The Photography

Easy Company 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - In Photographs

Compiled by company historian Jake Powers and providing an outstanding insight into Easy Company, its training and campaigns, the majority of the photographs, maps and artifacts in this edition come from the private collection of Major Richard D Winters. These include a set of photographs Winters acquired from regimental photographer Al Krochka, in return for a German Luger pistol, at the end of the war.

Other photographs were taken by Easy Company soldiers: Amos 'Buck' Taylor used colour Kodachrome film during training at Toccoa and Camp Mackall; Forrest Guth carried Rod Strohl's folding camera into combat on D-Day using a specially sewn-on pocket on his jump suit; Robert 'Burr' Smith captured Easy Company in training using an Eastman Retina 35mm; and Herb Suerth left the line during the Battle of the Bulge to capture his comrades with a 1939 Falcon.

The Contributors

Easy Company 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - In Photographs

Accompanying the photographs are personal recollections of the men of Easy Company, gathered from veterans exclusively for this edition. This 20,000-word original text is accompanied by a Foreword by Tom Hanks and Afterword by Steven Spielberg. Damian Lewis and James Madio - actors who played Richard Winters and Frank Perconte in the Band of Brothers mini-series - also pay tribute to the heroism of the men of Easy Company, emphasising the importance of keeping the memory of these remarkable men alive. 

'What can we make of the men who made up the parachute infantry regiments? Take a company of that or any of the airborne units and you have not just a group of volunteers, but a collection of men who had to train, test, and earn the right to jump out of airplanes in the dark of night, land behind enemy lines, and begin their part of the war in battle and surrounded. These men seemed to have been campaigning for the label of "hero".' - From Tom Hanks' Foreword

'With sincere hopes that you experience similar personal insights, with confidence that you'll find one of these ageing heroes, say thanks and elicit a story of greatness or two before they all disappear from among us, I thank you for reading this book. And I thank you for taking the time to appreciate what they went through during World War II. Those of us who enjoy freedom around the world stand humbly in their giant shadow.' - From Steven Spielbergs' Afterword

The Deluxe Edition

Easy Company 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - In Photographs

The first 350 copies of the edition are Deluxe copies (numbered 1-350 inclusive). These are bound in full leather with the badge of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment gold-blocked on the cover. Rather than a slipcase, copies are housed in a hard-wearing buckram box screen-printed with the golden parachutists artwork. Inside the box, accompanying the book, is a manila envelope - a faithful reproduction of an official US War and Navy Department V-Mail service envelope. Within the envelope are facsimiles of:

1. A V-Mail letter from Bill Lauer, sent January 1945.
2. Major Richard D Winters' military ID card and his original jump certificate.
3. General McAuliffe's Christmas letter to the troops holed up in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.
4. The 506 PIR Second Battalion's 1942 Christmas menu and company roster.

All deluxe copies are also signed by Damian Lewis, who portrayed Major Richard Winters throughout the award-winning HBO TV series Band of Brothers

Limited to just 1,000 copies, every book is numbered and personally signed by at least six of the twenty-three Easy Company veterans involved, including: