle of an attack and leads it to the war's end; he later played Rufus Humphrey, the father in Gossip Girl.

What post did the real Ronald Speirs hold from 1958?

American governor of Spandau Prison: in 1958 Speirs, long dogged by stories that he had shot German prisoners in Normandy, took the American post at the Berlin jail that held Rudolf Hess.

Which New Kids on the Block singer plays First Sergeant Carwood Lipton?

Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block plays Carwood Lipton, the steady first sergeant who holds Easy together at Bastogne and earns a battlefield commission at Haguenau.

How was 'Wild Bill' Guarnere shot in the leg in Holland?

Riding a stolen motorcycle across an open field, Guarnere was hit by a sniper in October 1944; he lost the same leg at Bastogne trying to drag the wounded Joe Toye to safety.

Who plays 'Wild Bill' Guarnere in Band of Brothers?

Frank John Hughes plays Guarnere, whose reckless fury at the enemy, fed by his brother Henry's death at Monte Cassino, earned him the nickname 'Wild Bill'.

Which ER and American Dad! actor plays Donald Malarkey?

Scott Grimes, later ER's Archie Morris and the voice of Steve on American Dad!, plays Donald Malarkey, the mortar sergeant whose best friends Skip Muck and Alex Penkala die in a Bastogne shell burst.

The real Lynn 'Buck' Compton later served as lead prosecutor in the trial of whom?

Sirhan Sirhan: Compton worked his way through law school as a Los Angeles policeman and burglary detective, then joined the district attorney's office and led the team that convicted Robert F. Kennedy's assassin.

Who plays Buck Compton?

Neal McDonough plays Buck Compton, who is pulled off the line at Bastogne after seeing his friends Guarnere and Toye maimed by shellfire; McDonough later played Dum Dum Dugan in Captain America.

Medic Eugene 'Doc' Roe, the heart of the Band of Brothers episode 'Bastogne', comes from which state?

Louisiana: Roe spends 'Bastogne' scrounging supplies for the wounded, and the finale's closing narration says he went back there and became a construction contractor.

David Kenyon Webster, whose memoir the writers used, had left which university to enlist?

Harvard: Webster left his English studies there to enlist as a private; he vanished at sea off Santa Monica in 1961, and his memoir Parachute Infantry was published in 1994.

Which future X-Men star made his screen debut as Burton 'Pat' Christenson?

Michael Fassbender's first screen role was Burton 'Pat' Christenson; wider fame took seven more years, arriving when he played Bobby Sands in Hunger in 2008.

Which actor was pulled out of drama school early after winning the part of Private John Janovec?

Tom Hardy's Janovec gets a dry laugh in 'Why We Fight': asked what the article he is reading says about why they are fighting, he replies that it seems the Germans are bad.

Tom Hanks's son Colin appears in episode eight of Band of Brothers as which officer?

Lieutenant Henry Jones is the replacement fresh from West Point whom the veterans greet coldly at Haguenau; by the episode's end he is promoted and moved up to regimental staff.

About how much did each episode of Band of Brothers cost to make?

$12.5 million an episode, from a $125 million budget, was almost ten times the cost of an average hour of television drama at the time, and a record for a miniseries.

Where did Band of Brothers have its premiere in June 2001, with Easy Company veterans as guests of honour?

Utah Beach, Normandy: 47 Easy Company veterans were flown to Paris and taken by chartered train to the D-Day anniversary ceremony, then watched the episode about their own jump.

Where was most of Band of Brothers filmed?

Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, the former British Aerospace site, hosted most of the shoot; several European towns, including Carentan, Eindhoven and Bastogne, were built on the old airfield.

The scenes set in Germany and Austria were actually shot in which country?

The village of Brienz and the Grandhotel Giessbach stood in for the Alps.

Which British broadcaster paid a record £7 million to co-produce and screen Band of Brothers?

The BBC paid about £7 million, the most it had spent on a bought-in programme, then moved the series from BBC One to BBC Two, saying it could give it an uninterrupted weekly run there.

Who composed the score for Band of Brothers?

Michael Kamen composed the score, whose main theme opens every episode under the veterans' interviews; Kamen, also known for Lethal Weapon and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, died in November 2003.

The camp Easy Company finds near Landsberg in 'Why We Fight' was a subcamp of which concentration camp?

Dachau ran the Kaufering camps; the 12th Armored Division reached Kaufering IV on 27 April 1945, a day before the 101st Airborne, and local townspeople were ordered to bury the dead.

What is the Kehlsteinhaus, which Easy Company reaches at the end of the war?

The Eagle's Nest above Berchtesgaden was a mountaintop reception house built for the Nazi leadership; Easy reaches it in the finale, though French and other American units have also claimed to be first there.

What intelligence prize did Winters bring back from the Brécourt Manor assault on D-Day?

A map of German gun positions across that part of the Cotentin turned up at one of the positions his men overran; Winters passed it up the chain, and it proved a valuable intelligence find.

Which 2010 companion miniseries to Band of Brothers followed Marines Leckie, Sledge and Basilone?

The Pacific followed Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, drawing mainly on Leckie's and Sledge's own war memoirs.

In Band of Brothers' 'Why We Fight', what does Nixon learn when his mail arrives?

His wife is divorcing him: Nixon reads that she is taking the house, the child and the dog, and it is the dog he cannot get over, protesting that it isn't even hers.

Which 2024 miniseries became the third in the run of war dramas that began with Band of Brothers?

Masters of the Air follows the 100th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth for its severe losses over Europe, and streamed on Apple TV+.

In 'Why We Fight', Nixon tells a soldier that the string quartet playing in the ruins is not Mozart but who?

Beethoven: German civilians play his String Quartet No. 14 amid the rubble of their town, and the scene opens and closes the episode around the discovery of the camp.

Which carmaker sponsored Band of Brothers, with its vehicles appearing throughout the series?

Chrysler, whose Jeep brand descends from the wartime jeep, was marking the vehicle's 60th anniversary; the deal was the first commercial sponsorship the network had ever accepted.

What is the title of Richard Winters' own 2006 memoir?

Beyond Band of Brothers was written with the military historian Cole C. Kingseed; when Winters died in 2011, the news was held back at his own request until after his funeral.

Which soldier does Band of Brothers wrongly say died in 1948, when he in fact served on until 1967?

Albert Blithe recovered from the sniper wound shown in 'Carentan' and stayed in the Army until his death in Germany in 1967; his old company had lost touch and assumed he died in 1948.

The Band of Brothers episode title 'Why We Fight' is borrowed from a wartime film series by which director?

Frank Capra made the seven Why We Fight films for the US government to explain the war to its own soldiers; the series borrows the title for the episode in which Easy finds a concentration camp.

Why is sharpshooter Shifty Powers short of the points he needs in the Band of Brothers finale?

He was never wounded: with no Purple Hearts to add to his score, Powers came up fifteen points short even though he had been on the line with Easy every day.

What news does Nixon bring Easy Company at the end of the Band of Brothers episode 'Why We Fight'?

Hitler has shot himself in Berlin, Nixon reports; asked if that means the war is over, he says no, and the company gets its orders to move on.

What did Easy's men nickname their absentee commander, Lieutenant Dike?

'Foxhole Norman' was the men's name for Lieutenant Norman Dike, who kept vanishing from the line at Bastogne; in the series he freezes at Foy, though one veteran said he had been wounded.

Who commanded the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy?

Maxwell Taylor jumped into Normandy with the 101st Airborne but was at a staff conference in the United States when the Germans struck in the Ardennes, so his artillery commander led the division at Bastogne.

What is the title of episode seven, which covers the attack on Foy?

The Breaking Point follows First Sergeant Lipton as shelling in the woods maims Toye and Guarnere and Buck Compton is pulled off the line, all before the attack on Foy.

Phil Alden Robinson, who directed the first episode of Band of Brothers, is best known for which 1989 film?

Field of Dreams was filmed as Shoeless Joe, the title of the novel it adapts; Universal renamed it before release, and its director, who hated the new name, fought the change in vain.

Which Band of Brothers episode did Tom Hanks direct himself?

Crossroads, episode five, is the one Tom Hanks directed; it is told as Winters writes up a report on a firefight in Holland, and it sees him promoted to battalion executive officer.

In the Band of Brothers finale 'Points', what do a soldier's points decide?

Whether he can go home: the Army's points system counted months of service, time overseas, decorations and children, and an enlisted man needed 85 to be discharged.

In Band of Brothers, what does Harry Welsh carry around after D-Day to send to his fiancée Kitty?

His reserve parachute: Welsh tells Nixon the silk will make a good wedding dress, what with rationing, and the closing narration confirms that he married Kitty Grogan.

What is the title of the eighth episode, set in Haguenau?

The Last Patrol, directed by Tony To, follows a night raid across the river at Haguenau to seize prisoners, seen through the eyes of the returning Webster.

Which Once Upon a Time actor plays Private David Kenyon Webster in Band of Brothers?

Eion Bailey plays Webster, the bookish private who rejoins Easy at Haguenau after months in hospital and gets a cool reception from men who never left the line.

Which future Walking Dead star plays Staff Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman?

Michael Cudlitz plays Randleman, whom Winters' closing narration calls one of the best soldiers he ever had; Cudlitz went on to play Abraham Ford in The Walking Dead.

Who plays radio operator George Luz, the company's impressionist?

Rick Gomez plays George Luz, whose impression of Major Horton tricks a lost Sobel into cutting a farmer's fence on an exercise in England, landing the captain in trouble.

Which British actor-director plays Staff Sergeant John "Johnny" Martin?

Dexter Fletcher plays Johnny Martin; years later he took over Bohemian Rhapsody when director Bryan Singer was replaced late in the shoot, then directed Rocketman.

Which actor plays Technician Fourth Grade Frank Perconte?

James Madio plays Frank Perconte, whose patrol stumbles on the concentration camp in 'Why We Fight'; Perconte runs back to town to fetch Winters.

Which actor plays Joseph Liebgott, who leads the hunt for a camp commandant in the Band of Brothers finale?

Ross McCall plays Joseph Liebgott, Easy's German-speaking interpreter, who in 'Why We Fight' has to tell the freed camp prisoners they must stay inside the wire for now.

Who plays Sergeant Warren "Skip" Muck?

Richard Speight Jr. plays Skip Muck, Malarkey's close friend, who is killed when a shell scores a direct hit on his foxhole while George Luz looks on.

Which Battlestar Galactica actor plays Second Lieutenant Jack Foley?

Jamie Bamber plays Jack Foley, whose platoon a freezing Dike sends on an ill-advised flanking move at Foy, costing men's lives before Speirs arrives to take over.

Who plays Private First Class Edward "Babe" Heffron?

Robin Laing plays Babe Heffron, the Philadelphia replacement who befriends fellow Philadelphian Guarnere and loses his friend Julian in the Bois Jacques at Bastogne.

Who plays sharpshooter Darrell "Shifty" Powers?

Peter Youngblood Hills plays Shifty Powers, the Virginia marksman who wins the lottery ticket home in the finale, only to be badly hurt in a road accident on the way to the airfield.

Which Late Night host cameos as Lieutenant George Rice, handing Easy ammunition near Bastogne?

Jimmy Fallon cameos as Lieutenant George Rice; he could not drive the stick-shift wartime jeep, so two crew members pushed it for the shot.

Which future Sherlock star plays Private John "Cowboy" Hall?

Andrew Scott, later Moriarty in Sherlock, plays John Hall, a lost radioman Winters picks up after the D-Day jump; Guarnere dubs him 'Cowboy' although the series makes him a New Yorker.

Which Snatch actor plays Sergeant Myron "Mike" Ranney?

Stephen Graham, later Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire, plays Mike Ranney, whose answer to his grandson, 'I served in a company of heroes', closes the series.

Which actor plays Sergeant Floyd Talbert?

Matthew Leitch plays Floyd Talbert, the sergeant bayoneted at Carentan by one of his own men, who is shaken awake and takes the figure in a German poncho for the enemy.

Which Shaun of the Dead star plays First Sergeant William Evans, Sobel's right-hand man?

Simon Pegg plays William Evans, who stands at Sobel's side during the barracks inspection that turns up a contraband can of peaches.

Which Mamma Mia! actor plays Allington in Band of Brothers?

Dominic Cooper plays Allington in the opening episode; it was his first screen job, and he has said the terrifying, competitive shoot almost ended his career.

Which Belgian nurse befriends Doc Roe in the Bastogne episode?

Renée Lemaire was a real nurse from Bastogne who volunteered at an American aid station and was killed when a German bomb hit it on Christmas Eve 1944.

Which soldier dies after accidentally shooting himself with a Luger near Foy?

Hoobler had wanted a Luger since before D-Day; soon after he finally takes one from a German officer, it goes off in his pocket and cuts the artery in his leg.

Ambrose interviewed Easy Company veterans for Band of Brothers at a reunion in which city?

New Orleans: Ambrose, who taught at the University of New Orleans, met Easy's veterans at a company reunion there while collecting D-Day oral histories for his Eisenhower Center.

Which playing-card suit is painted on the helmets of the 506th throughout Band of Brothers?

Spades: each infantry regiment of the 101st wore a different card suit on its helmets to show where a soldier belonged, with tick marks around it for his battalion.

Why was E Company nicknamed "Easy"?

The WWII phonetic alphabet call for E: in the Army's Able-Baker-Charlie-Dog-Easy-Fox alphabet, E Company was 'Easy', just as D Company was 'Dog' and F Company 'Fox'.

In Band of Brothers, what troubles Winters as he writes his report on a firefight in Holland?

Shooting a teenage German soldier: Winters outruns his men in the charge, comes face to face with the boy and fires, and the moment keeps returning as he writes.

Which type of aircraft was the 506th created to jump from?

C-47 transports carried the 506th, formed in 1942 as an experimental parachute regiment; on D-Day bad weather and ground fire broke up the drop and scattered Easy's men far from their drop zone.

On the night of D-Day, Winters promises God that if he gets home he will find what?

A quiet piece of land, where he would spend his remaining years in peace; in 1951 Winters and his wife bought a small farm and later built their home on it.

Which Pennsylvania college did Winters graduate from in 1941 with a degree in economics?

Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster: Winters paid his way with part-time jobs, graduated in June 1941 and volunteered for the Army that August rather than wait for the draft.

In Band of Brothers, what does Winters request instead of accepting Sobel's punishment for a trumped-up charge?

Trial by court-martial: Sobel expected him to take the punishment quietly, and while the case was pending Winters was moved out of Easy to run the battalion mess.

As Winters narrates the men's postwar fates in the Band of Brothers finale, which game are they playing?

Baseball: Winters stops the company's game in Austria to announce that the war is finally over, so Easy will not be sent on to another front after all.

Ronald Speirs was raised in Boston, but in which city across the Atlantic was he born?

Edinburgh was only his first home: Speirs took military training at high school in his adopted city, which set him on the way to an Army officer's commission.

Speirs retired from the Army at what rank?

Lieutenant colonel: Speirs stayed in the Army after the war, commanded a rifle company in Korea and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1964.

In Band of Brothers, what does Winters tell Lieutenant Rice that paratroopers are supposed to be?

Surrounded: Rice has just warned that the Germans are about to cut the road, and Winters answers, 'We're paratroopers, Lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded.'

Which magazine's article about paratrooper training inspired Lipton and Malarkey to volunteer?

Life magazine: its article stressed how hard paratrooper training was and how highly trained the new airborne would be, which is what drew Lipton to volunteer in 1942.

What rank did Richard Winters hold on D-Day?

First lieutenant: at that rank Winters led a small scratch force against a far larger German one at Brécourt Manor, and within a month he was a captain.

Why did the Marines reject Malarkey when he tried to enlist after Pearl Harbor?

Dental problems: the Marines turned Malarkey down over his teeth, and the Army Air Corps over his weak mathematics, so he volunteered for the paratroopers in 1942.

Wounded in Holland, how did Bill Guarnere try to get back to Easy Company?

He went AWOL from hospital: caught and sent back, Guarnere said he would simply keep leaving until he was returned to Easy, and he was soon back with the company.

Guarnere left school to build Sherman tanks at which company?

Baldwin Locomotive Works had turned to building Sherman tanks; Guarnere's mother was so upset he had quit school for the job that he went back and graduated in 1942.

What nickname did the single road north from Eindhoven earn during Market Garden?

Hell's Highway was the nickname of the one road from Eindhoven toward Nijmegen and Arnhem; the 101st held the longest stretch of it, and German attacks cut it more than once.

Bill Guarnere's joint memoir with a fellow Easy veteran is titled Brothers in Battle, followed by which phrase?

Best of Friends: the two men grew up near each other yet first met in Europe in 1944, when Guarnere's co-author joined Easy as a replacement.

Which real Easy Company veteran has a cameo in Band of Brothers, waving a flag at a table in liberated Eindhoven?

Babe Heffron plays a Dutchman at a table in 'Replacements', waving a small flag while Talbert kisses a local woman; in 1944 Heffron had himself joined Easy as a replacement.

Which future baseball legend was Buck Compton's college teammate?

Jackie Robinson played alongside Compton, the team's catcher, at UCLA, where baseball was Robinson's worst sport: he hit .097 in his only season.

Compton was eventually appointed an associate justice of which body?

California Court of Appeal: Governor Ronald Reagan appointed Compton in 1970; back in 1943 he had played for UCLA in the Rose Bowl and was in the Army weeks later.

In the Band of Brothers finale, Winters reminds a reluctant Sobel that soldiers salute what?

The rank, not the man: Sobel, still a captain, tries to walk past Major Winters without saluting, and his former lieutenant calls him back to do it.

As the war in Europe ends, whose captured wine cellar does Winters open to the men of Easy Company?

Hermann Göring's cellar: after announcing that the war in Europe is over, Winters gives his hard-drinking friend Nixon first pick and has the rest handed out to the men.

David Kenyon Webster, lost at sea in 1961, had written a book about which animals?

Sharks: Webster took up sailing and shark fishing off California, and his book Myth and Maneater came out the year after he vanished from his small boat off Santa Monica.

In Band of Brothers, sharpshooter Shifty Powers modestly insists that who was the excellent shot?

His father: 'Dad was an excellent shot,' Shifty says, yet at Foy it was the real Powers who killed a hidden sniper pinning Easy down with a single round to the forehead.

Which Easy Company friend enlisted with Shifty Powers from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard?

Popeye Wynn, from South Hill, Virginia, met Powers on a machinist course in Norfolk; they enlisted together just before their shipyard jobs were to be frozen as essential war work.

Moose Heyliger received which British decoration for the river rescue of 138 men stranded after Arnhem?

The Military Cross: Heyliger led Easy's part in Operation Pegasus in October 1944, ferrying 138 men, most of them British airborne troops in hiding since Arnhem, back across the Rhine by night.

Colonel Sink marched his men from Toccoa to Atlanta to beat a marching record held by which country's army?

Japan: Sink read that a Japanese unit held the world marching record, declared his men could do better and sent them on foot to Atlanta, a trek of about 75 hours.

During the Brécourt Manor assault, where did Carwood Lipton climb to get a clear shot at the defenders?

Up a tree: Lipton, paired with Mike Ranney, climbed it some distance from the position and fired his carbine from the branches, earning the first of his Bronze Stars.

The name Currahee is said to come from a Cherokee word meaning what?

Stand alone is the usual gloss of the Cherokee name; the 506th took 'Currahee' as its motto, and the veterans' companion documentary is titled We Stand Alone Together.

Camp Toccoa was first named after which Confederate general from its own state?

Robert Toombs gave the camp its first name; Sink is said to have had 'Camp Toombs' changed because recruits reached it by a road that ran past the Toccoa Casket Company.

Anthony McAuliffe's one-word reply to the German surrender demand at Bastogne was what?

'Nuts!' was McAuliffe's written reply to the German demand on 22 December 1944; as the 101st's acting commander he held Bastogne until Patton's tanks broke through four days later.

Which Easy Company officer, who died in 2021, was its last surviving officer?

Edward Shames, who was Jewish, brought home cognac taken from Hitler's own stock and years later opened it to toast his eldest son's bar mitzvah.

In 'Carentan', which temporary affliction strikes Private Albert Blithe after the fight for the town?

Blindness: Doc Roe calls it hysterical blindness, brought on by fear rather than a wound, and Blithe's sight returns moments after Winters speaks kindly to him at the aid station.

What is the title of episode two, covering the Normandy jump and Brécourt Manor?

Day of Days takes its title from Winters's closing narration, in which he thanks God for seeing him through 'that day of days', 6 June 1944.

Why, by eyewitness Art DiMarzio's account, did Ronald Speirs shoot one of his own sergeants?

The drunk man threatened him: the sergeant twice refused the order to hold position, was told to go to the rear, then levelled his rifle at Speirs, who fired in self-defence and reported it at once.

How was Frederick 'Moose' Heyliger's war ended after D-Day and Market Garden?

Wounded by friendly fire: a nervous sentry shot Heyliger, his own company's commander, and the injury ended his war; Scottish actor Stephen McCole played him in the miniseries.

Which future film star plays Private Miller, the replacement killed in the retreat from Nuenen?

James McAvoy plays Miller, who quietly takes off his unit citation ribbon after a veteran sneers that he was not in Normandy to earn it.

In Band of Brothers, Speirs tells a frightened private that a soldier's only hope is to accept he is already what?

Dead: the private has just admitted hiding in a ditch after the jump, and Speirs tells him that the sooner he accepts it, the sooner he can function as a soldier is supposed to.

Which sergeant, cut off at Nuenen in 'Replacements', hides overnight in a barn?

Bull Randleman, wounded and cut off from Easy, kills a German soldier at close quarters in the barn where he is hiding and rejoins the company the next day.

Edward 'Babe' Heffron, wartime friend of Bill Guarnere, was born in 1923 in which part of Philadelphia?

South Philadelphia: Heffron, the third of five children of an Irish Catholic prison guard, had to leave high school there to earn money during the Depression.