June 2008

Sgt. Don Malarkey’s new autobiography, Easy Company Soldier, is a poignant account of E Company’s sacrifice and courage amidst the horror of war. In chapter eight, Malarkey recounts the unit’s traumatic post-D-Day assault on occupied Carentan—immortalized in HBO’s 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers.

Carentan, France

June 7–July 12, 1944

Normandy, France, was beauty and the beast. The sprinkling of land unspoiled by war was the beauty. We, the soldiers, were the beasts. I’d see miles and miles of fields and orchards that, in places, reminded me of spots I’d seen in the Willamette Valley while hitchhiking from Astoria to Eugene back in Oregon. Then, suddenly, I’d see the remains of a horse splattered by artillery, the legs here, the head there. In some places, a breeze would d bring the smell of grass and trees; in others, the rancid odor of death. Germans. Americans. Civilians. Animals. Whatever got in the way of war. One of the biggest problems we were having was taking care of our dead—getting them buried. Some of our Graves Registration guys resorted to getting drunk to do their jobs.