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Richard Winters

Richard Davis Winters was a United States Army officer who served as a paratrooper in "Easy Company" of the 506th Infantry Regiment within the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Winters was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his successful command of the assault on Brécourt Manor during the invasion of Normandy.

Early life and education
Winters was born in New Holland, Pennsylvania, to Richard and Edith Winters on January 21, 1918. The family soon moved to nearby Ephrata, and then to Lancaster when he was eight years old. He graduated from Lancaster Boys High School in 1937 and attended Franklin and Marshall College. At Franklin and Marshall, Winters was a member of the Upsilon chapter of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and participated in intramural football and basketball. He had to give up wrestling, his favorite sport, and most of his social activities in favor of his studies and the part-time jobs that paid his way through college. He graduated in June 1941 with a bachelor's degree in economics, earning the highest academic standing in the business college. ==Military service==
Military service
Second World War Training , 1942 Winters wrote in his memoirs that he chose to volunteer for induction under Selective Service after graduating from college and complete the required one year of service rather than waiting for a conventional call-up at a later date that might "interrupt a promising business career," subsequently availing himself of any future service commitment should the United States remain neutral; though Winters "felt a strong sense of duty," he "had no desire to get into the war." Winters was inducted into the Army on August 25, 1941, at the New Cumberland Reception Center near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In September, he was assigned to Camp Croft, South Carolina, for basic training. which were firing onto the causeways that served as the principal exits from Utah Beach. Korean War After his discharge from the Army, Winters worked as a production supervisor for his close wartime friend Captain Lewis Nixon at Nixon's family business, Nixon Nitration Works of Nixon, New Jersey (now Edison Township), rising to become general manager in 1950. On May 16, 1948, Winters married Ethel Estoppey and continued to pursue his education through the GI Bill, attending a number of business and personnel management courses at Rutgers University. In 1951, he and his wife bought a small farm where later they built a home and raised two children. In June 1951, Winters was recalled to active duty in the Army during the Korean War. He was ordered to join the 11th Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but he was given six months to report and in this time he traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak to General Anthony McAuliffe, in the hope that he could convince the Army not to send him to Korea. He explained to McAuliffe that he had seen enough of war and apparently McAuliffe understood his position, but explained that he was needed because of his command experience. Winters then reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he was assigned as a regimental planning and training officer. While at Fort Dix, Winters became disillusioned with his job, finding that he had little enthusiasm for training officers who lacked discipline and did not attend their scheduled classes. As a result, he volunteered to attend Ranger School, where he passed and became a Ranger. He then received orders to deploy to Korea and traveled to Seattle, where, during pre-deployment administration, he was offered the option of resigning his commission, which he accepted. ==Later life==
Later life
In 1972, Winters went into business for himself, starting his own company and selling animal feed products to farmers throughout Pennsylvania. Winters was the subject of the 2005 book Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led the Band of Brothers, written by Larry Alexander. His own memoir, Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters, co-written by military historian and retired U.S. Army Colonel Cole C. Kingseed, was published in early 2006. He also gave a number of lectures on leadership to cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point. On May 16, 2009, Franklin and Marshall College conferred an honorary doctorate in humane letters upon Winters. Despite the many accolades he had received, Winters remained humble about his service. During an interview for Band of Brothers that was both the miniseries' final scene and included in the official HBO companion documentary We Stand Alone Together, Winters quoted a passage from a letter he received from Sergeant Myron "Mike" Ranney: ==Death==
Death
Winters died on January 2, 2011, at an assisted living facility in Campbelltown, Pennsylvania, aged 92. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease for several years. Winters was buried in a private funeral service, which was held on January 8, 2011. He was buried in the Bergstrasse Evangelical Lutheran Church cemetery in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, next to his parents in the Winters' family plot. His grave is marked "Richard D. Winters, World War II 101st Airborne". His wife Ethel died on April 11, 2012 at Country Meadows, Hershey. She was 89 years old. Memorials On June 6, 2012, the 68th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the Richard D. Winters Leadership Monument, featuring a bronze statue of Winters by sculptor Stephen C. Spears was unveiled near the village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, France . Winters agreed for the statue to bear his resemblance on the condition that the monument would be dedicated to all junior officers who served and died during the Normandy landings. Among the attendees were World War II veterans, former Pennsylvania governor and first Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Maj. Gen. James C. McConville, the 101st Airborne's commanding officer. During celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the landings in 2014, a party including Lewis, fellow Band of Brothers cast members Ross McCall (Technician 5th Grade Joseph Liebgott) and James Madio (Technician 4th Grade Frank Perconte) and Private 1st Class Jim "Pee Wee" Martin of G Company, 3rd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment laid a wreath there. A cast of the sculpture was placed in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, in a plaza on the Ephrata-to-Warwick linear trail park near Railroad Avenue and East Fulton Street, where Winters lived with his family from ages two to eight. That statue was dedicated on May 25, 2015. Some of Winters' World War II uniforms and memorabilia are on display at two museums: • December 44 Museum (Battle of the Bulge – La Gleize, Belgium) • Gettysburg Museum of History (Gettysburg Pennsylvania) In 2019, a US merchant vessel owned by Sealift Incorporated, was renamed the M/V Maj Richard Winters. ==References==
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