The Story of Richard Winters Richard Winters was a highly decorated Army officer and war veteran. He commanded the 101st Airborne Division also known as Easy Company during WWII. Winters was born in Pennsylvania in 1918. He attended Franklin and Marshall College where he participated in both basketball and football. He worked several part-time jobs to pay his way through college and graduated in 1941 at the top of his class. War had recently broken out in Europe so Winters enlisted in order to avoid being drafted later on. Richard completed basic training in South Carolina and was later chosen to attend Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning in Georgia. It was here that he met his life-long friend and future veteran Lewis Nixon. Winters was given the title of second lieutenant after his graduation. It was during his officer training that Winters decided he wanted to join the parachute infantry. Five weeks after graduation he was accepted into the 506th Parachute Infantry where he quickly climbed the ranks, serving as platoon leader and then first lieutenant. The parachute infantry was the first regiment to undertake airborne training as a formal unit and the experience was extremely tough. Of the 500 officers who joined the unit, only 148 men successfully completed the course. Winters gained the respect and admiration of all the men in Easy Company and even replaced the former platoon leader by request of the men. Easy Company joined the war during the Normandy Campaign with Winters as head officer. His bravery became apparent when he led a platoon of 13 men against a heavily defended position with 50 German troops. His successful assault destroyed a weapons battery and obtained a map showing the locations of German gun positions in the area. Shortly after this success, Winters was promoted to Captain and given the Distinguished Service Cross. Later, in 1945 he was given the rank of Major and made acting battalion commander of 2nd Battalion. Winters remained in this role until the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. Following his official discharge from the Army in 1951, Winters worked as a supervisor at a plastics adhesive business in New Jersey. He and his wife Ethel brought a small farm and raised two children. In 1972, he started his own business, selling feed to farmers across Pennsylvania. Winters retired in 1997. Winter's role in WWII was featured in a number of books and an HBO television series about Easy Company called "Band of Brothers." Richard Winters passed away on January 2, 2011 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. In the fashion of a true hero, he'd requested a private, unannounced funeral service. Even in death he remained a humble, quiet man who held the respect and admiration of every man who served with him.