The soldier who's asked why he's still carrying his reserve parachute, Lt. Harry Welsh, did in real life make it back to England and have his chute made into a wedding dress for his bride, as he had hoped.
A long running plot point is Lt. Speirs of Dog Company being accused of executing German prisoners-of-war and even one of his own men for insubordination. In fact, Speirs did commit such actions but not as the troopers discuss in this and following episodes.
When Speirs landed on D-Day, like most troopers, he was miles off target. Linking up with PFC Art DiMarzio and a sergeant also of Dog Company, they captured three German prisoners. According to a post-war interview with DiMarzio, Speirs ordered that each man take one prisoner and shoot them. It was carried out. Later that day, they captured 4-5 additional prisoners. According to DiMarzio, the men had their hands up and said that the war was over for them. Speirs then shot all of them down. The reasoning behind it was, they didn't have the men to guard prisoners and taking them only slowed down their movement and they certainly couldn't release them.
DiMarzio also witnessed Speirs shooting the sergeant. During the battle of Carentan, Speirs was ordered to hold while a rolling barrage was dropped on German positions. The sergeant in question, allegedly drunk, wanted to charge in with the barrage still underway. Speirs ordered him to hold. The sergeant refused and persisted in going in. Once again, Speirs ordered him to hold and once again, the sergeant refused. Speirs then ordered the sergeant to go to the rear because of his intoxication. Once again refusing orders, the sergeant reached for and leveled his rifle at Speirs. Speirs fired first and killed the sergeant. Speirs reported the incident to his commander, Captain Jerre S Gross, who saw it as self-defense. Captain Gross was killed-in-action the next day and the matter was dropped.
When Speirs landed on D-Day, like most troopers, he was miles off target. Linking up with PFC Art DiMarzio and a sergeant also of Dog Company, they captured three German prisoners. According to a post-war interview with DiMarzio, Speirs ordered that each man take one prisoner and shoot them. It was carried out. Later that day, they captured 4-5 additional prisoners. According to DiMarzio, the men had their hands up and said that the war was over for them. Speirs then shot all of them down. The reasoning behind it was, they didn't have the men to guard prisoners and taking them only slowed down their movement and they certainly couldn't release them.
DiMarzio also witnessed Speirs shooting the sergeant. During the battle of Carentan, Speirs was ordered to hold while a rolling barrage was dropped on German positions. The sergeant in question, allegedly drunk, wanted to charge in with the barrage still underway. Speirs ordered him to hold. The sergeant refused and persisted in going in. Once again, Speirs ordered him to hold and once again, the sergeant refused. Speirs then ordered the sergeant to go to the rear because of his intoxication. Once again refusing orders, the sergeant reached for and leveled his rifle at Speirs. Speirs fired first and killed the sergeant. Speirs reported the incident to his commander, Captain Jerre S Gross, who saw it as self-defense. Captain Gross was killed-in-action the next day and the matter was dropped.
The scene where George Luz decides not to throw a grenade into a room before clearing it and finds frightened civilians actually happened to Edward "Babe" Heffron in Holland. The writers heard this story from Babe and decided to include the event with different soldiers involved.
At one point in the attack on Carentan, Private Blithe finds himself at the medic station suffering from "hysterical blindness", a genuine psychiatric condition where one can go temporarily blind through trauma or stress.