Filed under: Band of Brothers, Veterans | Tags: Dick Winters, Ephrata, Monuments
WarHistoryOnline reports that despite knowledge that neither Dick Winters nor his family wanted a monument to the Major personally, other than the one he grudgingly allowed in Normandy (with the express intent of honoring all veterans instead of just the ones highlighted in Band of Brothers), the committee is charging ahead with their tourist attraction. Since there is nothing in writing and no legal prohibition against the artist soaking up $90,000 more of the money that could be used to help specific veterans in need, the football coach, his committee and the greedy hangers on will be putting up a duplicate of the monument in Normandy.
In seeking to honor veterans and one veteran in particular, they dishonor his memory by completely disregarding his wishes. By claiming that Winters “belongs to the American people”, they feel justified in taking his likeness and using it for their own commercial gain. I can’t imagine a way to tarnish the memory of a true American hero any more deeply. Dick Winters was not Mickey Mouse. Dick Winters was not Snooki, seeking the limelight. Dick Winters was not at all comfortable with people placing him separate from other veterans, who efforts were every bit as deserving of honor as his.
Go read the seminal post on the Myth of the Band of Brothers in Mark Bando’s forum for a re-awakening. Easy Company of the 506th was a wonderful company. Dick Winters was a marvelous officer. However, exalting either the Company or the Major over others that the general public simply doesn’t know about dishonors the memory of those men as well as the many others who are equally deserving.
It reminds me of the hobby monument in Gettysburg, of Thomas Lowry’s fraudulent Lincoln pardon and Joe McKinney’s destruction of the Brandy Station Foundation from inside. While I want knowledge of history to spread, there are people who simply do it wrong.
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