If you liked the miniseries...
... you should get the book, by Stephen Ambrose. It's excellent.
So was his book, Citizen Soldiers.
Nice to hear that people treated Mr Mauser with respect. I've heard of a couple other instances where Easy Company guys have been encountered while travelling, and they were similar by all accounts.
One of my favorite stories involved one of the gentlemen who as of a few years ago apparently was both a double amputee, and also a dirty old man in the George Burns, good-natured style. A couple flight attendants I knew had him on their flight; both had watched Band of Brothers, and read the book, and they apparently noticed a name they recognized while scanning the manifest.
As their story goes, they approached and asked if he was the person of that name from Easy Company. Turned out there had been a gathering of survivors in that city, and yes, he and another man with him were both from Easy.
The flight attendants, both reasonably attractive 20-somethings, proceeded to fuss over both men for a good portion of the flight.
My favorite part of the story was when the gentleman without legs asked one of the girls to come sit in his lap. She said she told him she would be happy to, but she couldn't because he didn't have a lap. Both girls said he and his buddy just broke out laughing, saying that was the funniest thing they'd heard in years. Knowing those two flight attendants, I can picture it; they were both nice, smart, and funny, and would have been able to say things like that while making sure the other person was in on the joke, and not the butt of the joke.
They both had PIR pins and autographs to show, to support their tale.
I wasn't there, but have no reason not to believe them. Besides, I'd like to think the old guy is still having fun, flirting with the girls, and not letting amputations nor age spoil his good times.
Cheers,
M
Cheers,
M
