This is an original figure I did a couple years ago. I used a 120mm mannequin by Worster Miniatures (now owned by the Lost Batallion) and magic sculp for the body. The hands, boots, and head are by Verlinden; the helmet is by Kirin. In fact, I took the head off of Verlinden's "Easy Company paratrooper" figure (the one with the goofy pose) and resculpted the head - the helmet was cut off, the nose & eyes resculpted, and the top of the head was sculpted onto where the helmet was. This figure will be heading out in the mail to the man himself next week.

That's a great looking piece Pete I've seen the pic somewhere it was based on. Did he have blonde hair ?

Yes, Maj.Winters had sandy blonde hair - unlike his miniseries protrayal. The figure is based on a picture of then-Capt.Winters published in the book "Band of Brothers."

Excellent work Pete............sure wish it were a kit!

Pete, !! Major Winters is going to be one HAPPY man when he receives it in the post.WELL DONE,Pete !
Kenneth.

Pete

Great figure and I so envy you being anle to know tha mna himself, I am lucky enough to know a few vets, but I would like to talk to a man like him.

Robin

great job Pete, i have the book and the fig looks perfect like the picture!

Daniel - gracias. Esa foto es precisamente la que me motivo hacer esta figura.

Robin - I don't "know" Mr. Winters directly, although I did have the honor of communicating with him once a while back. He's a very private man and his family & friends vigorously protect his privacy (especially after the miniseries' release). I did have his home address & phone number once, but it was lost when my hard drive fried itself about 1 year ago. I'm going through the E/506 historian to get it to him. The historian, Jake Powers (no relation to "Shifty"), is also a very nice guy - he's taking my copy of the book to get Mr. Winters autograph.

As a sidenote: a lot of these veterans frequent online forums about the airborne (quite a few using pseudonyms). I highly encourage everybody interested in this topic to visit them and communicate with these fine men while they're still here. Some of them are:
Trigger Time - http://www.101airborneww2.com/ Arguably the best airborne site out there. Hosted by Mark Bando, author of "Vanguard of the Crusade" and "101st. Airborne: the Screaming Eagles in Normandy."
Wild Bill Guarnere - http://www.wildbillguarnere.com/ This site is run by Mr. Guarnere's family, and he visits this site daily.
This one's pretty self-explanatory - http://www.majordickwinters.com
Medic Eugene "Doc" Roe - http://www.majordickwinters.com/index.html

Pete, Thanks for all that info. Though there are other servicemen probably deserving of the MOH, Dick Winters without a doubt deserves to number among them. I hope the political machine does not move to slowly, it would be great to see this man live to have the award bestowed to him personally~Gary

Gary,
Mr.Winters was, in fact, nominated for the MoH by the 506 PIR CO, Col. Bob Sink. It was argued that his leadership and the action of his 11 men at Brecourt Manor pretty much saved the 4th.Infantry Div. from suffering heavy casualties at Utah Beach, and eventually led to the capture of two vital causeways. However, the 101st. CO, MajGen.Maxwell Taylor (he got his 2nd. star while in Normandy), only allowed for one MoH to be awarded in his division. There was much debate immediately after the war about upgrading Mr.Winters' DSC to MoH, but it pretty much fizzled out. However, due to the immense popularity of "Band of Brothers" - dating way back before the miniseries - there has been renewed energy in this drive, particularly by those who were there at Brecourt under Mr.Winters' leadership. Personally, I think Gen.Taylor's decision put an unecessary limit on the number of MoH's awarded, especially considering that so many did and gave so much throughout the Normandy campaign that would richly deserve such recognition.
By the way, you know what would be a great "Easy Company" figure to do? A figure of Doc Roe

Hi Pete

The figure looks really good; it's nice to think it's going to the man himeself.



Rob

Pete,

Thanks for the links and nice work. I think he will be touched.

Joe