Band Of Brothers Character Guide
Band Of Brothers CHARACTER GUIDE
To All You New BoB Watchers Out There...
First of all, WELCOME. We are happy to have you as part of Easy Company.
When I first watched the series, I had a lot of difficulty keeping track of who was who and it made it hard to follow the storyline until the 3rd or 4th round watching it through... so I thought I’d make a bit of a guide for those who have had the same struggle.
(Keep in mind, you may want to read this after you’ve watched it at least once, as many of the characters’ significant plot lines are outlined in spoilers.)
Throughout the series there are different episodes based around different characters’ points of view. As you watch each episode you learn more characters but because it is so accurately portrayed, they had to include as many of the characters as possible so each of them get a little bit of their story shown.
I myself have watched the series over 10 times and still pick up on things each time I watch it. It’s not a series to be watched once if you want to enjoy it to its full extent and understand it thoroughly (which I highly recommend because it is such a great series anyway).
Here is a list of some significant traits about most of the main characters (WARNING: Spoilers May Be Present Ahead):
Major Richard Winters: leader of Easy from D-Day, assumed main character, episodes 1, 2, 5, 10 bases around him.
Captain Lewis Nixon: Winters’ best friend, shortly promoted to an intelligence officer after enlisting (as seen in the first episode), often sarcastic, an alcoholic and loves Vat 69, episode 9 is based around him.
Lieutenant Harry Welsh: platoon leader and officer, replaces Nixon in easy Company in the first episode, noticeable tooth gap, is saving his reserve chute to bring home to his fiancé Kitty (SPOILER: hit by shrapnel in Bastogne at the end of episode 6)
Lieutenant Lynn “Buck” Compton: platoon leader, white blonde hair, first appearance near the end of the first episode, is known to see himself amongst the men rather than as a superior (SPOILER: shot in the behind during the holland campaign, is evacuated after seeing Toye and guarnere lose their legs and suffers battle fatigue, returns in episode 10)
Captain Ronald Speirs: starts off in D company, basically takes the fourth gun by himself on D-Day, rumoured to have shot POW’s on D-Day (although never confirmed), (SPOILER: takes over as the leader of Easy Company in episode 7)
Lieutenant C. Carwood Lipton: can be seen shooting from tree on D-Day, goes out of his way to look after the men, episode 7 is based around him. (SPOILER: gets hit by shrapnel in Carentan in episode 3, becomes the Company first sergeant shortly after, gets promoted to lieutenant at the end of episode 7)
Sergeant Don Malarkey: Sobel calls him ‘Private bulls*it’ in the first episode. Notably said, ‘really? It’s hot in Africa?’ In the first episode while on the boat to England. Runs through an open field on d-day to get what he thinks is a Luger, but he is wrong. Makes friends with a german POW in episode 1 after he discovers they came from the same state back home. (SPOILERS: loses his best friends Muck and Penkala in episode 7 after they are blown up together in their foxhole, is clearly suffering from battle fatigue in episode 8.)
Sergeant Bill Guarnere: discovers his brother has been killed in action a day or two before D-Day, shoots Germans before winters’ command on D-Day, nickname is Gonorrhoea, has a fantastically shaped jawline (literally cracks me up every time he looks around a corner or something) (SPOILERS: tries to drag Joe Toye back to a foxhole during an artillery barrage in episode 7 and gets his right leg blown to bits, remains best friends with babe Heffron until the end of his life)
Corporal George Luz: impersonates Major Horton during training while Sobel is lost, which then results in Sobel cutting a barbed wire fence, often seen imitating either superiors or other easy men, most notably dike and sink, best friends with Perconte, (SPOILERS: never gets hit)
Corporal Eugene “Doc” Roe: called Doc by almost all of the men, heroic medic of the company, episode 6 is based around him, always seen rushing around to help soldiers who have been wounded.
Sergeant Joe Toye: lists everything he has to carry whilst preparing his gear for D-Day, has two grenades go off next to him on d-day but doesn’t get hurt (notably says: Jesus Christ, f*cking twice), (SPOILERS: is in the aid station probably more times than any other easy man as he manages to get hit in just about every battle, gets his right leg completely blown off during an artillery barrage in episode 7)
Corporal Frank Perconte: literally never stops brushing his teeth, quite a bit smaller than most of the others, best friends with Luz, (SPOILERS: gets shot in the behind during the attack on Foy in episode 7, is seen being carried away by Bull Randleman, returns very shortly afterwards)
Sergeant Floyd Talbert: often called ‘Tab’ is seen with a dog in the beginning of episode 5, (SPOILERS: in episode 3 he is stabbed by Smith for waking him up dressed in a german poncho, but recovers, and Gordon writes a poem about the incident, resigns as company first sergeant in episode 10 as he wanted to be back amongst the men)
Private David Webster: episode 8 is based around him, (SPOILERS: gets shot in the leg in Holland in episode 5, and missed the Bastogne campaign, earning resentment from a lot of the men as seen in episode 8)
Corporal Joseph Liebgott: it’s established that Liebgott is Jewish pretty early in the series (he gets into a brawl with guarnere on the boat to England in episode 1) which becomes important later, has a stronger hatred for the Germans than a lot of the other men, (SPOILERS: translates at the Jewish camp, and is seen crying after having to tell the prisoners they are to be locked up again so they can be monitored)
Sergeant Warren “Skip” Muck: best friends with malarkey and penkala, and usually seen beside them, is notably eating ‘kraut cheese’ from a tube in episode 3, and then proceeds to describe the rumours about Speirs to the men, sings a song about having enough socks in episode 5, one of the main jokesters in the group (SPOILER: is blown up and killed in his foxhole with penkala during an artillery barrage in episode 7)
Private Alex Penkala: usually seen besides malarkey or skip Muck, also a jokester, (SPOILERS: gets shrapnel in his arm in episode 6, is blown up and killed in his foxhole with Muck during an artillery barrage in episode 7)
Private Edward “Babe” Heffron: replacement and debut episode is episode 3, almost immediately taken under guarneres wing, (SPOILERS: loses his friend Julian in episode 6 after not being able to get to him through german Fire, and is forced to watch him die, remains best friends with guarnere for the rest of his life after the war)
Private Albert Blithe: episode 3 is based around him, can be seen terrified in his foxhole during the battle of the bloody gulch in episode 3, suffers hysterical blindness, (SPOILERS: is shot in the neck on a patrol at the end of episode 3, and the show incorrectly states the year of his death, he recovered from his neck wounds but died around 20 years later)
Sergeant Denver “Bull” Randleman: can been seen chewing tobacco often, close friends with Martin, speaks up about Sobel hating easy Company during the march in episode 1, to which winters jokes that Sobel just hates bull, episode 4 is based around him, is seen looking after the replacements when some of the other men turn a blind eye, notably bigger than a lot of the other men in the company (SPOILERS: gets a piece of shrapnel to the shoulder and also gets lost in episode 4)
Sergeant Johnny Martin: is the one who receives the letter about guarnere’s brother being killed in episode 1 and purposely swaps their jackets so guarnere will see the letter, is often called ‘Pee Wee’, close friends with Bull Randleman, spots a tank and tells a British soldier in episode 4, leads a patrol in episode 8, often appears annoyed or serious
Corporal Walter “Smokey” Gordon: wrote ‘the night of the bayonet’ about the incident between talbert and Smith, has multiple Purple Hearts, always on a machine gun, (SPOILERS: is shot in the arm in episode 6 and is paralysed)
Other Characters (brief significant traits)
CONTAINS SPOILERS:
Sergeant Darrel “Shifty” Powers: best shot in the company, never misses
Sergeant Robert “Popeye” Wynn: shot in the behind on D-Day, returns shortly after for holland campaign
Sergeant Wayne “Skinny” Sisk: is seen with multiple wood chunks stuck in his leg in episode 6, notably says ‘Im real sorry frank’ to Perconte after Perconte tells him he got blood on his trousers
Private Alton More: takes the photo album from the eagles nest
Sergeant James Alley: is hit by a grenade and is seen being carried in covered in blood and badly injured at the beginning of episode 5
Sergeant Chuck Grant: shot in the head in episode 10 by another American officer
Colonel Robert Sink: commander of the 506th infantry regiment
Sergeant Pat Christenson: drinks from his canteen on the Friday night march in episode 1 and is forced to repeat the march with no water, usually operating a machine gun
Corporal Joseph Ramirez: knocks down a fence after trying to jump over it in episode 3
Private Roy Cobb: shot in the plane on D-Day, is outwardly hostile to the new replacements, is rude to his superiors while intoxicated in episode 8
Corporal Donald Hoobler: often mentions how he wants to find a Luger to take home, when he gets one in episode 7 he leaves it in his pants and it accidentally fires and hits the main artery in his leg, killing him very quickly
Private Lester Hashey: a replacement in episode 3, best friends with Garcia, gets shot in the arm in episode 7 during the artillery barrage
Private Tony Garcia: best friends with Hashey, replacement at the end of episode 3
Lieutenant Norman Dike: also known as ‘foxhole norman’, takes over easy Company after moose heyliger is accidentally shot by a fellow American soldier, notably useless and makes no decisions, disliked by most of the men, and poorly leads easy Company during the battle at foy, but is relieved by Speirs before the battle is over
SIDE NOTE: some of the ranks may be incorrect or outdated, and I do apologise, I either could not find the correct rank or have remembered it incorrectly.
