Book Review: Biggest Brother

Biggest Brother (by Larry Alexander) is the collective thoughts of Major Dick Winters, 101st Airborne, 506th PIR, from the time he entertained thoughts of military service through basic training, jump training, Normandy, Holland, The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's Eagles Nest, to his life afterwards. Even if you're not already familiar in some respect with the book or mini-series Band of Brothers, there's nothing to stop you from picking up this book and figuring out, rather quickly, that Major Winters is as close to an American Hero as there might actually be.

The book starts with some background on his family life, even before he was born. Coming from a hard-nosed, working class family, Winters was born just before the Great Depression. He witnessed the fallout from that - loss of a family business - but never really became bitter. "That's just the way it was," is how he put it and many other things. Once in junior high and high school, he excelled at sports and eventually went on to college - and then the war came calling.

Winters volunteered for the new Parachute Infantry Regiment, and was assigned to Easy Company of the 506th. Under the steel fist of his company commander, Winters and the men of Easy Co. were honed in to the finest group of men in the entire army. It's also where he, as 2nd Lieutenant (and eventually 1st Lt) began to develop in to the natural combat commander that would set him apart from all others. He had a knack for tactics, was an excellent map reader, but most importantly, was a leader the men respected and trusted.

The book draws on letters written back home to friends and family, as well as interviews done for Stephen Ambrose's books and this one. The majority of the book is spent in WWII from Normandy to Austria, when the war ended. It's after this that it tends to fall off a bit, as Winters attempted to bring himself back in to "normal" everyday life - which he did, as promised, for most of the rest of his days.

Towards the end, you even get Winter's thoughts on the book and the mini-series, both of which he was overall pleased with. You even get a bit of a glimpse of him as a celebrity, something that would eventually take it's toll on him. In all, it's a fascinating read for any WWII history buff, though many of Winter's lessons can also be applied to leadership in general.