The HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” will be used to tell the 2022 Memorial Day Roo Tale story of Kangaroo George Firor. His story will be told over 7 chapters in 7 days; the chapter titles come directly from titles of Band of Brother episodes. Chapter 1 will begin on Memorial Day, Monday May 30th. Chapter 7 will end the tale on Sunday, June 5th, the day when Firor and his fellow paratroopers boarded a plane bound for France and D-Day, the “Longest Day.” I highly recommend watching “Band of Brothers” alongside this story.
Chapter 1: Currahee (Monday, May 30th) Chapter 2: Day of Days (Tuesday, May 31st) Chapter 3: Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st) Chapter 4: Replacements (Thursday, June 2nd) Chapter 5: Bastogne (Friday, June 3rd) Chapter 6: Why We Fight (Saturday, June 4th) Chapter 7: Band of Brothers (Sunday, June 5th)
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Chapter 1: Currahee (Monday, May 30th)
George W. Firor was born in 1924 in Dalhart, TX; his family moved to Dallas in the 1930s. In Dallas, Firor attended Forest Avenue High School, graduating in 1942. He considered enlistment in the wake of Pearl Harbor, but family instead encouraged him to attend college for a year before making a final decision. That decision was to attend Austin College in Sherman, TX. Firor enrolled in the fall of 1942 alongside Dr. Clyde Hall (h/t Christopher Hall). Dr. Hall was kind enough to be interviewed about Firor and life on the AC campus during the academic year 1942-43.
Dr. Clyde Hall: “Our undergraduate AC years were significantly influenced by the challenges of the Great Depression and the onset of World War II. Translated, this meant greatly decreased student enrollment and the necessity of having a job in order to cover all expenses associated with being a college student (no dormitory expense, no dining hall expense, and minimum association (virtually ‘classroom only’) contact with fellow students. For the fall semester of 1942, I was a fulltime student with a 1:00 p.m. job at a local bank.”
Hall: “Yes, I do remember George Firor as a fellow student. I recall that he was a good student, very personable in the classroom and in ‘between class’ conversations. Because of the demands of the era, my association with Firor was quite limited. During the 1943 spring semester, it was necessary for me to report for active service in the US Army. I had volunteered for army service, rather than awaiting the draft. I believe Firor volunteered about that same time.”
During his time at AC, George Firor was an offensive guard of the 1942 AC football team. From “100 Years, 100 Yards: The Story of Austin College Football:”
“Because so many young men had gone to war, for the first time women out numbered men at Austin College. The daily bold black headlines talked about Americans trapped at Bataan, the battle of the Solomons, and Hitler’s advance across Europe.”
An already depleted squad became even smaller as one Roo after another enlisted and left. After a short season, football was suspended at Austin College because of the war. No games were played in 1943, 1944, and 1945.
Firor pledged Dr. Hall’s Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity, though at the time fraternity activities were minimal. Firor also attended a Kappa Gamma Chi “Sensation” dance and played a leading role in the Slime Association, an organization of men in the freshman class. But by the end of that academic year, the needs of Uncle Sam abroad had become too great. He enlisted with the U.S. Army in the spring of 1943. One of his last days on campus included the dedication of an AC service flag with the names of all 281 Roos serving abroad. Firor’s name is one of the 281 listed.
Firor left Sherman for Fort Bragg (North Carolina) and was assigned to Company H, 3rd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the 101st Airborne. Throughout 1943-44, the 502nd took part in some of the Airborne’s most demanding training in preparation for combat. The 502nd spent much of the year in the Carolinas and Tennessee taking part in war games designed to turn the regiment into an effective fighting unit in Europe.
George Firor’s story in H Company of the 502nd is eerily similar to the story of “Easy Company” of the 506th, as seen in the award-winning HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.” Both regiments were a part of the 101st Airborne Division, jumped together at Utah Beach, fought side-by-side at Carentan, supported each other at Operation Market Garden, and defended Bastogne as one unit during the Battle of the Bulge. Both outfits liberated the Dachau concentration camp near Munich, and secured Hitler’s Eagles Nest command post in Bavaria prior to VE (Victory in Europe) Day. When the war’s end in the Pacific came in August of 1945, both regiments were still in Germany awaiting orders to return home. To watch “Band of Brothers” is to experience the war through the eyes of George Firor.
In Episode 1 of “Band of Brothers,” the 506th trains in Georgia during the summer of 1943 before being shipped to England alongside the 502nd of George Firor. Entitled “Currahee,” this episode tells the story of the formation of Easy Company. Currahee, a Native American word meaning “stands alone,” is the name of the mountain in the camp where Easy Company trained. The word has significance for the 101st Airborne, in that both the paratroopers of the 502nd & 506th do indeed briefly stand alone as they jump behind enemy lines.
The episode begins with Second Lieutenant Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston) and First Lieutenant Richard Winters (Damian Lewis) about to depart England on D-Day (June 6, 1944). They reminisce about the challenges of training that bonded their unit together, before boarding a C-47 aircraft to take off for France on the “Longest Day.” Barely one year removed from his days as a Roo on the campus of Austin College, George Firor boarded a C-47 full of paratroopers from his own Band of Brothers. Alongside 150,000 other Americans, Firor and the 502nd took off and headed south for Normandy, to begin the liberation of Europe on the “Day of Days.”
Tomorrow: Chapter 2 – Days of Days
The HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” will be used to tell the 2022 Memorial Day Roo Tale story of Kangaroo George Firor. His story will be told over 7 chapters in 7 days; the chapter titles come directly from titles of Band of Brother episodes. Chapter 1 will begin on Memorial Day, Monday May 30th. Chapter 7 will end the tale on Sunday, June 5th, the day when Firor and his fellow paratroopers boarded a plane bound for France and D-Day, the “Longest Day.” I highly recommend watching “Band of Brothers” alongside this story.
Chapter 1: Currahee (Monday, May 30th)
Chapter 2: Day of Days (Tuesday, May 31st)
Chapter 3: Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st)
Chapter 4: Replacements (Thursday, June 2nd)
Chapter 5: Bastogne (Friday, June 3rd)
Chapter 6: Why We Fight (Saturday, June 4th)
Chapter 7: Band of Brothers (Sunday, June 5th)
Chapter 2: Day of Days (Tuesday, May 31st)
On September 4, 1943, Firor and the 502nd boarded the SS Strathnaver and headed for England. They arrived in Liverpool on the 18th of October and settled in Berkshire, where their rigorous training continued throughout the fall and winter. In spring, the 502ndbegan to prepare for the liberation of mainland Europe. Operation Albany, otherwise known as D-Day, finally arrived in June. On June 5th, 1944, the Grayson County-born General Dwight Eisenhower made a surprise visit to the Newbury, England launch site to wish the 502nd luck on this most dangerous of missions.
From author Larry Gomley:
“One of the most recognized photos of World War II depicts General Dwight Eisenhower talking with men of the 101st Airborne division on June 5, 1944, the day before the invasion of Normandy. Previously, Eisenhower had been briefed by Air Marshal Leigh-Mallory that the 101st was one of two units that would suffer 80% casualties during the invasion. Eisenhower decided to visit the division in Newbury and talk with the soldiers. Even though his group arrived unannounced and the stars on his automobile had been covered, word quickly spread of his presence. Eisenhower walked among the men asking their names and where they lived. At some point a photo was taken that captured the humanity of the general and the crushing importance of the moment.”
All of the faces to whom Ike is talking have been identified; all are soldiers from the 101st Airborne, 502nd PIR, 3rd Battalion, Company E (~100 troops). To this company, Ike delivered his message: “Full Victory. Nothing Else.” That same evening, Ike spoke with 3rd Battalion Lt. Colonel Robert G. Cole. Cole, George Firor’s Commanding Officer (CO), would later receive the Medal of Honor. George Firor is not pictured as he was in Company H not E (~100 troops). But he was there. Firor, a Roo student in Grayson County, listened to Eisenhower alongside the other ~500 battalion members of his band of brothers.
Firor’s squadron took off from RAF Greenham Common at 22:30 on June 5th, flying southwest over the English Channel at just hundreds of feet over the water. All lights were turned off, and sound reduced to a minimum. Near the Channel Island of Guernsey, they turned Southeast towards the Contentin peninsula. As soon as the aircraft hit the French mainland, bad weather combined with anti-aircraft fire dispersed the formations of C-47s. The drops commenced, often miles off their Drop Zone “A” target. George Firor jumped; his parachute automatically deployed with the sounds of hell erupting all around.
Firor survived the jump, hitting the ground a few minutes later. He immediately began looking for friend or foe with American clickers and the code words “flash” and “thunder.” Firor’s 3rd Battalion Commander Lt. Robert Cole began gathering his men soon after hitting the ground. By the end of June 6th, Firor and 80 men in the 3rd Battalion had regrouped and secured their first objective: taking out German big guns and securing the canals which led to Utah Beach. The actions of the 502nd saved countless lives for the soon-to-arrive troops at Utah Beach, which had a far lower casualty rate than neighboring Omaha Beach.
Episode 2 of “Band of Brothers” tells the story of the 506thand its D-Day jump behind Utah Beach. Entitled “Day of Days,” the 506th is scattered all to hell because of weather and enemy fire. Chaos reigns in darkness as First Lieutenant Richard Winters attempts to find his men while avoiding German patrols. From Winters: “That night, I took time to thank God for seeing me thought that day of days. And I prayed I would make it through D-Day plus one. And I prayed that if somehow I managed to get home again, I promised God and myself that I would find a quiet piece of land someplace and spent the rest of my life in peace.”
Firor’s 502nd suffered the same fate as the 506th, so much so that it is likely Firor temporarily regrouped with elements of the 506th in the days after the June 6th jump. Against the odds, Firor had survived the Normandy jump and had lived to see D-Day plus one. Hundreds of paratroopers from his 502ndRegiment could not say the same. To watch the D-Day jump in Episode 2 of “Band of Brothers” is to experience what Firor endured on the “longest day” of America’s fight in World War II.
Of the five Normandy landing sites, Utah Beach was unique. It was the only landing site on the Cotentin peninsula. The beach was physical separated from the other beaches by miles of rivers, tributaries, and marsh. The only roads between Utah and the other landing sites ran through the town on Carentan. Seizing the town was a top Allied objective after the Normandy landing. As a result, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel ordered his troops to defend Carentan to the last man. Once Utah was secured, the 502ndturned south with a new mission: seize the town of Carentan.
Tomorrow: Chapter 3 – Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st)
The HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” will be used to tell the 2022 Memorial Day Roo Tale story of Kangaroo George Firor. His story will be told over 7 chapters in 7 days; the chapter titles come directly from titles of Band of Brother episodes. Chapter 1 will begin on Memorial Day, Monday May 30th. Chapter 7 will end the tale on Sunday, June 5th, the day when Firor and his fellow paratroopers boarded a plane bound for France and D-Day, the “Longest Day.” I highly recommend watching “Band of Brothers” alongside this story.
Chapter 1: Currahee (Monday, May 30th)
Chapter 2: Day of Days (Tuesday, May 31st)
Chapter 3: Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st)
Chapter 4: Replacements (Thursday, June 2nd)
Chapter 5: Bastogne (Friday, June 3rd)
Chapter 6: Why We Fight (Saturday, June 4th)
Chapter 7: Band of Brothers (Sunday, June 5th)
Chapter 3: Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st)
The task of seizing Carentan fell in part to George Firor’s 3rd Battalion of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR). Firor’s Battalion, led by Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole, was forced to advance under heavy Germany fire along the single road approaching Carentan from the west.
At the town’s entrance, Cole’s battalion was pinned down behind a bridge crossing La Madeleine, a tributary of the Douve river. Reinforcements had yet to arrive and taking the town seemed next to impossible. Heavy fire rained down from a farmhouse hundreds of feet away within the town, leaving Cole with an agonizing decision: stay put and risk being wiped out, or charge into the open field and take the farmhouse. Cole ordered the charge.
“At 06:15, using a smoke screen for concealment, Lt Col. Cole ordered his Executive Officer to pass word to the battalion that it would have to charge the German positions to eliminate them. ‘We’re going to order smoke from the artillery and then make a bayonet charge on the house.’ Cole then told his artillery observer he wanted a smoke barrage. In a few minutes the smoke was being laid in an arc with the farmhouse as its center and the Madeleine River as the boundary on the right and the main road to Carentan as the edge on the left.”
After firing smoke screens, Cole, Firor, and the 3rd Battalion charged the farmhouse. The charge was successful; the 3rdbattalion took the farmhouse and soon occupied the western portion of Carentan. But the costs were extraordinarily high. Casualty (killed & injured) estimates for the 3rd battalion approached 67%. Due to preparation and good fortune, both Firor and Cole survived “Cole’s charge.” The road to Carentan where the charge took place has since been renamed: Purple Heart Lane.
Today, Lt. Col Robert G. Cole is honored at Carentan with a monument at the spot where the charge was ordered. He’s also honored in his home state of Texas with a school: San Antonio Cole High School. Kangaroo George Firor would later receive a purple heart for his bravery in Cole’s charge on Purple Heart Lane.
Entitled “Carentan,” Episode 3 of “Band of Brothers” follows the 506th PIR as they attempt to secure Carentan from the south. The resistance was every bit as difficult as the fight against the 502nd in the west. Major Richard Winters (Damian Lewis) leads his regiment up a road into the city when German forces open up. Winters & Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston) order a charge similar to Cole’s, and the 506th enter the city after sustaining heavy casualties. The 506th eventually meet up with Cole, Firor and the 502nd, where Winters is injured by one of the last pockets of resistance. Both regiments of the 101stAirborne secure the town together at the city center.
The 101st Airborne is honored today for its liberation of Carentan in that same city center. A monument to the regiments stands next to city hall, with both the American and French flags flying together. An inscription on the monument reads: “Carentan. This major town, a key objective of the Normandy Invasion, was liberated by the 101stAirborne Division on the 12th of June 1944. This memorial plaque is placed here in honor of those ‘Screaming Eagles’ who gave their lives in this campaign, and as a token of continuing esteem and friendship for the people of France.”
With the fall of Carentan, Utah Beach was united with Omaha, Gold, Juno, & Sword. Cole was later awarded the Medal of Honor, & the Cotentin peninsula was liberated soon thereafter. After securing a beach head in Western France, Allied forces marched steadily east while the Third Reich retreated to the dense forests of the Netherlands. Paris was liberated in August, the Vichy regime in Southern France collapsed, and Firor and the 502nd returned to Britain for some much-deserved leave. There, they learned about a new operation being planned in September in the Netherlands. If Operation Market Garden were successful, it might “end the war by Christmas.”
Tomorrow: Chapter 4 – Replacements
The HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” will be used to tell the 2022 Memorial Day Roo Tale story of Kangaroo George Firor. His story will be told over 7 chapters in 7 days; the chapter titles come directly from titles of Band of Brother episodes. Chapter 1 will begin on Memorial Day, Monday May 30th. Chapter 7 will end the tale on Sunday, June 5th, the day when Firor and his fellow paratroopers boarded a plane bound for France and D-Day, the “Longest Day.” I highly recommend watching “Band of Brothers” alongside this story.
Chapter 1: Currahee (Monday, May 30th)
Chapter 2: Day of Days (Tuesday, May 31st)
Chapter 3: Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st)
Chapter 4: Replacements (Thursday, June 2nd)
Chapter 5: Bastogne (Friday, June 3rd)
Chapter 6: Why We Fight (Saturday, June 4th)
Chapter 7: Band of Brothers (Sunday, June 5th)
Chapter 4: Replacements (Thursday, June 2nd)
The movie “A Bridge Too Far” tells the story of Operation Market Garden. A British-led effort, Market Garden was designed to drive the Nazis east from the Netherlands into Germany’s Industrial Ruhr Valley. A successful advance would cripple the German war machine, encourage mass surrender, and “end the war by Christmas.” The effort failed, and the war would continue well past Christmas of 1944 into 1945.
Firor and the 502nd participated in Market Garden; their objectives were to the secure bridges and highways in Best, Netherlands which would facilitate the British advance into Germany. The 502nd parachuted into Best on September 19th. At first, resistance was light. But as the 502nd moved south to secure bridges over the Wilhelmina canal, the Germans began to unload their firepower. Firor’s Company H, a unit of ~100 men, became pinned down along the canal amongst mortar, machine gun, and grenade attacks.
One grenade which landed near Firor and his fellow soldiers was smothered by Private First Class (PFC) Joe E. Mann; Mann died instantly. For his actions, Mann was awarded the Medal of Honor. A monument to Mann also stands in Best, Netherlands at the site of his selfless act. That same day, Firor’s Battalion Commanding Officer (CO) Lt. Col. Robert Cole was also killed by enemy fire. Cole was awarded his own Medal of Honor posthumously after the war.
Operation Market Garden is the theme of Episode 4 (“Replacements”) of the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.” The 506th is tasked with seizing the town of Dutch town Neunen, which lies just southeast of Best. Like the 502nd at first landing, resistance is minimal as Richard Winters (Damian Lewis) & Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston) move Easy Company from the liberated town of Eindhoven into German-occupied Neunen. However, Easy Company soon experiences what George Firor’s Company H learned in Best: Germany resistance is becoming heavier as the Allies move closer to the German border. After a protracted fight and a failure to advance, the 506thretreat to Eindhoven as the Nazis retake Neunen.
The Americans in the 502nd & 506thweren’t the only ones struggling to advance. British efforts to enter Germany were also meeting frustrating resistance as Operation Market Garden failed to achieve its objectives. In late September, the Brits returned to England to reassess. The 502ndand 506th instead headed south to Belgium. There, the Americans began preparation for a long winter of inactivity before the inevitable spring offensive in 1945.
In December, both American regiments moved their headquarters to Bastogne, Belgium. They anticipated little action for months, due to worsening weather. Their wait for a German engagement would only last days, however, when Adolf Hitler launched a last gap offensive in the dead of winter. George Firor had miraculously survived training, D-Day, Carentan, and Market Garden. At the Battle of the Bulge, his luck would run out.
Tomorrow: Chapter 5 – Bastogne
The HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” will be used to tell the 2022 Memorial Day Roo Tale story of Kangaroo George Firor. His story will be told over 7 chapters in 7 days; the chapter titles come directly from titles of Band of Brother episodes. Chapter 1 will begin on Memorial Day, Monday May 30th. Chapter 7 will end the tale on Sunday, June 5th, the day when Firor and his fellow paratroopers boarded a plane bound for France and D-Day, the “Longest Day.” I highly recommend watching “Band of Brothers” alongside this story.
Chapter 1: Currahee (Monday, May 30th)
Chapter 2: Day of Days (Tuesday, May 31st)
Chapter 3: Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st)
Chapter 4: Replacements (Thursday, June 2nd)
Chapter 5: Bastogne (Friday, June 3rd)
Chapter 6: Why We Fight (Saturday, June 4th)
Chapter 7: Band of Brothers (Sunday, June 5th)
Chapter 5: Bastogne (Friday, June 3rd)
The Battle of the Bulge caught the Allies completely by surprise. On December 19, 1944, Hitler’s counter offensive rolled west through Belgium. The goal was to reach ports in the Netherlands, disrupt supply lines, split the Allies, and force a stalemate peace. The offensive would fail, but not before taking a serious toll on the 502nd & 506th in Bastogne. After heavy bombardment, the Germans quickly surrounded the city. Their plans called for capitulation of Bastogne before turning their attention west. But the German offensive failed when Firor and his Band of Brothers refused to surrender.
The 502nd was headquartered at Chateau Rolley, located just northwest of the town. From December 19th to December 21st, the Chauteau was hit with the worst the Third Reich had to offer. Artillery, tanks, mortars, even Luftwaffe bombardments from the air were endless. By the end of the three-day siege, German General Heinrich von Luttwitz believed the Americans had seen enough and were ready to throw in the towel. He dispatched a team of negotiators to Chateau Rolley under a white flag with demands for a surrender:
“To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne: The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. The German Commander.”
The reply of General Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne occurred at Chateau Rolley, and has become the stuff of World War II legend:
“To the German Commander. NUTS! The American Commander.”
Firor’s 502nd continued the fight from Chateau Rolley for another week, spending Christmas Day 1944 in the most dire of circumstances. The siege of Bastogne finally ended on December 26th, when General George Patton’s Third Army finally broke through from the south to relieve the “Batted Bastards of Bastogne” who had refused to fall. Their bravery proved decisive in the defeat of the Third Reich’s last gasp, as German forces failed to reach the sea. To this day, Patton’s Third Army claims to have saved Bastogne. To this day, the men of the 101st Airborne (including Firor’s 502nd and the 506th in the miniseries “Band of Brothers”) claim that they didn’t even need it.
The pain of Bastogne is the theme of Episode 6 of the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.” Entitled “Bastogne,” the episode displays the dual misery experienced by the 506th as they cope with the dreadful cold of a Belgian winter while fending off Nazi attacks at the same time. Their horror is only alleviated in part when news arrives of their 101st Airborne General’s iconic response to German demands for surrender.
Patton’s arrival in Bastogne was nevertheless a sight for the sore eyes of McAuliffe, who was honored for bravery by the American General at Chateau Rolley. But Patton’s arrival would not come soon enough for Kangaroo George W. Firor. He died on December 21st at the Chateau, a victim of Germany artillery fire. Firor’s death occurred on day #3 of the three-day siege, when he and his 502nd Band of Brothers refused to be dislodged by a final offensive of a dying, evil regime.
Arnold Kantola was a member of Firor’s 502nd, and wrote about that fateful December 21st. He kept a diary of his time in Bastogne after arriving on the 19th of December. On the 20th, he mentions that the Germans threw everything at them…..tanks, artillery, and infantry. Kantola didn’t expect to survive the night. The next day, the 21stof December, brought snow. According to Kantola, the 502nd was now half starving, half freezing, completely cut off, and desperately hoping for the relief that would come days later.
Today, Bastogne is the site of the “Battle of the Bulge” memorial, which lists the American states which contributed to the defense of Bastogne. On the west side of the memorial pointing towards Chateau Rolley is his home state: “Texas.” Firor’s life sadly came to an end at an heroic last stand at Bastogne, just as the tide of the war began to turn. After the failure of the Battle of the Bulge, German soldiers began to surrender in mass. And the men of the 502nd & 506th began to believe that “they might just survive this damn war.”
Tomorrow: Chapter 6 – Why We Fight
The HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” will be used to tell the 2022 Memorial Day Roo Tale story of Kangaroo George Firor. His story will be told over 7 chapters in 7 days; the chapter titles come directly from titles of Band of Brother episodes. Chapter 1 will begin on Memorial Day, Monday May 30th. Chapter 7 will end the tale on Sunday, June 5th, the day when Firor and his fellow paratroopers boarded a plane bound for France and D-Day, the “Longest Day.” I highly recommend watching “Band of Brothers” alongside this story.
Chapter 1: Currahee (Monday, May 30th)
Chapter 2: Day of Days (Tuesday, May 31st)
Chapter 3: Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st)
Chapter 4: Replacements (Thursday, June 2nd)
Chapter 5: Bastogne (Friday, June 3rd)
Chapter 6: Why We Fight (Saturday, June 4th)
Chapter 7: Band of Brothers (Sunday, June 5th)
Chapter 6: Why We Fight (Saturday, June 4th)
After the Third Reich’s failure at Bastogne, the impending inevitability of the war’s end seemed to take over the 502nd. Winter began to ebb, and the 502nd moved south into Germany. While numerous skirmishes took place in late winter, no major battles were fought. German troops began surrendering in mass as the entire 101st Airborne moved east towards Munich.
On April 29th, the 502nd liberated the Kaufering IV concentration camp, a subcamp of the Dachau complex. Kaufering was “the largest of the Dachau subcamps and also the one with the worst conditions. About half of the 30,000 prisoners died from hunger, disease, executions, or during death marches.” The day after George Firor’s outfit liberated the remaining Jews of Europe, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Both the 502nd & 506th arrived at Kaufering on the same day.
In Episode 9 of “Band of Brothers,” Easy Company of the 506th liberates a Kaufering concentration camp. In the difficult-to-watch episode, Dick Winters (Damian Lewis) and Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston) struggle to comprehend the horror they see upon arrival. They inquire why the prisoners are there and receive a one-word reply of “juden.” Winters instructs his company to not give company rations to the prisoners, as their weakened conditions have overwhelmed their ability to handle massive food intake. Instead, they are told that medical teams and a special recovery diet will soon be on the way.
Episode 9 of “Band of Brothers” ends with Nixon instructing Easy Company of their final mission. They are to head south to secure Hitler’s summer retreat of Berchtesgaden, also known as “Eagle’s Nest.” He tells the 506th that it’s unknown whether remnants of the Third Reich will continue the fight after Hitler’s death or will instead surrender. What is known is that just like D-Day, Carentan, Market Garden, Bastogne, & Kaufering, the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of Kangaroo George Firor will be with Easy Company every step of the way.
War is hell. Conflicts are sometimes just, sometimes unjust. They are always complex. But occasionally they provide moral clarity. George Firor did not live to see his 502nd liberate the death camps of Europe, but many in his band of brothers certainly did. And that event alone is enough to remember “why we fight.”
Tomorrow: Chapter 7 – Band of Brothers
The HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” will be used to tell the 2022 Memorial Day Roo Tale story of Kangaroo George Firor. His story will be told over 7 chapters in 7 days; the chapter titles come directly from titles of Band of Brother episodes. Chapter 1 will begin on Memorial Day, Monday May 30th. Chapter 7 will end the tale on Sunday, June 5th, the day when Firor and his fellow paratroopers boarded a plane bound for France and D-Day, the “Longest Day.” I highly recommend watching “Band of Brothers” alongside this story.
Chapter 1: Currahee (Monday, May 30th)
Chapter 2: Day of Days (Tuesday, May 31st)
Chapter 3: Carentan (Wednesday, June 1st)
Chapter 4: Replacements (Thursday, June 2nd)
Chapter 5: Bastogne (Friday, June 3rd)
Chapter 6: Why We Fight (Saturday, June 4th)
Chapter 7: Band of Brothers (Sunday, June 5th)
Chapter 7: Band of Brothers (Sunday, June 5th)
On May 4th, 1945, the 502nd PIR of Kangaroo George Firor secured Berchtesgaden (Eagle’s Nest), Hitler’s southern headquarters and summer retreat. Nazi Germany surrendered four days later. The 502ndspent the summer of 1945 at Eagle’s Nest, before returning home. As always, Easy Company of the 506thin the miniseries “Band of Brothers” was right by its side.
The events at Eagle’s Nest are depicted in the final episode of “Band of Brothers.” In Episode 10, entitled “Points,” Dick Winters (Damian Lewis) and Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston) celebrate the end of the war with some of Hitler’s finest wine & liquor. Winters delivers the news of V-E Day and Germany’s surrender to his company. The 502nd PIR was there to hear the news as well, and spent the entire summer at Eagle’s Nest before returning home. Sadly, George Firor was not among them.
Dr. Clyde Hall did survive the war after stints in Algeria and Italy. He returned to Sherman to and earned his AC diploma in graduation ceremonies in May of 1946. George Firor earned his diploma in 1946 as well; Firor’s mother traveled to Sherman and accepted his diploma in abstentia. Dr. Hall, who turns 100 this fall, wrote the following to me about Firor, his association with AC as a kid, and Austin College during the World War II years:
Hall: “Thanks Marc. I was a native of Sherman. From birth I heard a good bit of Austin College, particularly from family members. Two Holsapple uncles had graduated from AC, in the early years following WWI. Similarly, an older half-brother had graduated in 1927. A distant cousin, Hugh Wilson, a Presbyterian minister in Texas, was associated with the 1849 founding of AC. My father, a nurseryman and a personal friend of AC’s 1900-1931 President Thomas Clyce, was responsible for the 1924 campus beautification program; many remaining campus trees stem from that program. Two of my children graduated from AC, a few years prior to your 1988 graduation.”
Hall: “Yes, I do remember George Firor as a fellow student. I recall that he was a good student, very personable in the classroom and in ‘between class’ conversations. Because of the demands of the era, my association with Firor was quite limited. During the 1943 spring semester, it was necessary for me to report for active service in the US Army. I had volunteered for army service, rather than awaiting the draft. I believe Firor volunteered about that same time. Until your story, I did not know that he served as a member of the 101 Airborne Division or that he was a D-day participant in Normandy. I also did not know that he was a casualty in the 1944 Battle of the Bulge.”
The 1946 Austin College Chromascope honored Firor and his service in World War II: “Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, George withdrew from college and enlisted in the Army. During the one semester of his freshman year, he had played guard on the football team, was initiated into the Phi Sigma Alpha social fraternity, and took a leading part in all activities of the Slime Association, the organization of men of the freshman class. His death occurred during the Battle of the Belgian Bulge, and the Purple Heart and Star for gallantry were awarded posthumously and presented to his mother.”
Ron Livingston portrayed Lewis Nixon in the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.” Livingston was so moved by his part in the portrayal of Easy Company within the 506ththat he agreed to direct and narrate a documentary about the 502ndof George Firor. Entitled “Brothers in Arms,” Livingston concludes the story with the following:
“It’s been said that the second World War was the singular event of human history, all the world engaged in one titanic struggle. But the war was not won by larger-than-life politicians or generals pushing pieces across a map. But rather through the small, remarkable acts of courage such as those performed by the men of the 502nd. Ordinary men performing the truly extraordinary.”
George Firor’s final resting place is Luxembourg American Cemetery, not far from Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge which took his life on December 21, 1944. Over 5,000 American soldiers are buried there, many of whom gave their lives fighting the last Nazi offensive before the end of the war. Luxembourg American Cemetery is also the final resting place of General George Patton, who arrived in Bastogne just days after Firor’s death. Patton died in an automobile accident in Europe exactly one year after Firor on December 21, 1945.
The HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” concludes with interviews of the actual members of the 506th Easy Company. Babe Heffron channels George Firor when he says “the real heroes are the fellas that are still buried over there and those that came home to be buried here.” Carwood Lipton provides the inspiration for the title of the miniseries when he quotes Shakespeare: “Henry V was talking to his men. He said ‘from this day to the ending of the world, we in it shall be remembered. We lucky few, we band of brothers.’”
The final scene in “Band of Brothers” is a quote from Major Dick Winters. Winters says: “Do you remember the letter that Mike Raney wrote me? You do? Do you remember how he ended it? [He wrote:] I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day, when he said ‘Grandpa, we you a hero in the war?’ Grandpa said no. But I served in a company of heroes.”
16 million Americans served in the military during World War II. Today, just under 200,000 (~1%) remain. Their stories about the conflict which saved much of the world from tyranny are rapidly diminishing. I’m honored I got to tell this story about World War II veteran George Firor, a soldier who fought with a band of brothers against the greatest threat of the 20th century. And a Kangaroo who served in a company of heroes.
