#😄 malarkey just couldn't get over sparky's reputation. oh don. ron was a cookie monster. that's all

[pastlivesandpurplepuppets]

As we regrouped for the push to Noville, word spread about Dike freezing up in the heat of battle. It didn’t surprise me. From the get-go, I’d been unimpressed with the midlevel officers and their inability to lead when they needed to. It was the only weakness in the 506th, this revolving door of guys who had no business being in charge. Sobel. Evans. Peacock. Dike. Compton’s lieutenant who turned to mush in Holland. A couple of rookies at Hell’s Corner who Winters had to take out because they had no idea where our machine-gun positions were in relation to our defensive posture. Was it because the ROTC programs back in the States didn’t do a better job of weeding them out? Because too many guys just didn’t have their hearts in it, just wanted an extra fifty bucks a month? Or because of politics, some higher-up’s “golden boy”—Dike comes to mind—getting foisted on soldiers who deserved better? Hard to say. All I know is that, at times, Easy Company succeeded not because of the leadership but in spite of it. Oh, we had a few good ones: Harry Welsh, Bob Brewer, even Ron Speirs, despite his “killer” reputation. First Lt. Thomas Meehan, who’d taken over for Sobel, was a good man, but his plane had gone down in Normandy. Dick Winters, who replaced him, was a glowing exception, too; he had that uncommon blend of smarts and concern for the guys. Cool as a cucumber when the pressure was on. Fair to all. And comfortable enough being Dick Winters that you never got the idea he had to stomp on the rest of us to boost his own battle-scarred ego. And he was absolutely willing to go through whatever we went through; hell, I always thought he was happiest when he was with us in the foxholes. I don’t think he did ever completely adjust to being in the rear, out of the action. He wanted to be out there with us. And, in a sense, he was.

~ Don Malarkey