Brothers In Battle, Best of Friends (Hardcover)

by William "Wild Bill" Guarnere (Author), Edward "Babe" Heffron (Author), Robyn Post (Author) "In South Philadelphia, you didn't survive unless you learned the tricks of the streets..." (more)
Key Phrases: assistant machine gunner, marshaling area, mortar squad, Easy Company, Joe Toye, South Philly (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Journalist Post, on assignment for Philadelphia magazine, met in 2001 with WWII vets Guarnere and Heffron to discuss their service and their portrayal in the soon-to-be-aired HBO miniseries Band of Brothers (based on the book by Stephen E. Ambrose). In this new book, Post has compiled the transcripts of her interviews to provide a personal history of the 101st Airborne Division's Easy Company, as well as the soldiers' own stories of growing up and growing old. Switching off between the two within chapters, Post allows Guarnere and Heffron to share narration duties as they recount their South Philly childhoods, their induction into Easy Company (Guarnere was there for the company's formation; Heffron joined after D-Day) and their work in it, from the disastrous Operation Market Garden to the frozen hell of Bastogne. The men also discuss their post-war lives, and those of their comrades; 60 years after meeting, these two men still call each other nearly every day, and their bond provides the volume its large heart. Both men are quick to point out that they're no heroes, just men with a job to do (despite the fact that they each received, and tore up, exemptions from service); they and their story are both remarkable, and a must-read for anyone who enjoyed Band of Brothers in print or on screen.
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Review
"In this surprisingly good knockoff of Stephen Ambrose's classic Band of Brothers (1992), two members of the legendary E Company give their version of events.

Interviewing Guarnere and Heffron for a magazine article coinciding with the 2001 HBO miniseries, the author realized she had the material for her first book. It reads like oral history, with each man chatting alternately for a few pages, but Post provides the firm editorial hand this approach requires. High- school dropouts from impoverished families in Depression-era Philadelphia, both men quit draft-exempt jobs to enlist in the Army's elite 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Guarnere, who signed up in 1942, delivers a lively account of the brutal, almost sadistic training. A quick learner with a talent for leadership, he was promoted to sergeant before the unit sailed to England in May 1944 to parachute into France the night before the Normandy invasion. Heffron joined his unit as it recuperated in England after the June 6 landing. The men quickly became friends, parachuting into Holland in September for an exhausting three months of fighting in the abortive Operation Market Garden. Their subsequent rest was cut short by December's Battle of the Bulge, and they participated in the legendary relief of Bastogne, where Guarnere was injured and lost a leg. Heffron continued fighting across Germany until the surrender. Each of them delivers a relentlessly gripping account highlighting heroism, sacrifice and terrible suffering without concealing a good deal of bad behavior. (Looting was universal, and paratroopers often killed prisoners.) Both men returned to Philadelphia after the war and revived their friendship, which still endures. A coda recounts the burst of fame they experienced following the 1998 movie Saving Private Ryan (based on a one-paragraph reference in Ambrose's book) and then the HBO series.

Veteran readers will be visiting familiar ground, but it's an irresistible story." -- Kirkus Reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425217280
• ISBN-13: 978-0425217283
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #161,443 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I'm just happy to be alive!", October 22, 2007

By	Gregory Canellis "Student of military history... (Tuckerton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For true Band of Brothers fans, "Wild Bill" Guarnere and "Babe" Heffron need no introduction. Although the foreword by actor Tom Hanks is a sincere and fitting tribute (both men think very highly of Hanks), it was not necessary to help promote this wonderfully written book. Journalist Robyn Post gives us Heffron and Guarnere in the rough with South Philly colloquialisms in tact. Five years in the making, _Brothers in Battle Best of Friends_ (a more fitting title would be impossible to conjure) joins the memoirs of Dick Winters, David Kenyon Webster, Donald R. Burgett, and a host of other histories of the 101st Airborne Division in World War II.

Post brings her readers right into the men's living rooms. One gets the impression that Bill and Babe are sitting across from them in an easy chair sipping a beer, recounting their amazing experiences. Post arranges the book nicely. Though both men grew up only blocks apart in South Philly, they would not meet until Babe joined Easy Company in England after the Normandy battles. Recognizing Babe's South Philly accent (for those who ever had a friend from Philly, you know the accent) the men became fast friends. Guarnere ensured Babe was placed in Joe Toye's squad because he knew Toye would take care of "the dirty rat." Both men soldiered through Holland, the bitter cold and horrendous fighting at Bastogne where both Toye and Guarnere were horribly wounded by the same artillery round and both men lost a leg. Babe then carries the narrative to war's end, while Bill recounts his journey through recovery and the physical and mental readjustments he overcame, all the while "just happy to be alive." Chapters on the men's lives and sixty-two year enduring friendship after the war, their travels back to Europe today, and an Epilogue written by actors Frank John Hughes and Robin Laing ("Bill" and "Babe" respectively) round out the book.

Like the memoirs of Winters and Webster, the book ties up loose ends created by both the written and film versions of Band of Brothers. For example, in the film, Guarnere, played by Hughes goes AWOL from hospital to return to Easy Company just prior to heading to Bastogne. Winters advises Guarnere about taking any more "joy rides" and the film leaves it at that. In the book, Guarnere recounts having been previously shot in the leg by a sniper while riding across an open field on a motorcycle in Holland to check on his men (a scene that would have been an exciting addition to the film). Heffron, never forgetting his Catholic school upbringing, recounts his personal feelings during the liberation of the Landsburg concentration camp, and listening to his inner voice that stopped him from throwing a hand grenade into a house in Germany. Breaking down the door with his rifle butt, Heffron discovered a terrified mother and her small children crouched in a corner. Heffron is still haunted with the thought of what would have happened had he thrown the grenade.

Bill and Babe's message is crystal clear, however: war is hell, and the men do not attempt to sugarcoat that fact. The grim reality of shooting German POWs, alluded to in the film is further confirmed within these pages. Today, when a youngster writes a letter to the pair stating he wants to go off to war and bee "heroes" like them, Bill and Babe reply with an astonished "What? Are you crazy?" Both men survived some of the most brutal combat of World War II, and not a day goes by that they do not think of the friends that were killed. Both men's dry humor shines through as well, and one finds oneself laughing hysterically on one page and welling up in tears on the next. Guarnere repeatedly emphasizes that World War II was won through a team effort of all the combined services, and that he and Babe were just two individual members of that enormous team. Two guys from South Philly, imparting a lifetime of wisdom that we can all benefit from. This book is a must read, and one that will reach further than a circle of loyal Band of Brothers fans!

Greg Canellis
proud son of Sgt. Nicholas Canellis
Company M, 13th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division
March 1941-September 1945 266 days in combat
(deceased 1962)

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars South Philly's Finest, October 3, 2007

By	Anthony W. Coulter (Havertown PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The real hero's of WWII didn't come home according to Babe Heffron. Well Bill and Babe have heroically told the stories of those men for 63 years. Right out of Damon Runyon these two characters, as labeled by a priest, through thick and thin have survived the Depression, Third Reich, health problems and all that life can throw at them. No sissys here, they both are giving and caring beyond the point they would admit. From foxhole to hole in the wall,the story of their loyalty, honesty and true devotion to each other is unparalleled. It is one of the greatest gifts that we have from their generation and it is a testimony that todays society can certainly use. Robyn Post's book has brought to the public the heartfelt tale of two different men who, damn the consequences, are buddies forever.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Title Says It All, November 3, 2007

By	Gregory Oaster (Sharon Hill, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a WWII buff, I watched the HBO series Band of Brothers, and eventually bought the DVD version, and I also read the Stephen Ambrose book prior to watching the series. These are good introduction to this book.

This book gives Bill and Babe's first hand account of what they went through during the war, and how the hardships of battle bonded them together even to this day.

The Ambrose book and HBO miniseries while excellent, they pale in comparison with the story being told in the first person, by men who were actually there.

These are two ordinary guys from South Philadelphia,who never knew each other prior to the war, but because of it are best of friends.

If you want to read an excellent first hand account of two real Band of Brothers, pick up this book. You'll laugh and cry, but most of all you will see how the horrors of war can bond people together.