216916 William "Wild Bill" Guarnere United States Army 101st Airborne Division from:Philadelphia William "Wild Bill" Guarnere of South Philadelphia, a member of the famed 101st Airborne Division whose World War II exploits were portrayed in the TV mini-series Band of Brothers, died Saturday, March 8, 2014
He didn't talk about the war when his two sons were growing up, even though he organized Army reunions beginning in 1947 and even though he lost his right leg while helping a wounded comrade.
"He never said a word," his son said. "I served in Vietnam in 1967. When I came home, I asked my father what he did in the war. He said, 'The war is over, kid. Forget about it.' "
Forgetting was not an option after writer Stephen Ambrose immortalized the members of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in his best-selling book, later made into the HBO mini-series. The chronicles followed the soldiers from their training in Georgia in 1942 through the harrowing battles they fought across Europe until the war ended in 1945.
As Mr. Guarnere told The Inquirer in 2010, D-Day was not only terrifying but vengeful. He learned of his brother Henry's death at the hands of the Germans in Italy just before parachuting directly into a firefight in Normandy, France.
"I couldn't wait to get off the plane," Mr. Guarnere recalled. "I killed every German I could. That's why they called me 'Wild Bill.' I landed in the middle of a square and they [Germans] were shooting at us. They were kind of scared; we were scared, too."
Mr. Guarnere was instrumental in getting a monument erected in Normandy to honor the leadership of his unit, particularly his former commander, Richard Winters.
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