Richard Winters

[nozenfordaddy]

Disclaimer:This journal is intended for roleplaying purposes at hearts_andminds. Band of Brothers, Richard Winters and Damian Lewis are NOT mine. No copyright infringement is intended.

Name: Captain Richard D. Winters

Character Fandom: Band of Brothers

Canonical Point of Entry: After the attack on Foy

Physical Description: Athleticly built, red hair, green eyed, six foot of solid muscle.

Background: Richard Winters was born January 21, 1918 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and grew up in nearby Ephrata. He was the eldest child and only son of a middle class, church going family - from his mother he learned to respect women and from his father he learned many sage bits of advice.

He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1941 with a degree in business, while in college Winters painted electrical towers for spending money, to buy books and to help his family. Following graduation he enlisted in the army in order to shorten his time in service, at the time one year of service was mandatory and he was hoping to forestall getting drafted and interruping his new career.

Upon graduation from basic training, he was selected to attend the Army Officer Candidate School after completeing OCS he volunteered for paratrooper training and was station at Camp Toccoa. Pearl Harbor had shown the country that they were not going to be able to stay out of the war in Europe and Winters knew that he was in for the long haul. One of the first and original members of Easy Company he initially serving as a platoon leader and was soon appointed Company Executive Officer and received a promotion to first lieutenant.

The company underwent training, frequently hard, always demanding and generally disagreeablbe thanks to Captain Sobel, who was a small, petty, vindictive man. Winters did what he could to spare the men the Captains worst wrath and placed himself in conflict with the CO while proving to the men that he was an officer to be trusted.

The company was shipped to England to prepare for D-Day, as the training became more intense and the focused on field exercises, mock attacks and staged battles Captain sobel's shortcomings became more and more obvious, as did his dislike and suspicion of Winters. In an incident that Sobel engineered Winters was found to be derelict in his duty and not following a direct order - he was offered punitive punishment of losing his weekend pass (which he never used anyway) or a court marshal. Much to Sobels surprise Winters chose the latter. He was reassigned for a time as Battalion Mess Officer, a job that infuriated him as he saw it as a position given to soldiers without ability.

Simmering grievances of Easy Company's NCOs erupted into a mutiny or sorts, and despite Winters uring the men not to do so all of the Company NCO's resigned or asked for transfer from Easy Company siting Sobel's lack of leadership ability in the field. The NCO's were punished, dropped in rank, or transferred as was Captain Sobel. Winters was restored to the Company as XO and First Lieutenant Thomas Meehan took command shortly before D-Day.

At approximately 1:00 a.m. on June 6, 1944, the invasion of Normandy began for Winters, under heavy fire he jumped from his transport plane, landing hard and losing his equiment and weapon in the descent he was armed only with his jump knife well behind enemy lines uncertain of his position as they had jumped early to avoid enemy fire.

He was able to orient himself, collect several paratroopers, including members of the 82nd Airborne, and proceed toward the unit's assigned objective near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. Without knowing the fate of Lieutenant Meehan who had died when his plane was hit, Winters became the de facto commanding officer of Easy Company for the duration of the Normandy campaign and led an attack at Brécourt that destroyed a battery of German 105 mm howitzers which were firing onto the causeways that served as the principal exits from Utah Beach. After that the company moved on inton Carentan, by the time they returned to England to resupply they were at half strength, Winters wrote letters home to each man's family.

During Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands in September, Winters led a successful attack at a crossroads on Hells Highway, a surreal experience where he took chances that could very easily have killed him 20 members of Easy Company went against a force of 200 German soldiers with minimal casualties of their own. Winters was promoted to Captain and moved from command of Easy Comapny to act as part of Battallion Staff. It would be the last time he fired his weapon in battle, though he did not realize it at the time.

Shaken by his experiences and unhappy away from his men Winters chafed at battallion but knuckled down to do what he could to ensure strong leadership and support for the Companies in his battalion. On December 18th the 101st Airborne was moved by truck to the Bastogne area, Winters (as 2nd Battalion XO) and Dog, Easy and Fox Companys held the line northeast of Bastogne near the town of Foy. They had little in the way of supplies, lacking food, winter clothes, socks, and even ammo as they dug in for a defense of their position that would last nearly a full month.

After being relieved, Easy Company once again at half strength, led an attack on Foy, their inept commander, Norman Dike, froze in the field and Winters replaced him with the first officer he saw - Ronald Speirs and Winters was unofficially made the commander of 2nd Battalion.

Personality: It has been said that Richard Winters is a man with no faults, and no vices. It isn't true. He has a weakness for ice cream, and little girls that remind him of his baby sister Ann. He likes music, though he can't dance and sports, which he excells at.

He can be demanding but expects no more of anyone else than he expects of himself. He expects greatness, frowns on mediocrity (though he was a pat master as a boy) and loves each and every one of his men - even the ones he doesn't like.

He could be described as a natural born soldier but he isn't. Once thrust into the war to end all wars he did what he believes any man should do, he led.

He is haunted not by the men he's killed (seven in all) but by those he's lost. He dreams of battles and scenarios over and over forcing out pleasanter dreams of a future and a home until he comes up with a solution to the next problem. He feels guilty for not thinking faster, knowing more or doing more when his men are killed or injured.

He is a leader among men who are boys and is barely a man himself though he feels older than his twenty seven years.