#earl 'one lung' mcclung

[pastlivesandpurplepuppets]

On July 4, 2004, one week after control and sovereignty of Iraq had been handed over from the United States to an interim Iraqi government, Sergeant 1st Class Billy Maloney stood in the mouth of an aircraft hangar at a U.S. military outpost in Baghdad, his ear to a satellite phone. Around him: a dozen or so members of the 101st Airborne’s 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division.

On the other end of the line was Earl McClung, who had been a staff sergeant with Easy Company in World War II. Sergeant Maloney didn’t know McClung, but when he’d phoned Denver-based Valor Studios to order a Band of Brothers illustration, he had asked if there was any chance of getting an Easy Company vet or two to offer some Independence Day encouragement to his weary soldiers. He knew that Valor, which specialized in paintings and other memorabilia honoring military personnel, had lots of connections. And by now his men and women desperately needed a boost for their morale; they had been in Iraq for more than sixteen months.

Adam Makos, who along with his brother Bryan co-founded Valor Studios, was so moved by Maloney’s request—Who reaches out from a combat zone on a satellite phone?—that he made it happen. He rounded up six Easy Company vets and scheduled them all to make half-hour sat calls to the troops on July 4: Malarkey, Darrell “Shifty” Powers, Guarnere, Edward “Babe” Heffron, and Compton would all be calling with words of encouragement, in addition to McClung.

Maloney gathered a group of soldiers anxious to talk to the Easy Company vets on the satellite phone. Maloney made the first call, to McClung, eighty-two years old.

“Thanks so much, Earl, for taking time for us today,” said Maloney, a forty-two-year-old “lifer” from the Bronx. The sound of helicopters taking off and landing was so loud that he had a finger plugged into his non–phone ear. “We got some folks who are anxious to hear from you. The first is—”

Boom!

“Incoming!” yelled Maloney as he dove for cover.

Through the satellite phone, McClung could hear the missile.

Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—pkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!

The blast sent Maloney flying. And at his home in Pueblo, Colorado, McClung recognized the sound on the line and instinctively did what he had done hundreds of times when shells were raining down six decades before. He dove for cover—in this case, beneath the living room table.

Surreally, McClung could hear what sounded on the phone like a bevy of exploding rockets. Shouts from Maloney and the others. More blasts. Groans. Chaos. My God, he thought, soldiers could be dying. In these frantic seconds, he wasn’t in Colorado—he was in the Bois Jacques. It all came back, the panic, the fear, the feeling of being hunted with nowhere to hide.

“You OK, Billy?” he said into the phone. “Billy, you all right?”

No answer. A few minutes later the line went dead. When Maloney called McClung two days later, he said his unit had been attacked by 120mm rockets. A number of soldiers had been wounded, including Sergeant James Lathan, who would later die of his wounds. A woman from the Black Hawk unit—Maloney couldn’t recall her name—had had most of the flesh torn from a leg.

McClung thought: This is what these people are going through. Just like us. All these decades later. He thought of the loneliness in the woods near Bastogne, the cold, the detachment from anything that made sense. Later, he thought: These soldiers deserve more than a long-distance pep talk. They need to know this country is behind them.

“Billy, what can we do to help?” asked McClung. “Beyond just a phone call?”

Maloney, who was based in Hanau, Germany, and married to a German woman, gave it some thought. He got back to Earl with the idea of bringing a group of Easy Company men to Germany for an event with active-duty soldiers. Have a dinner, share a few beers, offer them some encouragement. It could go a long way—even if it was just a few dozen soldiers, their new-found enthusiasm could “catch” to others.

McClung was all in. The more the two talked, the more enthused they became about the idea. Hell, they could peg it to the sixtieth anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in December, providing Easy Company’s men were willing to travel in the winter.

“And another thing,” said Maloney, “how about if we invite some German World War II soldiers?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

“Earl,” said Maloney. “You still there? Earl?”

~ Bob Welch

[dontirrigateme]

Whatever malarkey's serving up, mcclung seems to be enjoying it

[1waveshortofashipwreck]

Should've Been Born Later, Nix - Chapter 7: The Boys Back Home

Easy Company x Fem!OCs

Chap. Synopsis: What will happen when some of Easy Company's most valuable soldiers disappear?

Words: 2,135

Find the fic's navigation page here !!

Have a question/want to be on the taglist? Let me know !!

Author's note: Hey everyone! Apologies for the delay with the chapter lol 🫠 This chapter is the point of view of the men in Bastogne!! Also, because this is my fanfiction and I can do whatever I want, there will be some soldiers who somehow survived their demise in previous episodes (Miller? Dukeman? PERHAPS) Anywho, thank you as always for reading and be on the lookout for Chapter 8! 🥰

"Luz!" Carwood cried over the last shell to drop. He watched the radioman dive into the foxhole - George met the same fate as the nine others who dropped into that hole, none of them came out. Lipton was astonished. At most, a foxhole could fit three of the men comfortably, perhaps four if needed. But ten men in one? Lipton should have seen a dog pile of olive drab stretching above the opening. Instead, he saw an empty hole in the ground. The First Sergeant blinked and rubbed his eyes, making sure what he saw was indeed reality. The foxhole stayed empty when he opened his eyes.

Lipton sprinted from where he was taking cover, desperately searching for Lieutenant Dike. He knew that Dike was the least preferable choice, especially in a situation like this, but the officers Lipton would have preferred to ask for help had disappeared. After an agonizing search mission, Lipton finally found the Lieutenant - Dike was absentmindedly strolling along, looking at the trees around him with a glassy, thousand-yard stare. “Lieutenant Dike!” Lipton called out, scrambling over tree roots and broken branches. Dike snapped back to reality, his posture automatically improving when he saw First Sergeant Lipton.

“What is it, First Sergeant?” Dike asked, trying to be authoritative. The yawn that followed his words worked against him. Carwood began to speak, but his words were caught in his throat… how in the world was he going to tell the lieutenant what just happened?

“Sir… we um…” Lipton tried to force the words out of his mouth.

“Spit it out, First Sergeant Lipton!” Dike ordered, irritation evident in his voice. Lipton paused, taking a breath before responding to the officer.

“Sir… several men are gone…”

“First Sergeant, this is war, we're going to have casualties every day.”

“Not like that sir, I mean… they've disappeared…”

Dike stared blankly at the NCO, wondering if he heard him right.

“Where did they go, Carwood?” Hearing Dike use his first name gave Lipton a feeling he could only describe as ick, but nevertheless, he continued.

“Sir, I saw ten men go into a foxhole, but when I reached them, the foxhole was empty.”

“And you’re sure you went to the right foxhole?” Lipton had to pause and take a breath before answering.

“Yes, sir.” In a flurry of urgency that Lipton had never seen from Dike before, the lieutenant had rounded up Compton, Peacock, Shames, Foley, and Welsh, as well as radioed to Colonel Sink. Lipton hastily repeated his experience to the officers, who were just as hesitant to believe Lipton as Dike was. 

“So they’re just… gone?” Harry asked, still skeptical.

“I wish I had more information for you sir, but all I saw was the men go into the foxhole and not come out,” Carwood replied, defeat evident in his voice.

“Shit…” Welsh muttered under his breath. The Irishman stared at the ground in front of him, wondering how he let two of his closest friends just disappear.

“So who all are we missing?” Buck interjected. He stood with his arms crossed, instinctively taking command of the conversation.

“Captains Winters and Nixon, Lieutenant Speirs, and then Roe, Luz, Liebgott, Guarnere, Toye, Malarkey, and Randleman,” the NCO listed off the men he saw disappear, and prayed he would see again.

What Lipton did not see was Skip Muck quickly scrambling back to his foxhole. He had originally made his way to CP to ask Captain Winters a question, but when he overheard the discussion between Lipton and the officers, panic consumed the soldier’s thoughts. Muck all but fell into Penkala’s foxhole, unaware that he inadvertently elbowed his best friend in the face.

“HEY! What the fuck!?” Penkala yelped in surprise, his hands shooting to his cheek.

“Keep it down, Penk! I gotta tell you something,” Muck hushed the soldier, looking to make sure no one else was around. “I just heard Lipton telling Buck that we lost a bunch of men.”

“Like, to a sniper?”

“No, like they fucking disappeared.” Alex rolled his eyes, figuring Skip was just up to his usual mischief.

“Yeah, and I’m marrying Rita Hayworth.”

“Penk, I’m serious. Winters, Nixon, and a few others are gone and they have no fucking idea where they went.”

“Wait, what’d you say?” Muck and Penkala looked up to see that Shifty Powers had joined them in their foxhole. The rifleman looked at his two friends with shock and concern - how could the soldiers just disappear, especially vital officers like Winters and Nixon?

“He said we’re missing half the fucking company!” Penkala’s voice raised again, becoming more distressed by the minute.

“I said keep it down, you ass-hat!” Skip punctuated his interjection with a sharp whack to the back of Penkala’s head. “Look, we all know Dike isn’t gonna do shit. When Colonel Sink gets here, we need to back Lipton up and make sure Sink knows what’s happening.”

“I can go round up some of the other NCOs and tell them,” Shifty offered, gathering up his rifle to go find the rest of Easy Company’s leaders.

“Alright, we’ll come find you once Sink gets here,” Penkala replied before Shifty set off on his solo mission. Before long, the Virginian had gathered up Alley, Christianson, Grant, Martin, McClung, Perconte, Sisk, Talbert, Popeye, and Smokey Gordon. Of course, the trio of Hashey, Garcia, and Miller wanted to tag along as well - even if they did not have a leadership role, they wanted to help their company however they could.

“I really hope Bull’s okay…” Hashey muttered to no one in particular, crossing his arms to conserve the little warmth he had. “First he went missing in Holland, now we lose him in Bastogne…”

“Yeah, we need to keep a leash on him or something!” Miller snickered to his friends before Babe Heffron bumbled up to the group. The redhead resembled a baby horse learning to gallop as he jumped and weaved past tree roots and foxholes making his way to the group of soldiers.

“The fuck is this I hear about Gaurnere missing!?” Babe’s respirations were loud and labored as he attempted to catch his breath. Before anyone could respond, Lipton came across the group of soldiers all congregated near CP.

“Hey fellas, everyone doing all right?” Carwood asked nervously - he loved his men, but he knew they were up to no good if too many were in one place without a good reason.

“We heard about the men going missing,” Smokey replied, Mississippi accent thick in his words.

“We want to help, Lip, however we can,” Floyd Talbert added. He nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other, Smokey glancing a look of concern at his best friend. 

Lipton was about to express his gratitude to his company before Colonel Sink’s Jeep was seen pulling up beside the rest of the group. Lipton quickly went to grab the company’s officers as Sink nodded in thanks to his driver and stepped out of the car. With a loud, abrupt command to “Ten-Hut!” from Buck Compton, the gathered men snapped to attention and saluted the colonel, who offered a gentle salute in return.

“At ease men,” Sink instructed before turning to the officers, “I knew it was bad when I was getting a call from Dike.”

Lipton and Welsh needed to bite their cheeks to hide their amused smiles. “We’re not sure what to do, sir, or if anything can be done…” Buck replied to the colonel before taking a step back - the blonde gestured for Lipton to step up, an instruction to inform Sink of their predicament.

“Carwood, tell me exactly what you saw.” The rest of the gathered men leaned in as Sink spoke, anxious to understand what was happening.

“Ten men went into a foxhole while we were getting shelled, sir, but the foxhole was completely empty when I went to check on them afterward. There was absolutely no trace of anyone being in that foxhole, sir, and now we can’t find any of the men I saw go in.”

The older man nodded in understanding, silently processing Lipton’s words. “Who all went in?” The NCO repeated the names from earlier, ending with Captains Winters and Nixon. Sink simply looked down at the snow. “And you have no idea where the hell any of them went…”

“No sir,” Lipton replied quietly.

The colonel simply let out a sigh and shook his head, “I’m sorry boys, but since it was during a shelling and they were last seen going into a foxhole, the higher-ups probably aren’t going to authorize a search party,” he sent a determined look to the men, “I’m going to do everything I can to push the request through, but I better not hear of anyone taking matters into their own hands.” Before getting back into his Jeep, Sink turned to Lieutenant Dike, or rather, where Dike should have been. “And where the hell is Dike?”

“We don’t know, sir, we looked for him before you arrived but didn’t find him,” Welsh chimed in. Sink rubbed his forehead in irritation before turning to Buck and Welsh.

“All right, I’m making this an official order. Lieutenant Compton, if Dike isn’t to be found and a decision needs to be made, your company comes to you. Harry, you’re second in command. You kids do what you think is right. You’re good soldiers with smart heads on your shoulders.” Sink nodded to the officers and saluted the men before getting back in his Jeep and driving back to Regimental HQ - the poor man put his head in his hands, his most trusted officers were gone without a trace, and there was virtually nothing he could do to help them.

As if on cue, Dike returned to the company, “What are we all standing around for? We have a line to protect!” Dike crescendoed his voice to try and be more authoritative, but his efforts fell flat. Eyes rolled and voices groaned as the gathered men all dispersed and returned to their assigned duties - well, all except for Babe, Talbert, Smokey, McClung, Shifty, Alley, Grant, and Popeye. As everyone was trying to leave, Smokey grabbed the sleeve of whoever he could.

“Y’all, this isn’t right, we need to do something,” the machine gunner pleaded in a hushed tone.

“You heard Sink, though, there’s no way they’re gonna authorize a search party,” Moe replied, his brows furrowed in confusion.

Popeye took a beat before he chimed in, “...why do we need to wait for authorization?”

“Because only a general can authorize a search party,” Talbert answered the Virginian - while he did not agree with the policy at all, he knew that there was no getting around it.

“But didn’t Sink say that he left Buck and Welsh in charge if Dike isn’t around? They’re not the type to snitch,” Grant offered to the conversation, scrunching his shoulders up for warmth like a turtle retreating into its shell.

“Hell, they might be happy to help out,” Gordon affirmed the NCO. The men looked around at each other with uncertainty - what if Dike found out? Or Peacock? To be honest, it was probably worse for the latter officer to discover the plot. Thomas Peacock tries his best to be a good captain, but these efforts cause him to be rather heavy-handed with the rules. If Peacock were to hear of the plot to find the missing soldiers, he would surely either tell his superior officers or try to stop the soldiers himself.

“What if we get caught?” Shifty asked nervously - while he wanted to help his friends, the poor boy was nervous to hatch a plot like this.

“We can’t just do nothin’! We all know they’d do the same if it were any of us out there!” The man from Philly interjected, earning Babe a smack on the head from Grant.

“Where would we even start?” McClung asked the group.

“Well, best thing to do would be to investigate the foxhole and see if there are any clues,” everyone turned in shock to see Lipton returning to them. “I needed something from CP, and then I noticed all of you still over here, I figured you were up to no good,” the first sergeant said with a smile, earning him a loving slap on the back from Grant and Johnny Martin. The rest of the afternoon was about to be spent brainstorming, at least until one of the men needed to take their turn watching the line.

All of the men felt nervous, but especially Babe. Guarnere is his best friend, it would be one thing if Babe knew that he was wounded, even killed, but not knowing what happened to Bill was eating away at Babe worse than anything he had ever felt before.

~~~~~

Chapter 6 | Chapter 8 (coming soon!)

Taglist: @b00ks1ut , @blueberry-ovaries , @bucky32557038ww2 , @claudycod , @dontirrigateme , @easycompany123 , @emilee1421 , @executethyself35 , @hanniewinnix , @ithinkabouttzu , @jump-wings , @panzershrike-pretz , @stolen94 , @themysciraprincess , @xxluckystrike

Thank you so much as always for reading and stay tuned for Chapter 8! 😁

[rockpaperscissuhs]

Band of Brothers Birthdays

January

1 John S. Zielinski Jr. (b. 1925)

21 Richard D. “Dick” Winters (b. 1918)

26 Herbert M. Sobel (b. 1912)

30 Clifford Carwood "Lip" Lipton (b. 1920)

31 Warren H. “Skip” Muck (b. 1922) & Robert B. Brewer (b. 1924)

February

8 Clarence R. Hester (b. 1916)

18 Thomas A. Peacock (b. 1920)

23 Lester A. “Les” Hashey (b. 1925)

March

1 Charles E. “Chuck” Grant (b. 1922)

2 Colonel Robert L. “Bob” Strayer (b. 1910)

4 Wayne “Skinny” Sisk (b. 1922)

10 Frank J. Perconte (b. 1917)

13 Darrell C. “Shifty” Powers (b. 1923)

14 Joseph J. “Joe” Toye (b. 1919)

24 John D. “Cowboy” Halls (b. 1922)

26 George Lavenson (b. 1917) & George H. Smith Jr. (1922)

27 Gerald J. Loraine (b. 1913)

April

3 Colonel Robert F. “Bob” Sink (b. 1905) & Patrick S. “Patty” O’Keefe (b. 1926)

5 John T. “Johnny” Julian (b. 1924)

10 Renée B. E. Lemaire (b. 1914)

11 James W. Miller (b. 1924)

15 Walter S. “Smokey” Gordon Jr. (b. 1920)

20 Ronald C. “Sparky” Speirs (b. 1920)

23 Alton M. More (b. 1920)

27 Earl E. “One Lung” McClung (b. 1923) & Henry S. “Hank” Jones Jr. (b. 1924)

28 William J. “Wild Bill” Guarnere (b. 1923)

May

12 John W. “Johnny” Martin (b. 1922)

16 Edward J. “Babe” Heffron (b. 1923)

17 Joseph D. “Joe” Liebgott (b. 1915)

19 Norman S. Dike Jr. (b. 1918) & Cleveland O. Petty (b. 1924)

25 Albert L. "Al" Mampre (b. 1922)

June

2 David K. "Web" Webster (b. 1922)

6 Augusta M. Chiwy ("Anna") (b. 1921)

13 Edward D. Shames (b. 1922)

17 George Luz (b. 1921)

18 Roy W. Cobb (b. 1914)

23 Frederick T. “Moose” Heyliger (b. 1916)

25 Albert Blithe (b. 1923)

28 Donald B. "Hoob" Hoobler (b. 1922)

July

2 Gen. Anthony C. "Nuts" McAuliffe (b. 1898)

7 Francis J. “Frank” Mellet (b. 1920)

8 Thomas Meehan III (b. 1921)

9 John A. Janovec (b. 1925)

10 Robert E. “Popeye” Wynn (b. 1921)

16 William S. Evans (b. 1910)

20 James H. “Moe” Alley Jr. (b. 1922)

23 Burton P. “Pat” Christenson (b. 1922)

29 Eugene E. Jackson (b. 1922)

31 Donald G. "Don" Malarkey (b. 1921)

August

3 Edward J. “Ed” Tipper (b. 1921)

10 Allen E. Vest (b. 1924)

15 Kenneth J. Webb (b. 1920)

18 Jack E. Foley (b. 1922)

26 Floyd M. “Tab” Talbert (b. 1923) & General Maxwell D. Taylor (b. 1901)

29 Joseph A. Lesniewski (b. 1920)

31 Alex M. Penkala Jr. (b. 1924)

September

3 William H. Dukeman Jr. (b. 1921)

11 Harold D. Webb (b. 1925)

12 Major Oliver M. Horton (b. 1912)

27 Harry F. Welsh (b. 1918)

30 Lewis “Nix” Nixon III (b. 1918)

October

5 Joseph “Joe” Ramirez (b. 1921) & Ralph F. “Doc” Spina (b. 1919) & Terrence C. "Salty" Harris (b. 1920)

6 Leo D. Boyle (b. 1913)

10 William F. “Bill” Kiehn (b. 1921)

15 Antonio C. “Tony” Garcia (b. 1924)

17 Eugene G. "Doc" Roe (b. 1922)

21 Lt. Cl. David T. Dobie (b. 1912)

28 Herbert J. Suerth Jr. (b. 1924)

31 Robert "Bob" van Klinken (b. 1919)

November

11 Myron N. “Mike” Ranney (b. 1922)

20 Denver “Bull” Randleman (b. 1920)

December

12 John “Jack” McGrath (b. 1919)

31 Lynn D. “Buck” Compton (b. 1921)

Unknown Date

Joseph P. Domingus

Richard J. Hughes (b. 1925)

Maj. Louis Kent

Father John Mahoney

George C. Rice

SOURCES

Military History Fandom Wiki

Band of Brothers Fandom Wiki

Traces of War

Find a Grave

[historyswhor3]

Highlights from Shifty’s War

In the intro Peter Youngblood Hills (the actor who portrayed Shifty in BoB) describes Shifty’s speech, mannerism, & character

Shifty could flip a nickel in the air and shoot it when he was in high school

On his way back to his dorm he was almost jumped by five guys but talked them out of it and was then offered a ride back to the dorms. At the end said they were almost friends

Popeye and him during training camp would pass Winters and say “Why hello Dick Winters” and knew they wouldn’t get in trouble bc he would smile

Speaking of Popeye, he and shifty met in vocational school, enlisted together, and made a bet on making it through camp and becoming official paratroopers

Shifty won a 3 day pass from being an expert marksman but couldn’t afford going home so Popeye got others to chip in to pay for his way home

Shifty and McClung would shoot at other guy’s targets at the shooting range so they would pass

While in England training for the invasion Shifty complained about the food which resulted in the cook punching Shifty in the eye. To get back at him, Shifty stuck a knife in the wall and when the cook was walking by threw a potato at the wall so the cook would think he was good at throwing knives

McClung got his nickname when Alley and Rogers put their machine gun next to a sleeping McClung when an officer asked who was the machine gunner (McClung when he woke up was not happy). Rogers then wrote the poem “Who hung the gun on One-Lung McClung?”

After the battle of Carentan, Shifty was drinking wine and was getting shot at by a sniper and was UNPHASED. He kept drinking and after the sniper fired again wondered if that was the best he could do

While back in London, McClung and him went to a brothel and bc the line was so long McClung shot the lights out and voila no more line

We know Shifty spotted a new tree in Bastogne but he first spotted a new tree back in Holland

Shifty took a squad to patrol and went to a farmhouse to rest. There they ran into a group of guys in American GI uniforms (“who spoke English and appeared friendly”). After awhile, he listened to the way the GI’s moved around and figured from the NOISE OF THEIR BOOTS that they were Germans and swiftly got his squad and left

On leave in Paris Popeye, McClung, and him got into a bar brawl w guys from the navy bc Popeye had been throwing his empty beer bottles over his shoulder at the group. Popeye who liked to cause trouble, after running from the bar went into a fancy restaurant and threw a cat at the waiter’s face after the waiter refused to serve them food

Popeye in Bastogne pissed on his own hands to keep them warm

When in the hospital after the car accident, Shifty was conscious enough that he recalled the nurse taking off his boots and jumping back squealing bc he bloused his pants w condoms — a common thing they did ??

Shifty named his first kid after Wayne “Skinny” Sisk, thus Wayne Powers was born

Was happy that a “fine looking young fella” was playing him and when Peter Youngblood was visiting him he joked that he wanted to adopt him but took it back after seeing Peter eat as he said he couldn’t afford to feed him

With the success and popularity of the series people would write, call, and visit him. He even let a couple visiting from Italy spend the night at his house

[dearbabe]

Band of Brothers Appreciation Posts. #15 One Lung McClung.

[wwhatev3r]

“I can’t recall ever seeing him real angry at anything, I can’t remember him ever saying a mean thing to anyone,” said friend and fellow service member Earl “One Lung” McClung of Colorado. “He was a real Southern gentleman and kind-hearted to everyone. We were real good friends.”

— Earl McClung about Shifty Powers

[himbowelsh]

most feral men in easy company, ranked :

RON SPEIRS

ron fuckin’ speirs, y’all

somebody should make a highlight reel of speirs’s most feral moments

steals things. literally just pockets them right in front of people, looking them dead in the eye. just. takes them.

took on a german machine gun and lived

stalks people silently in the woods

delivers ominous nihilistic speeches without blinking

has a cult of rumours surrounding him, each more feral than the next

Y’ALL KNOW WHAT HE DID IN FOY

working knowledge of roman history which apparently comes out of nowhere???

after v-e day, a few easy company guys brought their buddy dressed as a german right to speirs and said “sir we found this german prisoner”, and speirs, without even looking up, just said “shoot him”

“WHEN YOU TALK TO AN OFFICER, YOU SAY SIR”

(historically, said “i’ve killed better men than you”, which is possibly more badass)

pistol-whipped a bitch

uhh, remember that time he got so mad general strayer was trying to take his car that he destroyed it with extreme prejudice before shoving it over a cliff??

 T H E   G L A R E 

earl mcclung

could smell germans??  how even the hell

remember that one time the germans blew up the bridges in holland while mcclung was literally on it, and as the dust settled everyone thought, “well, there goes mcclung”, but he literally tuck-n-rolled himself over the bridge and behind a log while the explosion was happening??  and lived??

they called him freaking “one lung”.  just imagine you’re in the woods all alone, just vibing, when some guy called One Lung comes barreling out at you.   “what’s your name,”  you ask between screams of mortal terror.  “THEY CALL ME ONE LUNG”  he replies.  that’s objectively terrifying.

joe liebgott

needs therapy.

winters knew.  winters knew exactly what was up.  do not leave liebgott alone with the prisoners.

cut off a guy’s finger???  as a souvenir??  jesus freaking ch---

i think he tried to bite webster in that one scene

definitely tried to maul guarnere  ( he had it coming )

remember that one nazi

bill guarnere and joe toye

they go together because they’re the exact same level of wild animal

bill gets +1 point because they literally called him “wild bill”

stole a motorcycle, broke his leg, and tried to go awol from the hospital a few weeks later...  by painting his cast black and trying to walk out. it did not work. when the hospital staff caught him, he basically said “and i’ll do it again” 

they tried to demote him to private for this, and simply failed

joe + brass knuckles

once don malarkey was being threatened by another paratrooper, and joe came out of nowhere, slamming the guy into a wall, almost off his feet, screaming “NO ONE THREATENS MALARK”. imagine it and tell me you’re not shitting yourself a little.

both got their legs blown off, at the exact same time on the exact same day, and not only LIVED, but wisecracked at each other while waiting to be taken away

bill tried to jump out of a med-evac plane with one leg.  there was some turbulence, so he literally hopped up and was like “GIMME A PARACUTE, I’M GOIN”

joe tried to kick his brother’s ass with his own prosthetic leg

donald malarkey

“what?” you say. “malarkey was so chill.  one of the chillest guys in the company!”

what about that time he stole a motorcycle

or jumped off his roof with an umbrella just to see what would happen

or ran into open fire to try and score a luger

OR THE TIME HE CHUGGED STRAIGHT METHANOL AND ALMOST DIED

lewis nixon

"tune in or check out hoes”

[gordonsgano]

Every Pic of Earl ‘One Lung’ McClung i have on my laptop part 1

[acompanyofheroes]

Earl McClung

[dontirrigateme]

For International One-Lung Day, I gift one very background Earl McClung.

SSg. Earl McClung, 27 Apr 1923 - 27 Nov 2013

Also, some Henry Jones, since it's also Henry Jones Day.

Capt. Henry Jones, 27 Apr 1924 - 21 Jul 1947

[acompanyofheroes]

Earl McClung