Lewis Nixon chose a path in life that reflects how he didn't always think of himself. One can only ponder the life experiences that drew him and Dick Winters together. It was warming to see how Band of Brothers exemplified the relationship between these two men. Not a single one of us is perfect. Lewis Nixon is a hero for his service to this great country, and I look forward to seeing the brothers many times again.
Don't know the backstory, he may have been a mutt, but his old lady leaving him during the war was low. My grandfather was a drunk, WW2 vet as well, the Pacific. He never put his hands on my grandmother but he would say some awful things from what I am told. They stuck it out, he quit the bottle due to health reasons, were married 45 years until his death. God rest his soul. These men had demons unimaginable. Still no excuse.
@@pmccoy8924Your grandfather's story is my father's story. My father came back to the US with half his unit gone. He turned to the bottle and that eventually killed him in 1986.
I loved Ron Livingston when he acted in "Office Space", but he acted the same way in "Band of Brothers", and it looked really weird, always acting like an nonchalant, and aloof solder made no sense in this role.
I don't know how many times I have watched Band Of Brothers. As a "Boomer" it is, of course, one of my absolute favorite works on television. One of the best scenes in the series was when Nixon receives his divorce papers and says to Winters "She took the dog. It was my dog." Ouch! Such disrespect. RIP Captain Nixon.
Nixon moved to East Brunswick New Jersey and worked at the family nitrate company. He owned a Beautyful home on a lake that was later purchased and turned into an Elks Lodge. I was a member of the Elks at this lodge and spent many years there.
@@Kitiwake It was a racist and sexist Christian nationalist organization created as a club for minstrel show(blackface) performers and they didn't let black people in until the the 1970s and women until the 1990s. Now they try to gloss over their hateful history by doing charity work, kinda like how meth-dealing biker clubs(gang) give out toys to kids.
Winter’s & Nixon’s Breckcourt Manor assault during D-day, saved hundreds (if not thousands) of lives and is still taught at West Point. Freakin legends!
@@miguelservetus9534Nothing I've seen indicates Nixon was part of it being he was already the regiment's intelligence office before they even went to Europe.
@@miguelservetus9534The television show makes it seem like the battle was over when Nixon arrived with the tanks. In real life Winters needed them to finish the job.
Lewis Nixon. Intelligent, hardworking, capable, affable and alcoholic. Herbert Sobel. Intelligent, hardworking devoted, abrasive and not chemical dependent. Along with Richard Winters all shared many favorable characteristics. There were unfavorable ones too, some of which would be worked around while others could not. It's remarkable how men so similar could be so different.
Thanks for the biography. I watched BoB in 2006, and just bought the dvd set this week. One of my favorite movies. Glad to be able to see such great documentaries and documentaries dramas I’m 70, our family lost a great uncle in WWII Italy in January 1944. These great films help me relate to what the soldiers had to endure and their sacrifices
@@veramae4098 my late “Great Uncle” who was killed in action, private Everett H. Glenn , died Jan 3 or 7, 1944 in Italy There’s a couple internet items attached to his name, one of on find a grave, one is a YT video.
In the series when Winters is about to run out towards Foy and Spiers takes over watch Nixon. He was about to follow Winters. Now I know its a film but I like to think that was true. It certainly showed his loyalty to his good friend.
Imagine If the got the whole squad together again to film their reunions and we’d see the characters age as the years continued. Same actors would be awesome. When the mini series ended we always wanted more.
I saw an extended interview on UA-cam with Lynn "Buck" Compton who did not think much of Lewis Nixon. Quote: "He was a prick." So it wasn't all love and flowers over there. Lt. Ed Shames also didn't have much good to say of his fellow officers and he was rather rudely portrayed in BoB. Nixon was very good at his job by most accounts, though. And busting from regimental S2 to battalion level wasn't that big a deal. Col. Bob Sink wax called "Bourbon Bob," so make of that what you will. Remember, most of these men suffered greatly and we owe them everything.
Yep. His reassignment was more of a blessing than a curse, as it let him carry on being a good organiser and planner without the pressure of dealing with Regimental nonsense. I get the feeling he wasn't someone very good at the whole pomposity of being a Regimental officer, and much preferred being left alone to get on with his job (while getting shit-faced). I can't really blame him.
That was exceptionally well written and delivered. You can have been cynical or judgmental about Capt Nixon, but you took the high road. You have a real gift for this.
I disagree. This was a disappointing account with little additional information that was already portrayed in the BoB extra DvD. Only the end photos were new. The narrator poorly delivered the content, mispronouncing even the name “Blanche”.
Someone doing their PhD had the idea to ask soldiers if they'd ever fired a shot ... or not. A large number of soldiers they always carefully missed. They didn't want to kill anyone.
I’ve honestly been enjoying these videos on the members of easy company. Thank you for creating them. I love the band of Brothers mini series that HBO put together on them. the actors that portrayed the real life paratroopers did an amazing job.
I always wondered what happened to the phony patrol report he sent to BN HQs before they left Hagenau....most likely it was just treated like any other normal report, filed, and then after the war just lost to history with all the other millions of daily reports submitted by officers during WWII.
I also want to draw attention to the depiction of Roy Cobb in BoB. By some accounts, he was quite a personable fellow the majority of the time. He had prior service in Africa during the Second World War and his ship coming home was struck by a torpedo and sank - he survived (obviously). He (and Lt Norman Dike, for that matter) pretty clearly had some mental illness going on behind the scenes: something that BoB fails to depict. The reasons for these depictions is that the book which the show is based on is inspired by a handful of the members that were in the company. If the handful of people didn’t like you very much, then you were going to be depicted poorly in the miniseries. It’s unfortunate it turned out this way, really.
A lot has been made of the Brecourt Manor action. It was a great feat. However, I attended West Point in the early 1970s. I never remember hearing about Dick Winters or Brecourt Manor during that time. We were never to my knowledge taught about attacking a gun emplacement as the Brecourt guns were attacked. I do not mean to denigrate what Easy Co did in that attack but to state that it is a tactic still taught at West Point today is something I think the TV series took “poetic license” to do. It simply was not taught when I was there. Don’t forger Ambrose’s book Band of Brothers came out long after I graduated in 1974!
This video sounds like complete AI narration and it substandard. But whatever...Not a strange thing to never fire your weapon in combat. When my company parachuted into Omar Torrojos Airport during the panama invasion in DEC 1989, upon return, two soldiers admitted never having fired their weapons. Both said that whenever engagements happened there was so much fire they saw no need.The other, said that when he was drawing a bead on one enemy, that enemy was shot by another squad member before he could pull the trigger. So...that happens. Neither one was in a squad that cleared rooms or buildings.
He was on the frontlines constantly, but as the intelligence officer was never tasked with leading an assault, as his duties didn't allow for it. The only times he came close were D-Day, when most of the paratroopers either lost their gear or were scattered all over the place, and Operation Varsity, when his plane was hit before reaching its destination.
Sobel was not demoted. He was reassigned. Not because of his "strict leadership". Those of you whom are prior service can attest to the fact that leadership is never reassigned or demoted for being strict. In fact, being strict is imperative to molding troops. Also, for the record, I have read and heard it said that Sobel never recovered from losing Easy. Absolutely not true. By all accounts, he was a good many and his children called him the "life of the party".
If it's true the NCOs risked their careers (and lives - mutiny in wartime is punishable by death) by taking a stand and refusing to follow Sobel into combat, then any reasonable person can fill in the rest as to the whys and hows of his "reassignment". It's extremely unlikely these tough men exhibited what amounts to a hissy fit all because Sobel was "too tough on them". As for his children's opinions, of course they would be biased. All that said, Sobel, to his credit, toughened the men up to go into war. He just wasn't equipped to lead them through it.
@@Finians_Mancave Sobel couldn't accurately read the military maps. That was a critical skill for a platoon commander and that's why he was reassigned.
Unless I missed something in the book Band of Brothers Nixon never served in a line company in Europe and was always in the rear as a member of 2nd Battalion staff. While Nixon and Winters were good friends make no mistake Lewis Nixon should never be compared to Dick Winters when it comes to being a soldier in combat
While my father (USMC WW2 and Korea), the greatest ever, was of that generation, he would say that your statement was not valid. There were bums, Reprobates, cowards etc. The time and circumstances were unique and hopefully will never be repeated. But to keep idolizing them as a whole serve no purpose but to create a false feeling. Maybe you are the greatest, if you live a good and moral life.
I love these videos. BUT, can we PLEASE see more pictures of the SOLDIERS than the ACTORS!!! PLEASE! Its disrespectful. Include a few pictures of the actors, but not this many. After all, this video is about the soldier is it?
@@IFist Agree with your sentiment entirely, but do a simple Google search and you probably get a 100 to 1 actor to real vet pics. Not everyone puts all their photos out into the public for all to see - especially that older generation of vets.
Cameras were expensive back then and shared amongst their friends. My father fought in the Pacific and I only have a handful of pics he had and they weren't of him, they were of where he was in New Guinea and Admirality Islands. My dad was in the 503rd Special Forces.
Kind of dumb, "his decision to join the Army would change his life forever....um yeah thats true with literally every single person who joins the military
True. But Winters rated him very highly, saying he never showed fear despite how bad the situation got, and was always able to think quickly and clearly when the shit hit the fan. I also wonder how difficult it was for him as the Intelligence Officer- he was constantly on the frontline, but never got to go into an assault with the men. We get an idea of how hard that might have been when Winters was made Major and desperately wanted to be the one to lead the assault on Bastogne, but Nixon had to deal with that throughout the entire war. Difficult to be friendly with people you know are doing all the fighting, when all you can do is watch and hope they don't hold it against you.
You can't forget that in those days it would have been natural for a man of Nixon's background- very aristocratic- to be a, well, snob. Today he wouldn't get away with it, but those were less democratic times. Also, because Winters was careful to keep himself from being too chummy with the enlisted, it's clear why he and Nixon would be natural allies.
Nixon was a raging alcoholic . The picture of him with a case of liquor bottles, completely staggeringly drunk and hing over simultaneously, is telling. Sobel didn’t drink and was despised. Nixon was routinely wasted and impaired in his job, but he was loved. Its a strange world.
@@sciencewarsveteran6424I was about to say that. In my workplace the "crazy" dudes are way cooler, easy going than the religious ones that dont drink, those last ones are full of prejudice, little games and hipocrisy.
God looks out for drunks and fools.Walked away from 4 combat jumps. Nixon was a great Officer and Soldier and served his country well. A long post war life and a few good friends to talk over his grave, winner winner, chicken dinner.
Rings true as I'm both both a veteran decorated for Gallantry and was a drunk off duty and had at least 4 near death experiences over 2 decades of service with 10 of those on frontline operations
There's a truth unrealized in the portrayals of the 101st. They saw action from June 1944 until April 1945. Less than a year of deployment, and less than 180 days of actual frontline service (closer to 70 days of actual combat) during the European Theater of World War 2. Yes, heroic. Yes, some of the most pivotal battles. But let's take the 1st Infantry Division; First seeing combat in November 1942. Africa, Sicily, Italy before the 101st ever left the United States. Airborne... Okay. The 82nd, combat jumps starting in April 1943, well over a year before the 101st left the US. Two combat jumps behind enemy lines while the infamous "Easy Company" ever left the training areas. During D-Day, the 82nd (on their 3rd combat jump) had harder targets, further from the coast, and actually captured substantially more objectives, and held them longer than the 101st. Market Garden... The 101st was dropped the closest to friendly lines, and all resistance (which they immediately retreated from) already ran over the 82nd and the British 1st Para (neither of whom retreated until days later and only after repeated direct orders to do so). Battle of the Bulge... The 101st had tank support and farmhouses to shelter in... The 82nd was in the woods with no fall back positions (and no tank support nor buildings to shelter the injured )and endured the full brunt of the German Mechanized "Northern Group", and never lost an inch, while the 101st repeatedly collapsed into a smaller and smaller perimeter, whilst only getting fragments of the flanking German army's main effort (, which was to the north). While the 506th was drinking wine at "the eagles nest" the 82nd was in fierce combat overtaking the Ruhr Valley (with the 1st ID), losing more men than the 101st lost during D-Day. So yay.... Tip of the spear. Vietnam.... Oh... Those were all non-airborne qualified draftees. Modern conflicts. The prestigious NOT airborne "Air Assault" division.... Only the "assault" part is a misnomer, as mechanized troops actually utilized helicopter insertions substantially more than the 101st ever did. But ...yay!! Not airborne. Fewer helicopter "air assault" insertions than non "air assault" units, largest Infantry Division in the regular army... But.... Yay.
Were you a member of the 101st or assigned to keep their positions from falling into German hands? I have read and seen many interviews with the men of the 101st. There isn’t a single mention of tanks, because there weren’t any. This is WHY Patton was ordered to disengage from combat around Hagenau and preceded at all haste to relieve the 101st at Bastogne. At one point during the siege ALL companies of the 101st were down to two rounds per man; they were out of rations and were stretched thin due to frostbite and wounds since the Germans shelled their positions hourly. I would love to see your references for this utterly fantasy based diatribe. It doesn’t match the official Army history of the 101st or the autobiographies and recollections of the veterans of the 101st at Bastogne.
@@stevehicks8944 What are you reading? Basing your opinion on any individual's perspective isn't automatic historical fact. This is fact; The 10th Armored Division along with remnants of the 9th Armored Division, had over 40 tanks to support the 101st during the siege of Bastogne. They were used expertly to quickly reinforce attacks all around the the MLR, They were so effective that the tankers were calling themselves the "fire brigade". This isn't a secret, and is easily found with minimal research. Plus, the 705th Armored Tank Destroyer Battalion equipped with the very effective M18. This was common knowledge, and was depicted in movies the called Battleground and Battle of the Bulge. Not to mention there were also three full Artillery Battalions (Heavy) with anti aircraft half-tracks and multiple fast firing 57mm anti-tank guns to support over three dozen 155mm howitzers. These howitzers were strategically placed and are recorded as firing over 2,000 shells in a direct-fire role alone. Yes, ammunition and fuel was finite, and at times supplies were perilously low. The sacrifice and struggle that all of those men experienced is worthy of very honored remembrance. But it should be remembered accurately. Bastogne is a large city (for the time & area) and wasn't ONLY shivering guys in the woods shooting rifles and throwing grenades. Units were rotated every few days from the front lines to shelter in houses. And at no time were "all" of the 101st down to two bullets per man. That is absolutely inaccurate. Yes, after strong attacks, specific units were very low on ammunition for a few hours... but there was a meticulous redistribution process of available assets, not to mention hundreds of airdrops and the recovered US equipment from the initial German spearhead.
As an Intelligence Officer, his job wasn't to fight (similar to when Winters was made major: never fired his gun again), but he spent a lot of time on the frontlines because that's what his job demanded.
@@pagodebregaeforro2803 I was not referring to the clarity of his speech. He speaks in a monotone without any phrasing or nuance in his speech - he sounds as if he is an AI-programmed robot. Native English speakers do not sound like this when they talk or converse with one another.
6:44 I've been very curious about that photo of Nixon in bed surrounded by alcohol (he really resembles Livingston here). Those are surely bottles of wine or champagne, right? I've seen it captioned as his Vat 69 stash online, but from my limited research, none of those bottles resemble Vat 69. In fact, with the image blown up like this, I see a muselet on the bottle he's grabbing.
Are you unfamiliar with this story? The photo of him surrounded by booze is taken the day after they found Goering's Wine Cellar right when Germany surrendered. It was mostly wine and champagne he drank that night, and no, Goering didn't drink the VAT.
in the series he was always drinking, sleeping and feeling miserable. I really felt bad that such more corageous and good soldiers were killed but he, who done nothing (at least in the series) survived.
Not every soldier need to be a doorkicker badass. He was an intelligence and operations officer. If you thought an army don't need intelligence or operations planning to be effective, you have no right to offer any opinion.
@@mad_max21 well at least in the series, he was a useless, drunken, bitter officer, who`s primary motivation was to find another bottle of whisky. If this was true, is a tragedy that men like John Basilone died, and men like Nixon survived.
You cannot, and should not, judge the entirety of these men's service and lives based on a couple hours of dramatic recreations! For that matter what have you done that put you in a position to do that? On a positive note; if you were to read some of their autobiographies or other source material or talk to soldiers, you won't get a much better well-rounded View. For example; Guys like Nixon, and Webster because they had been to Europe before, and had linguistic abilities made other solid contributions to the success of the company. That Artillery Map they found and then delivered had a huge impact.
@jackprescott9652 They had a few short hours to pack 2 years elapsed time, and some of the most complicated battle situations to mostly clueless American viewers. Go read/listen to a Book. 🫡
What the 506th did is nothing compared to what was happening in the pacific. Not to take away from what the Europe guys did but the pacific was something so much different. Also the pacific in keeping with the “saving private Ryan” tradition is about the enlisted man BoB is too much about officers which is antithetical to the spirit of the age. The common Everyman. The pacific is a far better show the marines that fought there were exposed to an all together different horror that was “the pacific”. No comparison easy was scared to go to Japan and fight the nips
He is buried at Hollywood Hills Forrest Lawn (Los Angeles). Thank you for your service. Glad you found true love. To the greatest generation!
Man that role was perfectly cast! Ron Livingston was superb…as was Damian Lewis as Winters…
Lewis Nixon chose a path in life that reflects how he didn't always think of himself. One can only ponder the life experiences that drew him and Dick Winters together. It was warming to see how Band of Brothers exemplified the relationship between these two men. Not a single one of us is perfect. Lewis Nixon is a hero for his service to this great country, and I look forward to seeing the brothers many times again.
Don't know the backstory, he may have been a mutt, but his old lady leaving him during the war was low. My grandfather was a drunk, WW2 vet as well, the Pacific. He never put his hands on my grandmother but he would say some awful things from what I am told. They stuck it out, he quit the bottle due to health reasons, were married 45 years until his death. God rest his soul. These men had demons unimaginable. Still no excuse.
@@pmccoy8924Your grandfather's story is my father's story. My father came back to the US with half his unit gone. He turned to the bottle and that eventually killed him in 1986.
@@galejennings1879 poor fella. Hope is resting easy. War is hell.
He was demoted for repeated failure to file his TPS reports.
He also kept forgetting to put the cover sheets on the TPS reports even he got the memo.
LOL!
It always happened on a Monday!
It's unfair, he was a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.
I loved Ron Livingston when he acted in "Office Space", but he acted the same way in "Band of Brothers", and it looked really weird, always acting like an nonchalant, and aloof solder made no sense in this role.
I don't know how many times I have watched Band Of Brothers. As a "Boomer" it is, of course, one of my absolute favorite works on television. One of the best scenes in the series was when Nixon receives his divorce papers and says to Winters "She took the dog. It was my dog." Ouch! Such disrespect. RIP Captain Nixon.
She hates that dog! Lol
@@PennelopeWhitmore : Ha Ha - I forgot that part. Thanks for the follow up!
RIP
Lewis Nixon III
(1918-1995)
Nixon moved to East Brunswick New Jersey and worked at the family nitrate company. He owned a Beautyful home on a lake that was later purchased and turned into an Elks Lodge. I was a member of the Elks at this lodge and spent many years there.
What do Elks do?
@@Kitiwake A charity organization.
@@Kitiwake
It was a racist and sexist Christian nationalist organization created as a club for minstrel show(blackface) performers and they didn't let black people in until the the 1970s and women until the 1990s. Now they try to gloss over their hateful history by doing charity work, kinda like how meth-dealing biker clubs(gang) give out toys to kids.
RIP Captain Lewis Nixon
Winter’s & Nixon’s Breckcourt Manor assault during D-day, saved hundreds (if not thousands) of lives and is still taught at West Point. Freakin legends!
Was Nixon involved in Bretoncourt? The book and movie imply otherwise.
@@miguelservetus9534Nothing I've seen indicates Nixon was part of it being he was already the regiment's intelligence office before they even went to Europe.
@@miguelservetus9534Winters & Nixon directed two tanks to knock out the remaining enemy machine gun nests. It was a three hour battle.
@@miguelservetus9534The television show makes it seem like the battle was over when Nixon arrived with the tanks. In real life Winters needed them to finish the job.
@@miguelservetus9534whilst Nixon played no actual combat role he did run. 2 or 3 miles with that map Winters found and took it to Division HQ.
Lewis Nixon. Intelligent, hardworking, capable, affable and alcoholic. Herbert Sobel. Intelligent, hardworking devoted, abrasive and not chemical dependent. Along with Richard Winters all shared many favorable characteristics. There were unfavorable ones too, some of which would be worked around while others could not. It's remarkable how men so similar could be so different.
Traumas are always The background. Only thing that matters If the Job gets done.
They all did their bit.
Thank you, Captain Nixon. Please RIP.
Thanks for the biography. I watched BoB in 2006, and just bought the dvd set this week. One of my favorite movies.
Glad to be able to see such great documentaries and documentaries dramas
I’m 70, our family lost a great uncle in WWII Italy in January 1944. These great films help me relate to what the soldiers had to endure and their sacrifices
What was your uncle's name? I'll say it aloud.
@@veramae4098 my late “Great Uncle” who was killed in action, private Everett H. Glenn , died Jan 3 or 7, 1944 in Italy
There’s a couple internet items attached to his name, one of on find a grave, one is a YT video.
Ron Livingston is underrated
Only in your eyes 😂
He has a new show on Netflix. It's ok.
Your comment is overrated
@@TiffMcGiff I'm sure you're overrated !
In the series when Winters is about to run out towards Foy and Spiers takes over watch Nixon. He was about to follow Winters. Now I know its a film but I like to think that was true. It certainly showed his loyalty to his good friend.
setting the record straight , thank you !!
A wonderful tribute ❤
Imagine If the got the whole squad together again to film their reunions and we’d see the characters age as the years continued. Same actors would be awesome. When the mini series ended we always wanted more.
This was awesome. Thanks for posting.
Smal point of fact: it was Göring’s wine collection; Hitler did not drink.
Ya he was just a drug addict.
That's what they said in the series it was gorings
It's surprising that Nixon didn't die of alcohol poisoning !
Great man. portrayed by a great actor !
RIP Lewis Nixon.
You surely earned it !
I was in West Germany. Easy to become a boozer there. In the mid '80s you could get a six pack of German beer for $1.00.
I was in Furth Germany in 1988-89 and drank my share of German beer!
I saw an extended interview on UA-cam with Lynn "Buck" Compton who did not think much of Lewis Nixon.
Quote: "He was a prick."
So it wasn't all love and flowers over there.
Lt. Ed Shames also didn't have much good to say of his fellow officers and he was rather rudely portrayed in BoB.
Nixon was very good at his job by most accounts, though.
And busting from regimental S2 to battalion level wasn't that big a deal.
Col. Bob Sink wax called "Bourbon Bob," so make of that what you will.
Remember, most of these men suffered greatly and we owe them everything.
Yep. His reassignment was more of a blessing than a curse, as it let him carry on being a good organiser and planner without the pressure of dealing with Regimental nonsense.
I get the feeling he wasn't someone very good at the whole pomposity of being a Regimental officer, and much preferred being left alone to get on with his job (while getting shit-faced). I can't really blame him.
Well there’s true of any group of people. There will be people that don’t get on.
@@peterclarke7240 that’s not what Compton described but whatever
Everyone has their flaws, and not everyone gets along with anyone. I do care much if Nixon was despised no more than Sobel lol
@@peterclarke7240o
That was exceptionally well written and delivered. You can have been cynical or judgmental about Capt Nixon, but you took the high road. You have a real gift for this.
I disagree. This was a disappointing account with little additional information that was already portrayed in the BoB extra DvD. Only the end photos were new. The narrator poorly delivered the content, mispronouncing even the name “Blanche”.
Its like he just watched band of brothers and repeated the scenes he is in.
It was a robot voice! Several mispronounced words gave that away eg I V instead of Ivy.
Good casting of actors that look similar
Wow casting was on point
In the series, Nixon said that he never fired his gun even once in the entirety of WWII.✌️
As an intelligence officer he wasn't supposed to. And because he never needed to, that means everyone else around him did their job
@@rogerwilco5918 Yes and yet he succumbed to alcoholism and probably suffered from PTSD too. War is really a terrible enterprise.✌️
Pretty wild he spent that much time at the front lines and never fired a single shot. His war was planning and organization
Someone doing their PhD had the idea to ask soldiers if they'd ever fired a shot ... or not.
A large number of soldiers they always carefully missed. They didn't want to kill anyone.
I’ve honestly been enjoying these videos on the members of easy company. Thank you for creating them.
I love the band of Brothers mini series that HBO put together on them. the actors that portrayed the real life paratroopers did an amazing job.
I always wondered what happened to the phony patrol report he sent to BN HQs before they left Hagenau....most likely it was just treated like any other normal report, filed, and then after the war just lost to history with all the other millions of daily reports submitted by officers during WWII.
Winters also worked for Nixons company post war.
I also want to draw attention to the depiction of Roy Cobb in BoB. By some accounts, he was quite a personable fellow the majority of the time. He had prior service in Africa during the Second World War and his ship coming home was struck by a torpedo and sank - he survived (obviously). He (and Lt Norman Dike, for that matter) pretty clearly had some mental illness going on behind the scenes: something that BoB fails to depict. The reasons for these depictions is that the book which the show is based on is inspired by a handful of the members that were in the company. If the handful of people didn’t like you very much, then you were going to be depicted poorly in the miniseries. It’s unfortunate it turned out this way, really.
Wonderful presentation
A lot has been made of the Brecourt Manor action. It was a great feat. However, I attended West Point in the early 1970s. I never remember hearing about Dick Winters or Brecourt Manor during that time. We were never to my knowledge taught about attacking a gun emplacement as the Brecourt guns were attacked. I do not mean to denigrate what Easy Co did in that attack but to state that it is a tactic still taught at West Point today is something I think the TV series took “poetic license” to do. It simply was not taught when I was there. Don’t forger Ambrose’s book Band of Brothers came out long after I graduated in 1974!
I think the main concept was taught. As in textbook assult on fixed position
I really liked his part in band of brothers but i always thought they didnt really do him justice by not really showing what he did.
Yeah I feel like they portrayed him like nothing much more than a useless drunk, which clearly wasn't the case.
"barely scratched the surface"... then just describes everything shown in BoB
EXCELLENT!!!
God Bless this man.
Why doesn’t your god just bless everyone?
@@justinmartin4662 He does. Why be a curmudgeon?
In BoB, he was never shown in the assault of Brecort Manor. Was that just left out of the series?
Always seems so sad and twisted to me that so many people born right around the time WW1 ended were just the right age to serve in WW2
In Band Of Brothers, Nixon said that he never fired his weapon in anger.
He never fired his weapon at all!
Yeah, probably not such a good idea to fire your weapon when you have a bad case of the shakes from drinking.
This video sounds like complete AI narration and it substandard. But whatever...Not a strange thing to never fire your weapon in combat. When my company parachuted into Omar Torrojos Airport during the panama invasion in DEC 1989, upon return, two soldiers admitted never having fired their weapons. Both said that whenever engagements happened there was so much fire they saw no need.The other, said that when he was drawing a bead on one enemy, that enemy was shot by another squad member before he could pull the trigger. So...that happens. Neither one was in a squad that cleared rooms or buildings.
He was on the frontlines constantly, but as the intelligence officer was never tasked with leading an assault, as his duties didn't allow for it.
The only times he came close were D-Day, when most of the paratroopers either lost their gear or were scattered all over the place, and Operation Varsity, when his plane was hit before reaching its destination.
@Father Guido not from drinking maybe from not drinking.
Addicted to vat 69!
Ma y GOD. BLESS YOU SIR
Rest in peace 👐
Sobel was not demoted. He was reassigned. Not because of his "strict leadership". Those of you whom are prior service can attest to the fact that leadership is never reassigned or demoted for being strict. In fact, being strict is imperative to molding troops. Also, for the record, I have read and heard it said that Sobel never recovered from losing Easy. Absolutely not true. By all accounts, he was a good many and his children called him the "life of the party".
If it's true the NCOs risked their careers (and lives - mutiny in wartime is punishable by death) by taking a stand and refusing to follow Sobel into combat, then any reasonable person can fill in the rest as to the whys and hows of his "reassignment". It's extremely unlikely these tough men exhibited what amounts to a hissy fit all because Sobel was "too tough on them". As for his children's opinions, of course they would be biased. All that said, Sobel, to his credit, toughened the men up to go into war. He just wasn't equipped to lead them through it.
@@Finians_Mancave Sobel couldn't accurately read the military maps. That was a critical skill for a platoon commander and that's why he was reassigned.
Cool story.
Certainly Was Is And I Really Do Wish There Was More Of It
The guy had 3 jump stars
Unless I missed something in the book Band of Brothers Nixon never served in a line company in Europe and was always in the rear as a member of 2nd Battalion staff. While Nixon and Winters were good friends make no mistake Lewis Nixon should never be compared to Dick Winters when it comes to being a soldier in combat
Nobody claimed that. Everyone has a job to do for the unit to work effectively.
Listen to the real Lt. COMPTON talk about Nixon. He said Nixon was a prick.
There will never be a generation of guys like that again
While my father (USMC WW2 and Korea), the greatest ever, was of that generation, he would say that your statement was not valid. There were bums, Reprobates, cowards etc. The time and circumstances were unique and hopefully will never be repeated.
But to keep idolizing them as a whole serve no purpose but to create a false feeling.
Maybe you are the greatest, if you live a good and moral life.
But didn't he say he had never fired his weapon ?
Actually, Lobule's demotion was because of his lack of land navigation & lack of command & control under duress.
Sobel.
You missed the part on his 3th jump
That was goerings wine and booze!
I love these videos. BUT, can we PLEASE see more pictures of the SOLDIERS than the ACTORS!!! PLEASE! Its disrespectful. Include a few pictures of the actors, but not this many. After all, this video is about the soldier is it?
There are likely not that many photos that the public has access to.
@@ScottieMac67 Exactly right.
Feces!
@@IFist Agree with your sentiment entirely, but do a simple Google search and you probably get a 100 to 1 actor to real vet pics. Not everyone puts all their photos out into the public for all to see - especially that older generation of vets.
Cameras were expensive back then and shared amongst their friends. My father fought in the Pacific and I only have a handful of pics he had and they weren't of him, they were of where he was in New Guinea and Admirality Islands. My dad was in the 503rd Special Forces.
He didn’t like Compton for some reason
Currahee My Brother
Nice story
Be married his soul mate! But never found true love, contradiction in terms
I've got college buddies that went to Cate School.
Memo….Nixon had combat jumps…
Nixon was the ONLY member of Easy Company who was a Master Parachutist.
Kind of dumb, "his decision to join the Army would change his life forever....um yeah thats true with literally every single person who joins the military
Not necessarily true
Not always. Some people do a tour and get out. I think in the case of Nixon, the narrator is using WWII as a context.
@rogerwilco5918 yes 100 percent true
Even when In combat fighting. His skirt wife thought about herself and divorced him. Focus on yourself kings
Officer Candidate School not cadet.
what function did nixon have?
Intelligence officer S2
Remarkable figger😊
In band of brothers doesn't he say he never fired a shot in the war.
Was president Nixon related to him or is it a usual name?
Not related
Thanks. Been thinking about since I first saw the series.
I understand that Easy Company never liberated a concentration camp. It was added into the mini series.
Was this article written by AI?
Buck Compton didn’t think much of Nixon.
True. But Winters rated him very highly, saying he never showed fear despite how bad the situation got, and was always able to think quickly and clearly when the shit hit the fan.
I also wonder how difficult it was for him as the Intelligence Officer- he was constantly on the frontline, but never got to go into an assault with the men. We get an idea of how hard that might have been when Winters was made Major and desperately wanted to be the one to lead the assault on Bastogne, but Nixon had to deal with that throughout the entire war.
Difficult to be friendly with people you know are doing all the fighting, when all you can do is watch and hope they don't hold it against you.
You can't forget that in those days it would have been natural for a man of Nixon's background- very aristocratic- to be a, well, snob. Today he wouldn't get away with it, but those were less democratic times. Also, because Winters was careful to keep himself from being too chummy with the enlisted, it's clear why he and Nixon would be natural allies.
Nixon was a raging alcoholic . The picture of him with a case of liquor bottles, completely staggeringly drunk and hing over simultaneously, is telling. Sobel didn’t drink and was despised. Nixon was routinely wasted and impaired in his job, but he was loved. Its a strange world.
Its normal. Some good people can drink a lot, and some bad people never drink
He was definitely an alcoholic.
@@sciencewarsveteran6424I was about to say that.
In my workplace the "crazy" dudes are way cooler, easy going than the religious ones that dont drink, those last ones are full of prejudice, little games and hipocrisy.
His wife at the time was a "strong independent woman who don't need no man"
Who cares? He was obviously good at killing Germans and lived a lengthy life. You religious nut-jobs who don't drink make me 😂.
God looks out for drunks and fools.Walked away from 4 combat jumps. Nixon was a great Officer and Soldier and served his country well. A long post war life and a few good friends to talk over his grave, winner winner, chicken dinner.
Rings true as I'm both both a veteran decorated for Gallantry and was a drunk off duty and had at least 4 near death experiences over 2 decades of service with 10 of those on frontline operations
@@MC14maywe love braggarts
Take: 🎖
The fact that you keep pronouncing the ACNONYM H-B-O as “huhbow” kills me 😂😂😂
There's a truth unrealized in the portrayals of the 101st.
They saw action from June 1944 until April 1945.
Less than a year of deployment, and less than 180 days of actual frontline service (closer to 70 days of actual combat) during the European Theater of World War 2.
Yes, heroic. Yes, some of the most pivotal battles.
But let's take the 1st Infantry Division; First seeing combat in November 1942. Africa, Sicily, Italy before the 101st ever left the United States.
Airborne... Okay. The 82nd, combat jumps starting in April 1943, well over a year before the 101st left the US. Two combat jumps behind enemy lines while the infamous "Easy Company" ever left the training areas.
During D-Day, the 82nd (on their 3rd combat jump) had harder targets, further from the coast, and actually captured substantially more objectives, and held them longer than the 101st.
Market Garden... The 101st was dropped the closest to friendly lines, and all resistance (which they immediately retreated from) already ran over the 82nd and the British 1st Para (neither of whom retreated until days later and only after repeated direct orders to do so).
Battle of the Bulge... The 101st had tank support and farmhouses to shelter in... The 82nd was in the woods with no fall back positions (and no tank support nor buildings to shelter the injured )and endured the full brunt of the German Mechanized "Northern Group", and never lost an inch, while the 101st repeatedly collapsed into a smaller and smaller perimeter, whilst only getting fragments of the flanking German army's main effort (, which was to the north).
While the 506th was drinking wine at "the eagles nest" the 82nd was in fierce combat overtaking the Ruhr Valley (with the 1st ID), losing more men than the 101st lost during D-Day.
So yay.... Tip of the spear.
Vietnam.... Oh... Those were all non-airborne qualified draftees.
Modern conflicts. The prestigious NOT airborne "Air Assault" division.... Only the "assault" part is a misnomer, as mechanized troops actually utilized helicopter insertions substantially more than the 101st ever did.
But ...yay!!
Not airborne. Fewer helicopter "air assault" insertions than non "air assault" units, largest Infantry Division in the regular army...
But.... Yay.
Were you a member of the 101st or assigned to keep their positions from falling into German hands? I have read and seen many interviews with the men of the 101st. There isn’t a single mention of tanks, because there weren’t any. This is WHY Patton was ordered to disengage from combat around Hagenau and preceded at all haste to relieve the 101st at Bastogne. At one point during the siege ALL companies of the 101st were down to two rounds per man; they were out of rations and were stretched thin due to frostbite and wounds since the Germans shelled their positions hourly. I would love to see your references for this utterly fantasy based diatribe. It doesn’t match the official Army history of the 101st or the autobiographies and recollections of the veterans of the 101st at Bastogne.
@@stevehicks8944
What are you reading?
Basing your opinion on any individual's perspective isn't automatic historical fact.
This is fact;
The 10th Armored Division along with remnants of the 9th Armored Division, had over 40 tanks to support the 101st during the siege of Bastogne. They were used expertly to quickly reinforce attacks all around the the MLR, They were so effective that the tankers were calling themselves the "fire brigade". This isn't a secret, and is easily found with minimal research.
Plus, the 705th Armored Tank Destroyer Battalion equipped with the very effective M18.
This was common knowledge, and was depicted in movies the called Battleground and Battle of the Bulge.
Not to mention there were also three full Artillery Battalions (Heavy) with anti aircraft half-tracks and multiple fast firing 57mm anti-tank guns to support over three dozen 155mm howitzers. These howitzers were strategically placed and are recorded as firing over 2,000 shells in a direct-fire role alone.
Yes, ammunition and fuel was finite, and at times supplies were perilously low.
The sacrifice and struggle that all of those men experienced is worthy of very honored remembrance.
But it should be remembered accurately. Bastogne is a large city (for the time & area) and wasn't ONLY shivering guys in the woods shooting rifles and throwing grenades. Units were rotated every few days from the front lines to shelter in houses. And at no time were "all" of the 101st down to two bullets per man. That is absolutely inaccurate. Yes, after strong attacks, specific units were very low on ammunition for a few hours... but there was a meticulous redistribution process of available assets, not to mention hundreds of airdrops and the recovered US equipment from the initial German spearhead.
I think he did more drinking than fighting. 😅
As an Intelligence Officer, his job wasn't to fight (similar to when Winters was made major: never fired his gun again), but he spent a lot of time on the frontlines because that's what his job demanded.
Do you know that you fail to pronounce the "t" in words ending in "t"?
Easy Company - not East... Why do these videos have so many glaring, yet simple errors. "One hundred and First", not "one oh first".
I have heard the Division referred to both ways. Some say "The One OH One".
Nobody ever remembers his actual name... We just know him as "The guy from Office Space".
He always seems to play the same character.
Ron Livingston
How alcohol so very negatively affects our performance. There is really no rational reason to use the stuff and that does for cigarettes as well.
Why does this narrator sound is if he a computer-programmed robot? Good God - can't he read the script in an intelligent manner.
I found it quite clear, and im not a english native speaker
@@pagodebregaeforro2803 I was not referring to the clarity of his speech. He speaks in a monotone without any phrasing or nuance in his speech - he sounds as if he is an AI-programmed robot. Native English speakers do not sound like this when they talk or converse with one another.
6:44 I've been very curious about that photo of Nixon in bed surrounded by alcohol (he really resembles Livingston here). Those are surely bottles of wine or champagne, right? I've seen it captioned as his Vat 69 stash online, but from my limited research, none of those bottles resemble Vat 69. In fact, with the image blown up like this, I see a muselet on the bottle he's grabbing.
Are you unfamiliar with this story? The photo of him surrounded by booze is taken the day after they found Goering's Wine Cellar right when Germany surrendered. It was mostly wine and champagne he drank that night, and no, Goering didn't drink the VAT.
Never fired his weapon
He was an intelligence officer, he was never supposed to.. So that means everyone around him did their job
All he wanted to do is go fishing.
I've got 8 hours to wait until I get my present. I can do 8 hours on my head !! Bet you're wondering what my 'present' is. Sorry.
I was done when you chose to mispronounce "Manhattan"... surprise, there are "T" sounds in that word
He loved alcohol too much
Very little information beyond what you get from watching the series. Disappointing low effort video.
Buck did not like him ,
Wasn't 'crucial' he did his job, as a team like the ohters.
I heard the real one, although likeable in the series, wasn’t particularly liked all that much by many of his men. Least by Buck
Repeating yourself continously, to much hyperbole. Just the facts next time, youcaten't working in Hollywood
You could make your own videos if you don't like it.
The show made him seem mediocre at best.
He had 8 bosses
This is yet another crap video that reads like an AI script
in the series he was always drinking, sleeping and feeling miserable. I really felt bad that such more corageous and good soldiers were killed but he, who done nothing (at least in the series) survived.
Not every soldier need to be a doorkicker badass. He was an intelligence and operations officer. If you thought an army don't need intelligence or operations planning to be effective, you have no right to offer any opinion.
@@mad_max21 well at least in the series, he was a useless, drunken, bitter officer, who`s primary motivation was to find another bottle of whisky. If this was true, is a tragedy that men like John Basilone died, and men like Nixon survived.
You cannot, and should not, judge the entirety of these men's service and lives based on a couple hours of dramatic recreations! For that matter what have you done that put you in a position to do that? On a positive note; if you were to read some of their autobiographies or other source material or talk to soldiers, you won't get a much better well-rounded View. For example; Guys like Nixon, and Webster because they had been to Europe before, and had linguistic abilities made other solid contributions to the success of the company. That Artillery Map they found and then delivered had a huge impact.
@@Alvin-1138 You`re right. The producers of the show should emphasize his contibutions.
@jackprescott9652 They had a few short hours to pack 2 years elapsed time, and some of the most complicated battle situations to mostly clueless American viewers. Go read/listen to a Book. 🫡
What the 506th did is nothing compared to what was happening in the pacific. Not to take away from what the Europe guys did but the pacific was something so much different.
Also the pacific in keeping with the “saving private Ryan” tradition is about the enlisted man BoB is too much about officers which is antithetical to the spirit of the age. The common Everyman.
The pacific is a far better show the marines that fought there were exposed to an all together different horror that was “the pacific”.
No comparison easy was scared to go to Japan and fight the nips
Compare Battle numbers from European theater and Pacific theater before making such a dumb statement buddy.