Profiles - Blog Posts

Eugene “Doc” Roe

 A slightly longer post dedicated to the “smol” baby of Easy Company: Doc Roe. 

First off, it was extremely hard to find stuff about Roe….anywhere. I’m not kidding when I say this boy deserves the world and barely got any recognition. 

So let’s start off with a photo or two of the real Eugene Roe: 

Eugene G. Roe 

Roe was born in October 1922. He was born in Louisiana. He was the third of five children. He was only educated until the point of elementary school, he eveb took a boat to school. He dropped out while still in “grammar school”. He then worked on shrimp boats and other jobs to help the family. He later worked with machinery and oilers for money as he grew up. 

When the war started, he didn’t enlist for an entire year after Pearl Harbor. He finally enlisted on December 12, 1942 in Lafayette, Louisiana. He had no medical experience, but was trained as a combat medic. He worked hard to gain his spot and was assigned to Easy Company while it was still under the command of Sobel. 

Roe jumped on D-Day. 

Roe was known for being a quick thinker. One story Roe had told his grandson was of a time is Bastogne where he had no supplies and a man had a serious head injury. Roe packed snow and mud into the injury and bought enough time for the man to get help. 

Roe was helping anyone he could, not matter the situation. He ran out into the open during a German artillery strike. He ran out into the open without weapons and dragged a wounded man back. Roe was described as the most dependable. caring person in Easy Company. He was recommended for a silver star but the citation was set aside and forgotten about. He was known for getting to anyone who needed help, even if they weren’t sure how he got there. 

Roe was injured in his jump into Holland. He landed on barbed wire and cut open his leg. He received another purple heart but when and how he was injured was not stated and is unknown.

By the time Easy Company arrived Germany, he married a British woman named Vera. They had started dating during his time in England. They were supposed to be married on June 6, 1944 but Roe was parachuting into enemy territory. (I hope Vera took that as a valid excuse when she was waiting at the alter) Roe came home first and left his wife to cross over later.

When Easy Company was in the Eagle’s Nest, Roe’s unofficial job was to drive the drinks back and forth to the enlisted men. Roe was given a wedding present from Easy Company: a set of forks and knives from Hitler’s personal set. Roe didn’t keep these for his entire life. instead he gave them to a World War II museum in  Baton Rouge, where they were set on display. 

Roe took home a German Luger with a swastika on it. His mother didn’t like that. She scolded him and threw it out into the bayou.

Doc and his wife settled down in Baton Rouge and had three kids. Roe took his children hunting and fishing and horseback riding. Roe had two girls, one he named Marlene after a World War 2 song “Lili Marlene” and one son, Eugene Jr. 

His children said he smoked a couple packs until the day he died. Which was authentically shown in the show along with his favorite type of cigarettes. He also was known to drink a lot of whiskey. Roe always wore cowboy boats and smoked and had a deep tan due to outside work.

Even though Roe was quiet and calm, he made it known not to mess with him. His grandson recalled a time where he forgot to tell Roe he was out hunting and Roe was back waiting for him with a shotgun, ready to shoot whoever was on his property. He was also known for his positive outlook on life. Roe was a firm believer in that everything could be fixed.

Roe worked in construction after the war and was known to figure things out easily with little experience. He was a naturally quick thinker. He retired later in life and soon started reconnecting with Easy members.

After 27 years of marriage, Vera and Roe divorced. Roe remarried shortly after but Vera never remarried. 

Roe developed lung cancer in the 1990s. He fought it for many years but soon gave into the pain on December 30, 1998. (Author side note: this was 2 days after I was born)

His funeral was small and private. But Roe’s story lived on with the rest of Easy, who adored their Doc “Bud” Roe.

Burton “Pat” Paul Christenson

The resident artist of Easy Company, a small but important role.

The Real Christenson:

So there’s a few different sources saying when he was born. On official records in Ancestry, it says he was born July 23, 1922. In the book by Marcus Brotherton, he says August 24, 1922. I’d go with the official date recorded by not only his family but the government….but that’s just me.

Burton Paul Christenson was born in 1922 in Oakland, California. As a child he was never called Burton, he was called Pat (a self given nickname) or Chris.

He was talented, even as a kid. He played piano, sang, and drew throughout his life. He never took a professional art class, just a few college courses. As a teenager, he made airplane models out of wood. His friends recall Pat was a perfectionist about his airplanes and if one wasn’t exactly perfect, it was burned and flown.

With his creative side, he also had an adventurous side. At age 13, Pat jumped off his roof with an umbrella to see if it would slow his fall. Needless to say, he never did that again. He learned archery after watching Robin Hood and would read Robin Hood to his younger cousins.

He was fairly athletic, even using his talents to help him out in that area of his life. He made his own weights with lead and flower pots. He could walk on his hands, box, and loved push-ups.

Pat graduated from high school at Castlemont. Before the war, he worked in a telephone company. He enlisted at the age of 20, after visiting a recruiter during a lunch break. They saw the ad for the Paratroopers and were convinced it was the only way to go. He did not want to be the average man in the Army, he wanted to be the best of the best.

Pat was always up for a challenge and competition and proving his worth with Easy was his goal when he enlisted.

When he started training, he wrote that, at first, “the majority of men had little conception of Army life and what was expected of them.” Mostly, “too many men in our ranks were unsuited for the Parachute Infantry,”

Pat soon was the toughest man in Toccoa. He held the physical-fitness record in Toccoa, an accomplishment that Winters confirmed in a letter to his family. The scene where Pat drinks water while running Currahee, didn’t actually happen to him, it happened to another person but it was shown to be Christenson.

Pat kept a photo of his younger cousin Gary (the two were close throughout most of their life) tucked into his helmet during jump school. When he made his qualifying jump, he managed to get an extra pair of jump wings and sent them back to Gary. He told Gary he was now a qualified jumper and Gary became the envy of his school with his fancy jump wings.

When Easy was sent to Alderbourne, England, Pat was with them. They continued to train and Pat continued to write about his experiences, saying, “Our training revolved around how to fight every conceivable way, and often, large groups of men gathered at the local pub.”

Pat was assigned to teach unarmed combat to others due to fear of an enemy invasion. Winters picked three easy men, all of them were privates. To gain respect from their trainees, Winters told them to borrow sergeants uniforms for their teaching. They traveled to the other units and trained them in hand-to-hand combat for days. During this time his reputation as the toughest man of Easy only grew. He wrote: “After a period of time, a group came to me and exclaimed, ‘Sergeant, no one can get out of this guy’s hold. If this stuff works, show us how you’d get away from him.’ There, standing in the middle of the group, was a great big 300-pounder with a smile from ear to ear. I deliberately paused, directed a cold stare at him, then approached quickly and said, ‘Make your move.’ As soon as I felt his arms around me I immediately collapsed my legs and threw my arms over my head. I slipped out of his grasp and found the back of his neck with my hands. His body was now bent over my back. I jerked hard on the back of his neck. His body, off balance, came flying over my shoulder and struck the ground with a violent thud. Swiftly, I drove my knee into his neck. I had never executed that move as well before or since. The crowd roared with approval. Then and there, to that group, I was untouchable.”

Pat was in the same plane as Richard Winters on their jump into Normandy. Like most of them, Pat had a rough ride down. Pat was a machine gunner at the time and lost the tripod for the gun during the jump, along with most of his other supplies. He also spotted a German firing an antiaircraft gun as he landed, but the German did not spot him (he was firing at another paratrooper) and Pat lived to tell the tale after safely landing in an apple tree.

When he went for cover, he landed on a dead American soldier. The dead man made a noise as air escaped his lungs and terrified poor Pat. What a helluva way to start the war?

Pat stayed in cover for a while, sensing movement, he gave the signal with the cricket. (Because why would you say flash when you’re surrounded by Germans and they might actually shoot you if they don’t know that language) When no response came, Pat raised to shoot the figure in front of him. The shadowy figure yelled out, “For Christ-sake, don’t shoot.” It was a boy named Woodrow Runner, Pat’s assistant gunner. He had lost part of his cricket and couldn’t send the signal.

Pat spent the rest of his Normandy campaign as a grenadier. He described it as one small skirmish after the other.

Pat made the jump into Holland on September 17, 1944. Pat considered this jump to be like a “parade ground jump”. By this time, Pat had become a squad leader and replacements were making their first jump.  Easy liberated the town of Eindhoven and made their way to Nuenen. Pat  wrote extensively about the skirmish in Nuenen. 

When two Germans fired at Pat from their location in a second story window, Pat raised his Thompson at them and fired. The gun did not fire, but the Germans were still firing at him. Pat realized that his gun had been put together wrong and he was exposed in an open field. Pat managed to fix his gun, out in the open, and get it placed back together properly. The Germans did not decide to stick around for the gun to work and ran. 

Pat recalls an event that happened shortly after, “The last house had an open field next to it. I parted the foliage of the hedge that separated the field from the house. I must have been spotted by a German machine gunner. Before he could fire, I pushed through the hedge and dropped into a ditch just on the other side. Robert Van Klinken, one of my riflemen, was following me closely. [Van Klinken] peered through the same opening as I had, just as the German machine gunner depressed the trigger. Van Klinken was hit with three bullets.”

Pat managed to grab Van Klinken, who was hit in the groin and chest, and dragged him into the ditch. Then men in the ditch were under heavy fire from the Germans. Pat waited until orders from Peacock, who was not sure what to do. They eventually called a withdrawal and manged to escape under fire. ““‘Chris, I’m not sure what to do,’ [Peacock said.] “‘Let’s withdraw—now!’ I said. He hesitated. ‘Who’s going to start the withdrawal?’ (The Germans were firing a machine gun in the path of our only escape route.)I said to the men around me to move to the rear in two’s and keep spread out. The men began to move. All got clear of the house. Peacock dashed across the danger area and I was close behind him. We ran as fast as we could for several hundred yards when we finally ran into the rest of E Company. We mounted the rest of the British tanks and rode back to Eindhoven.” 

Pat lost his friends Van Klinken and Bill Dukeman during the fight at Nuenen. 

Like every member of Easy, Bastogne held no good memories for Pat. On December 18, 1944, Easy left France (where they were having a slight break beforehand) and traveled to Bastogne, Belgium. Easy arrived on the 19th, dug their foxholes, and prepared for the worst. 

Snow began to fall on December 21 and the temperatures only got worse as the days carried on. Pat only writes once more about Bastogne, on December 23, 1944: “The blackness of the early morning surrendered to the new dawn. It was cold and quiet, and snow had fallen intermittently [throughout] the night. The flicker of a small fire could be seen in the rear toward the first platoon CP [command post]. [The fire] was well under control, for there was no tell-tale smoke that a German artillery observer could see. [If there had been smoke,] that area would have been shelled or mortared immediately. The early morning hours passed with only the sound of sporadic small arms fire to our left flank and occasional mortar fire a great distance away.”

 While Pat did not write about Bastogne, he drew about Bastogne.  One drawing shows a man’s leg exploding, being hit from mortar fire. Toye and Guarnere both lost their legs to mortar fire in January and Pat drew the picture in their honor. Other drawings include a jeep being hit by a mortar blast, patrols, tank battles, mortar fire, and hiking toward town. 

Below is a drawing by Pat (credit to Marcus Brotherton): 

Pat was injured a few times at Bastogne. Pat was injured as he was in his foxhole, his arm outside the hole. He heard the shrapnel coming, but was too sleep deprived to bother to move his arm. He was hit in the arm. Afterwards, he didn’t put in for a Purple Heart because ‘Van Klinken and Dukeman were killed, it was nothing’. When Bastogne was coming to a close, his feet froze and he was evacuated and sent to the hospital. When he arrived to the hospital, Pat wanted to take a bath but was told not to because of his frozen feet. Pat didn’t want to get into the hospital bed while he was still dirty, so he took one anyways.

Pat returned to Easy before they took Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and finished the war off with Easy. 

Pat returned home in the fall of 1945, now a Tech Sergeant by the war’s end. His first night home, he talked about war, mostly focused on being glad it was over. Gary, his cousin, remembered that first night and told about how Pat had been affected by the war, “ Funny thing was, he looked up at the ceiling inside his parents’ house and said, “Wonder if a mortar could go through this.” Pat wanted to get on with life, same as the rest of the guys. A few evenings later, the family held a big dinner celebration.” 

Pat went back to work soon after getting home, back to the telephone company he’d been with before the war began. He was not happy at that job, wanting to instead be an artist or horticulturalist. Pat was also big into physical fitness and eventually started a side job where he opened one of the first public gymnasiums in Oakland, California. Pat got a third job in landscaping and worked on that from 1967 to 1987. 

Pat married Mary Jo Bonham in 1947. They had three children, all sons, and moved into a large house near Oakland. The house had a large yard, which Pat decorated with a Japanese garden and a deck. Pat loved it so much, he slept outside during the summer.

Like most of Easy, the war followed Pat home. His son, Chris, said in an interview, “My father was probably like many of the fellows who came back. He was haunted by a lot of his war experiences. My room was adjacent to the back yard. I’d have the window open and remember hearing him in the night, many times. He had put stone pathways in the backyard, and I’d hear him walking on the pathways at two or three o’clock in morning. Afraid, I’d go to my mother. ‘Your father’s having funny feelings,’ she said. That was how she put it.”

Mary Jo passed away in 1997, three months after being diagnosed with liver cancer. She was 69 at the time. While her sudden death took many for surprise, it destroyed Pat. He stopped writing and no longer cared about life. There was no purpose left for Pat and grief consumed him.Pat’s own health began to falter. He had an small stroke and was left a changed man. Pat became slow, unresponsive, and he spiraled downwards from there. He was put into a hospital near one of his sons, Paul Jr. 

During his time in the hospital, Pat was still tough as he was during the war. He even got to the point of needing to be restrained so he could not punch the staff. But his brain was still “rewired” and he was losing track of the day. He was put into an  Alzheimer’s facility after a short time in the hospital. His brain would sometimes revert back to his days with Easy. One event that came to his son’s mind was when his dad said: “’Well, [Sergeant Don] Malarkey’s sitting over there. I just told him he had outpost duty.’ I’d say, ‘That’s not Malarkey.’ He’d say emphatically, ‘Of course it is.’”

Then, magically, his brain just rewired itself again. One day, he told his son he was fine and he needed to go home. And it turned out, he was perfectly fine. He was even able to take his driver’s test again and passed it. Then Pat was diagnosed with colon cancer. He had it removed and was just fine afterwards. But even Pat had his limits. 

Pat fell in his backyard, broke his arm and messed up his leg. His son Tim paid for him to have a caregiver live with him from there on. Pat was diagnosed with lung cancer, most likely due to his smoking habits that started with the war. Pat was offered surgery to remove the cancer, but refused after hearing he might end up on a ventilator. ““I don’t want to go out like that,” Pat said. “Let the cards fall where they may.”

Pat fell into a coma after a high fever. He died on  December 15, 1999. Pat passed away in his home, with his three sons by his side. 

When Guarnere told Winters that Pat had passed away, Winters wrote to the family: ““I always took pride in having my best looking man out front carrying the guidon [a small flag carried for marking, signaling or identification] for reviews by dignitaries. And that man, or course, was always Pat, who, with his clean-cut good looks and wide shoulders, proudly carried the Company E guidon.“When it came time for the big jump in Normandy, I wanted my best, most dependable man right behind me, that man was Pat again.””

Eugene “Doc” Roe

 A slightly longer post dedicated to the “smol” baby of Easy Company: Doc Roe. 

First off, it was extremely hard to find stuff about Roe….anywhere. I’m not kidding when I say this boy deserves the world and barely got any recognition. 

So let’s start off with a photo or two of the real Eugene Roe: 

Eugene G. Roe 

Roe was born in October 1922. He was born in Louisiana. He was the third of five children. He was only educated until the point of elementary school, he eveb took a boat to school. He dropped out while still in “grammar school”. He then worked on shrimp boats and other jobs to help the family. He later worked with machinery and oilers for money as he grew up. 

When the war started, he didn’t enlist for an entire year after Pearl Harbor. He finally enlisted on December 12, 1942 in Lafayette, Louisiana. He had no medical experience, but was trained as a combat medic. He worked hard to gain his spot and was assigned to Easy Company while it was still under the command of Sobel. 

Roe jumped on D-Day. 

Roe was known for being a quick thinker. One story Roe had told his grandson was of a time is Bastogne where he had no supplies and a man had a serious head injury. Roe packed snow and mud into the injury and bought enough time for the man to get help. 

Roe was helping anyone he could, not matter the situation. He ran out into the open during a German artillery strike. He ran out into the open without weapons and dragged a wounded man back. Roe was described as the most dependable. caring person in Easy Company. He was recommended for a silver star but the citation was set aside and forgotten about. He was known for getting to anyone who needed help, even if they weren’t sure how he got there. 

Roe was injured in his jump into Holland. He landed on barbed wire and cut open his leg. He received another purple heart but when and how he was injured was not stated and is unknown.

By the time Easy Company arrived Germany, he married a British woman named Vera. They had started dating during his time in England. They were supposed to be married on June 6, 1944 but Roe was parachuting into enemy territory. (I hope Vera took that as a valid excuse when she was waiting at the alter) Roe came home first and left his wife to cross over later.

When Easy Company was in the Eagle’s Nest, Roe’s unofficial job was to drive the drinks back and forth to the enlisted men. Roe was given a wedding present from Easy Company: a set of forks and knives from Hitler’s personal set. Roe didn’t keep these for his entire life. instead he gave them to a World War II museum in  Baton Rouge, where they were set on display. 

Roe took home a German Luger with a swastika on it. His mother didn’t like that. She scolded him and threw it out into the bayou.

Doc and his wife settled down in Baton Rouge and had three kids. Roe took his children hunting and fishing and horseback riding. Roe had two girls, one he named Marlene after a World War 2 song “Lili Marlene” and one son, Eugene Jr. 

His children said he smoked a couple packs until the day he died. Which was authentically shown in the show along with his favorite type of cigarettes. He also was known to drink a lot of whiskey. Roe always wore cowboy boats and smoked and had a deep tan due to outside work.

Even though Roe was quiet and calm, he made it known not to mess with him. His grandson recalled a time where he forgot to tell Roe he was out hunting and Roe was back waiting for him with a shotgun, ready to shoot whoever was on his property. He was also known for his positive outlook on life. Roe was a firm believer in that everything could be fixed.

Roe worked in construction after the war and was known to figure things out easily with little experience. He was a naturally quick thinker. He retired later in life and soon started reconnecting with Easy members.

After 27 years of marriage, Vera and Roe divorced. Roe remarried shortly after but Vera never remarried. 

Roe developed lung cancer in the 1990s. He fought it for many years but soon gave into the pain on December 30, 1998. (Author side note: this was 2 days after I was born)

His funeral was small and private. But Roe’s story lived on with the rest of Easy, who adored their Doc “Bud” Roe.

Ronald “Ron” Speirs

The Real Ronald Speirs

Ronald Charles Speirs was born April 20, 1920 in Edinburg, Scotland to Robert and Martha Speirs. Hitler was also born on April 20, a few years earlier. Speirs knew this fact and he liked to joke about it later in life. His father was a Scottish Engineer. Speirs and his family moved to the United States during the Great Depression. According to Ancestry, he had an older sister Dorothy and an older brother Robert.

 He grew up in Boston, attended high school there, took drill during school and Citizens Military Training Camps during the summers. He graduated in 1938. Not much is known about his childhood.

He was originally drafted but was given two months to finish extension courses. He was on active duty at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He volunteered for the Airborne. Speirs was one of the original Toccoa men under Sobel. 

When Easy traveled to England, Speirs traveled to Winchester to set up a camp for another Infantry division. There he met a British widow serving with the British Army’s Auxiliary Territorial Service division. They were married and had a son, Robert, soon after.

The woman’s husband had been presumed dead after disappearance. He was actually being held as a POW. He showed up towards the end of the war. It was eventually decided that she and Speirs would split up and she would return to her former husband. During the HBO, Speirs is seen rummaging through loot to send back to his wife and son. This seems to be accurate, according to other veterans. Speirs kept contact with his son throughout his life. His son would eventually become a major in the Royal Green Jackets Regiment. Speirs would visit his son and his three grandchildren in England later on in life.

Speirs jumped into Normandy with D Company on D-Day. His company would serve heavy losses. Speirs was injured in the face and knee by a grenade. He was taken back to England to recover from his injuries before returning to his unit before they jumped into Holland.

In Holland, Speirs was the Intelligence officer for Colonel Robert Strayer and his battalion. One night, Speirs had the Neder Rhine by himself to locate where the enemy was. He was spotted and the Germans opened fire on him. He dove into the water but had been struck by a bullet in his butt (what would become known as the million-dollar wound). He swam back to shore and was later found, wounded and too exhausted to move from the shore. He brought back critical information and was given the Silver Star for his mission.

He was sent to recover once again and later rejoined Easy in France before Battle of the Bulge. He wrote a letter to Stephen Ambrose about his experience in Bastogne. “There had been an attack through the trees before we arrived and they caught a number of Germans. The bodies were frozen, so there was no stench. I turned one over, an artillery forward observer, and found an excellent pair of binoculars around his neck…….We had one firefight where a platoon sergeant was killed next to me…..He fell into my arms, but was dead. There was nothing I could do for him.” In another letter to Winters, Speirs writes: “He fell in my arms without a word, probably feeling nothing. Those are the guys I think about 50 years later- why them and not me?”

In Foy, Easy company was under the command of Captain Dike Dike was considered to be similar to Sobel, but not as tough. He had reportedly “scurried off like a scared rabbit” after the blasts that took Guarnere and Toye started. Dike was the man to be leading the assault across an open field to face the Germans. Winters went through all of his instructions once more and Easy moved out under a covering fire that left them covered in heavy smoke.

Their attack was soon dissolving into chaos. Dike froze behind haystacks and was refusing to lead. Winters, aware of the risk of putting Dike in charge, had decided to watch their assault. Speirs was next to him for an unknown reason, watching this all go to chaos. Winters, angrily grabbed his gun, and declared “I’m going!” to seize control of Easy once more. He had barely moved when he whirled around and instead told Speirs to “take over that company and relieve Dike and take that attack on in.” 

Winters had not prepared to pick Speirs, he just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Winters later recalled he was glad it was Speirs, who he respected as a combat leader. Winters had heard the rumors of Speirs and his killer instincts but Dike needed to be removed. 

Speirs raced off to aid Easy Company. He reached the haystack, shouted at Dike, and took command of Easy. Speirs then raced across open area to locate Easy’s other flank and reorganize them. Germans opened fire on him as he crossed there lines. Once he arranged the company, he raced back through the German lines. 

Regarding his personality, many rumors flew about Speirs and his violence. Winters regarded him as a killer, Malarkey didn’t like him much because of how violent he could get, and he soon developed a nickname “Killer”. 

Most of the Easy Vets respected him as a combat leader. Many of the men feared Speirs. Although he was respected, it is said some men didn’t like his strict rules and discipline He was dedicated to doing the right thing and was often fearless in the heat of battle. Speirs wrote in a letter to Winters in 1992 that he didn’t expect to survive the war, so that might have fueled his actions as well. 

The stories of Speirs’ and his violent streak toward his own men. It was rumored he shot a sergeant because he was drunk. While Speirs did not deny shooting the man, Winters later wrote that the shooting went beyond being drunk. The sergeant had ignored a command from Speirs to halt twice. The men were under heavy fire near Saint Côme-du-Mont. Orders were to halt due an artillery attack planned on the city where German were. The men were to follow up the artillery attack. When the sergeant didn’t stop, he was risking the lives of the men. Speirs took out his gun and shot the man. Some veterans told that the sergeant had even threatened Speirs with his gun drawn.The man died the the next day in battle so no official report could be carried out. 

One of the most famous stories following his name, there was the incident of Speirs and the POWs on D-Day. There were no eyewitnesses that would confirm the story. Many stories like this have been recorded but it is not sure if Speirs was a part of these numbers for certain. 

After the battle of Foy, “Sparky” Speirs remained in command of Easy until the end of the war. He was the longest commanding officer of Easy. One of the memories from Winters was of Speirs in Berchtesgaden, taking one of Hitler’s staff cars with the bullet-proof windows for a joy ride.

When the war ended, Speirs continued to serve with the Airborne, just not the 101st. He was placed with 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team during his service in Korea. He commanded a rifle company during a jump in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. 

After the Korean War ended, Speirs served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a military secretary for the 18th Airborne Corps Commander Major General Joseph Cleland. 

In 1956, Speirs learned Russian in California before being assigned to Potsdam, East Germany to work as a liaison officer with the Soviet Army. He later became the US governor of Spandau Prison in Berlin in 1958. Spandau held many Nazi war criminals, including Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy. Hess and Speirs would meet almost daily, seemingly gaining a respect for each other.  Not much was said about his duties in the Korean War, with the Soviets, or in Spandau. Speirs would never talk much about these experiences. 

In 1962, Speirs was a training officer in Laos, Southeast Asia, with a government mission with the Royal Lao Army. Finally, Speirs worked in the Pentagon as a plans officer until he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1964.

Around 1984, Speirs met a lady named Eloise. She had recently been widowed and her three children lived far away from her home California. She met Speirs at a singles square dance and in November 1987, they were married. Her son, Marv, did not know Speirs well at first but grew to love his step-father after the couple started spending more time in Montana, where he lived. Marv’s brother and sister had children, along with six children with his wife, leaving Speirs to become a grandfather and great-grandfather eventually. His grandchildren would take him on walks, attack him with hugs, and he would do whatever they wanted. 

His family did not know the details of his long military career and he would blame it on his failing memory. It was said that while his later actions blurred together, World War 2 would forever last in his mind. 

Speirs traveled to the premiere of Band of Brothers in France with his wife in 2001. Speirs wasn’t planning on going but his wife told him she was going with or without him, and he chose to go. When reading about how his actions would be displayed in the show and if he was worried, Speirs replied, “I’m eighty-one years old, what can they do to me now?”

This photo was the first time Winters and Speirs had seen each other in fifty-five years. 

After the event, Speirs started opening up more about his wartime experiences. He even met his granddaughter’s husband, a cadet at West Point who had taken an interest in Speirs. Within their one hour talk, Speirs opened up more about his experiences than he ever had. Perhaps it was to share the experience with someone who was just starting a military career, we may not know why he shared so much but Speirs was able to recall a lot more than his memory knew he had. 

Sadly, even legends come to an end. Speirs last years were rough and he struggled with health issues. He was not officially diagnosed but it is believed he died of Alzheimer’s. His last months were painful to everyone and the family was on call 24/7 to care for him. 

Speirs died April 11, 2007. He was almost eighty-seven years old.