It’s interesting with the mythos for Co E of the 506^th.  It really only exists because of the Ambrose hype.

There is always the talk that Co E led the way in Normandy.  Just by looking stats if you minus the plane crash there were much less casualties for Co E than the rest of the Battalion.  Company E was in disarray after everyone on the plane was lost.  They carried the Hq Section for Co E was lost.  This was the men who ran the Company.  The XO Winters went in the plane behind them otherwise the Company was both deaf and blind without the Radios and Runners. 

The men who died in this plane

Company Commander
1^st Sergeant
Operations Sergeant
Communications Sergeant
3 Radio Operators
3 Messengers
The Battalion Runner
Security Detail (4 men)
The Mail Orderly
Company Clerk

In the Band of Brothers HBO series they talk about Co E being the lead Company for attacks.  That was the exact opposite when looking at the stats.  Co D had a much higher rate for casualties then Co E.  The Company was hamstrung because of the loss of the Hq Section.  Co E needed to fill all of the positions lost in the crash and that didn’t happen until they returned to England. 

Interesting too was that Winters was moved up to Company Commander.  Usually the XO would stay in that position and a new CO would come in from Hq Co.  That’s not what happened there though. 

Much of Ambrose’s work from the beginning was suspect even before he received his Ph.D.  Even men from Co E said that Ambrose wasn’t a big fan of what really happened.  Ambrose tried to change our history not just in WWII but in all of his works.  Ambrose along with Galloway has distorted our collective history.  There will be an article about both Ambrose and Galloway down the road apiece.

Brian Siddall
December 15, 2018