I just finished this book last week.
 

Whoa.  It’s written from the perspective of Major Dick Winters, the man who led Easy Company 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during WWII (the mini-series BAND OF BROTHERS is about Easy Company).  America’s victory during WWII is due largely to the intense sacrifice and honor that this small group of men offered up for America’s freedom.  The book is written from the man who led them through (FYI-he was in his early 20’s as he led this regiment of 18-25 year olds through brutal battles of war). 

As you know, I love America, but moreover I am humbled by the thousands of men/women who have sacrified to defend her (whether in death or in time away from family or whatever).  You also know that I have several family members who serve in several branches of government, so it’s personal (well, shouldn’t it be to every American?).  So, with that predisposition, I read this book and was amazed and grateful and blown away…the lifestyles of honor, bravery, dignity, justice…they moved me.  There are hundreds of quotables from this book, but here are a few of my favorites…

1) re: a night of leave in Paris “I certainly didn’t raise hell, never did, and had no intention of doing so in the future.  Why not? First and most important, I had my own conscience to answer to.  Next, I refused to dishonor my parents, and thirdly, because I was an officer in the U.S. army.  I was damn proud of it and with the rank and position I held.  I would not think of doing anything to bring discredit to my outfit, my paratroopers, my boots, my wings, my airborne patch, or to the army.”  Can you imagine if everyone nowadays cared this much about dishonor ?  Not just in the military, but EVERYONE?  Can you imagine if Christians cared this much about dishonoring God (myself included)?  Wow.

2) re: leadership, “As a commander, a leader must be prepared to give everything, including himself, to the people he leads.  Sound like a principle you’ve heard before?  like from the Bible?

3) re: coming upon their first concentration camp (near the end of the war) “By now the men and I were seasoned veterans, but the sights we witnessed when we arrived at the camp defied description.  The horror of what we observed remains with each paratrooper to this day.  You could not explain it; you could not describe it; and you could not exaggerate it.  It did not take long to realize the Nazis were intent on eliminating all of the Jews, the gypsies, and anyone who disagreed with Hitler’s regime.  The memory of starved, dazed men who dropped their eyes and heads when we looked at them through the chain-link fence, in the manner that a beaten, mistreated dog would cringe, left a mark on all of us forever.  Nor could you underestimate the barbarity of the Nazi regime, even during the latter stages of the war.. . . As I went through the war, it was natural to ask myself, Why am I here?  Why am I putting up with the freezing cold, the constant rain, and the loss of so many comrades? Does anybody care?  A soldier faces death on a daily basis and his life is one of misery and deprivation.  He is cold; he suffers from hunger, frequently bordering on starvation.  The impact of seeing those people behind that fence left me saying, if only to myself, ‘Now I know why I am here!  For the first time I understand what this war is all about.” 

It was a powerful read and I wish that every American under the age of 60 was required to watch the Band of Brothers mini-series and read books like this (yearly?).  I just wonder how differently people might view their freedom and maybe their abuse of freedom (mine included).