If I’d known about this a little earlier, I would have asked for it as a Christmas gift.
I got an invitation today to have dinner with “Wild Bill” Guarnere up in Philadelphia. Sure, they expect me to pay for it, but it’s still an honor I don’t deserve:
Tickets for the Wild Bill Guarnere Community Dinner, 2010, have gone on sale at http://www.wildbillguarnere.com/dinner2010 Come visit Bill Guarnere in person and spend a weekend in historic Philadelphia! This year we'll be doing a film documentary of the entire weekend, and as always, we'll have great food, great fun, book signings all weekend long, and a chance to sit with Wild Bill and talk in a small, intimate setting! Don't miss out on what may be our last dinner! Dinner Info, 2010 Where: Philadelphia, PA When: Saturday, April 17, 2010, 7:00 PM Cost: Tickets are $50.00 per person. Hotel and all other travel, transportation is not included. Go get your tickets and enlist today! Wild Bill and the Guarnere Family
Bill Guarnere is one of the best-known members of Easy Company (portrayed memorably by Frank John Hughes in the TV series), the 506th PIR, who trained at Toccoa, jumped into Normandy on June 6, 1944, fought across Holland, and then lost his leg to German artillery in the Ardennes while trying to drag his buddy Joe Toye to safety. He earned the sobriquet “Wild Bill,” as I recall, as a result of his exceptional ferocity on D-Day (he had learned, just hours before going into action, that the Germans had killed his brother in Italy). He was the guy who had his doubts about Capt. Winters because “he ain’t Catholic” and “he don’t drink,” but became a loyal admirer after they’d been in action together.
I’ve mentioned before how I’ve often been tempted when visiting Central Pennsylvania to go over to Hershey and shake Dick Winters’ hand — but stayed away because of his well-publicized desire to live the rest of his life in peace if he ever got home alive.
Now, I have an actual invitation to meet one of the Band of Brothers — an invitation I received just because I visited the Guarnere Web site a few years back, but an invitation nonetheless. Now I have another incentive to get a job between now and April — so I can afford to go visit Wild Bill.
I’ve previewed four episodes of “The Pacific,” which HBO will roll out in March. It’s likely the most brutal and realistic depiction of the war ever committed to film. And there are no punches pulled about racism and sexism. The source material is Robert Leckie’s “Helmet For My Pillow” and Eugene Sledge’s “With the Old Breed.” If you’ve read those books, you know what to expect.
Sounds like some books I need to read. About all I’ve read about the ground war in the Pacific is the novels “Battle Cry” and “The Thin Red Line.”
I will look forward with anticipation to the HBO series. Another unsparing book about the Pacific War (though couched in more genteel language) is William Manchester’s GOODBYE, DARKNESS.