Sunday, November 27, 2011

Two places mentioned in "Band of Brothers"

Two locations that are mentioned in the book "Band of Brothers" are Camp Mackall, and Slapton Sands. Camp Mackall which was located in North Carolina, was a marvel of wartime construction. On November 7, 1942, it consisted of 62,000 acres of wilderness. Four months later it had 65 miles of paved roads, a 1,200-bed hospital, five movie theatres, heated barracks, and cots with mattresses. This base was named after Private John T. Mackall of the 82d Airborne Division, the first paratrooper to be killed in combat during World War II.
Slapton Islands are located in England. E-Company makes their first stop in military action here. President Eisenhower needed to provide sufficent width to the invasion to bring in enough infantry divisions to overpower the enemy. It is here where E-company gets into some shenanigans. Winters and Lt. Schmitz get into a fake boxing match behind the tents. Little did Schmitz know that Winters was a wrestler in college and took him down with ease, but threw him too hard. Schmitz suffered two cracked vertebrae, and did not get to go to Normandy with the rest of E-Company. From there the Company began their move towards Normandy for the invasion.

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