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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

The Story Behind a 'Band of Brothers'

Aired September 07, 2001 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: "Band of Brothers." It is the big-budget mini-series based on the bestselling book about a company of U.S. soldiers who parachuted into France and fought their way across Europe. It's the story of men who sacrificed themselves for democracy and freedom.

We will get background on Hollywood's latest history lesson produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. I'll speak with Tony To co-executive producer and the author of "Band of Brothers," historian Stephen Ambrose, whose books on the World War II generation have educated another generation.

And we will hear about her heroism and the human spirit. I'll speak with Easy Company veteran Carwood Lipton who tells what it what like going into battle first the time and then trying to survive all the other times.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer live from Washington. Sunday night, HBO, which like CNN, is part of AOL Time Warner, begins a remarkable 10-part, $120 million series on World War II. "Band of Brothers" is based on the book by Stephen Ambrose. It tells the story of a group of elite paratroopers who landed in France for the D-Day invasion. They later fought at the Battle of the Bulge. They liberated a concentration camp. They eventually captured Hitler's mountain fortress.

CNN's Paul Vercammen begins our focus tonight, "Band of Brothers."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Hollywood premiere for HBO's "Band of Brothers," executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg strolled through the media gauntlet. World War II veteran Bill Guarnere made that walk, too. He got there on true grit and one leg. He lost the other during a German shelling.

BILL GUARNERE, WWII VETERAN: How do you think we got here? You can't be meek in war. Cannot be meek in war. You've got to be tough. Only the tough survived, too.

VERCAMMEN: Now many younger Americans can experience the heroic tales of Guarnere and the members of Easy Company from the 506 regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. The paratroopers saga first appeared in the best selling book "Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose. Spielberg and Hanks and Ambrose, as they did on "Saving Private Ryan" joined forces to bring "Band of Brothers" to the screen.

STEVEN SPIELBERG, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: I want them to appreciate the history of the middle of the century when we reached a crossroads to determine whether it was to be a 21st century or not. And these brave boys who are now great veterans saved the world.

VERCAMMEN (on camera): Spielberg hopes that "Band of Brothers" resumes what Private Ryan started. It offered history lessons to young viewers who couldn't grasp their parent's or grandparent's stories about World War II.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish I paid a little bit more attention to history back then.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really changes your thoughts about what happened in the war and everything like that, you know.

VERCAMMEN: How so?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. It's more realistic not than what they teach you in school.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): One of the original Band of Brothers, Lynn "Buck" Compton, says the new series can teach young people about unwavering patriotism.

LYNN "BUCK" COMPTON, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: In my day when World War II broke out, you would be embarrassed to be on the streets without a uniform on of some kind. The country was totally unified, and we never questioned the fact that we were going to go serve.

VERCAMMEN: Lieutenant Compton went on to become chief deputy district attorney of Los Angeles County and lead prosecutor in the trial of Sirhan-Sirhan for the murder of Robert Kennedy.

The actors playing Compton and Guarnere appreciate their dedication to country. Frank John Hughes, 33 years old, took on the role as Gutsy Sergeant Guarnere from South Philadelphia, now 76.

FRANK JOHN HUGHES, ACTOR: He was giving to his men, to the men under him, and he was giving after the war, and he still was. He gave me everything in order to -- to portray him accurately. He changed my life. VERCAMMEN (on camera): How did he do?

GUARNERE: I told him we won the war, don't worry about the acting. So he did all right.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Paul Vercammen, CNN Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: His interviews with surviving members of the "Band of Brothers" led to the best-selling book and now the television drama. A short while ago I spoke with author and historian Stephen Ambrose in our Washington bureau and with co-executive producer of the mini series Tony To, who joined me from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks to both of you for joining us. Let me begin with you Professor Ambrose. The portrayal of those who fought in World War II in this series, "Band of Brothers," is it an accurate portrayal for a new generation of younger people who, of course, never lived through World War II.

STEPHEN AMBROSE, HISTORIAN/AUTHOR: Certainly it is. It's absolutely on the mark. And they are young unknown actors for the most part, in this mini series. And they're just super and they look like and they act like and they have gotten to know the men that they're playing. And they've drawn a great deal from that and it's a marvelous thing to see.

BLITZER: Tony, talk about the pressure you were under, pressure from yourself, from your co-producers, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the pressure to come up with this authentic accurate portrayal of what that war was all about.

TONY TO, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Well, we had such a great tool, which was Professor Ambrose's book, and from there we tried to delve as deep as we can with the men themselves. As Professor Ambrose has just said, the actors called up the men that they were playing, and they really bonded with the man and really got inside them so we could present as accurate a picture as we, as is humanly possible.

BLITZER: And you had the budget of what, $120 million to put this 10-part series together?

TO: Yes.

BLITZER: Which is an incredible luxury.

TO: Yes, it was. But I think for all of us, Tom and Steven have such great passion for all of this, that all we thought about was getting this right. And credit to HBO, that's what, that's the page that they were on.

BLITZER: Professor Ambrose, I want to read an excerpt from your book, a short one, that says this. "That officers and men broke under the constant strain, tension, and vulnerability, is not remarkable. What is remarkable is that so many did not break."

How do you explain that in this "Band of Brothers," this elite unit, so many of the men did not break?

AMBROSE: They were very well-trained. They were in top physical condition, and they were an outstanding group of men. There were some that broke in the company, but the majority did not because they had bonded together at Toccoa, Georgia in their training and then on D-Day and then at the Battle of the Budge and then in Holland just before that, and they had a great faith in each other.

They relied on the man to their right or the man to their left and they knew those guys were relying on them and this is life and death. This is kill or be killed. So they formed this bond that held them together, and they were able to endure shellings and make attacks that were something to just leave you awe struck by how they did it and how they did it without breaking. I've done a lot of interviewing of a lot of veterans and all of them have stories about, this guy broke, or that guy broke, that almost never happened in Easy Company.

BLITZER: In Easy Company, Professor Ambrose, how many casualties, killed and injured, did they says sustain?

AMBROSE: 150 percent.

BLITZER: Explain to our viewers what that means.

BLITZER: That means that a company of 200 men suffered 300 casualties, killed and wounded and replacements came in and sometimes the guys who were wounded would go AWOL from the hospital because they wanted to get back with that company. That's how strong the bond was. And the men who came in became a part of that company and were integrated into it just as successfully as the men who had trained together in Georgia. But it was 150 percent casualties.

BLITZER: That is unbelievable. Tony To, some of the criticism, of not only this series, there hasn't been much criticism, but of Tom Brokaw's greatest generation, "Saving Private Ryan," some people have suggested that maybe this whole look back at World War II is becoming too commercial, too much of an industry, and not enough authentic history. What do you say about that?

TO: I say that for us, this was about looking back at that period as accurately as we possibly could, and it was an enterprise that was done as a labor of love. Not as a commercial enterprise.

BLITZER: Are you at all concerned, Professor Ambrose, about this suggestion that there's too much of an industry or commercialization of what is obviously such a traumatic moment in our history?

AMBROSE: These guys saved the world. I don't know how can you over dramatize that. I don't know how you could exaggerate the importance of the victory of the democracies in the Second World War, to throw the totalitarians into the ash can of history where they belong.

The reason we are not starting this program saying "Zeig Heil" is because it was the Americans and the democracies that won the Second World War. I don't know how you could go too far in praising these men. One thing about "The Band of Brothers" mini series, it's so honest, that is not me speaking, that is the men of the company, that tony was a part of all of this and for example, in the climactic scene at the end of the war, you start off with Ronald Spears looting a German house of its silver.

There's no explanation. There's nobody saying, "What is he doing?" and so on. No preaching. And then you go from there to the liberation of a concentration camp, and these are events that actually happened.

But again, there's no preaching. This is just a presentation of what happened, and I think it's marvelous.

BLITZER: Tony To, any of the actual veterans who survived Easy Company -- I know you've spoken with many of them. What sticks out in your mind about these survivors?

TO: I think that there is -- and it is what we celebrate in this miniseries. It's a celebration of the human spirit. And there is such great spirit to these men and dignity that it's awe-inspiring.

BLITZER: Professor Ambrose, I know you've studied the military, you've studied history. Will there ever be another Easy Company again in U.S. history?

AMBROSE: Things are going to be different, and it's not going to be a second world war. We are not going to have any big wars, not in our lifetimes anyway anymore, but there's a lot of challenges out there -- and absolutely. The American youth of today are ready to meet that challenge.

They are, like the men of Easy Company, children of democracy, and they will go out and do what has to be done in keeping peace around the world. That's what our Army is doing right now. We've got an army in the United States whose main mission is to bring peace.

BLITZER: And very briefly, professor Ambrose, are there still stories left to be told from World War II that have not yet been told?

AMBROSE: Yes, tons of them. Tons and tons and tons of them. It was a big war, and there was a lot of action. And there was a lot of bravery, and there was a lot of cowardice. There was a lot of looting and there was a lot of very generous actions, and of course there is all kinds of stories out there still to be told.

BLITZER: Well, I can't get enough of it. I know that my generation, born after World War II, is fascinated by it, but there is good news the younger generation is as well. And I want to thank both of you for not only joining us today but for putting together this remarkable 10-part series. Thanks, thanks very much.

AMBROSE: Thank you, Wolf.

TO: Thank you, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And up next, he bears witness to the fact that freedom must sometimes be fought for. I'll speak with one of the veterans of Easy Company, Carwood Lipton. He will tell us what it was like to be one of the real band of brothers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BAND OF BROTHERS") UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, wait! Wait for the signal!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BAND OF BROTHERS")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going get me killed, lieutenant!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Earlier, I had a chance to speak to one of the band of brothers: An 81-year-old veteran of Easy Company. He's won praise from author Stephen Ambrose, who notes he'd like young people to come away from the miniseries saying, "I want to be like Carwood Lipton."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Mr. Lipton, thanks so much for joining us on this special day. The fact is, that you were -- what -- 24 years old when you jumped into Normandy, just hours before D-Day? Go back to that period and refresh our memories, refresh your own. What was it like?

CARWOOD LIPTON, EASY COMPANY VETERAN: It was an experience that it's hard to describe with words. When we got over the Normandy Peninsula, going in for the jump, we had heavy cloud cover as we passed over the coast line. We had heavy anti-aircraft fire directed at our planes. The planes were swerving back and forth to confuse the enemy gunners and to keep from flying into each other in the cloud cover.

So we were thrown about in the planes. We were anxious to get out. We knew that we had to get out of the planes before they were hit with this anti-aircraft fire, which was all around us. When the green light went on, we went out right then. And we didn't know where we were. We didn't know where we would land, but we knew that we had to get out of those planes, get down on the ground, and get along with our mission.

BLITZER: Did you have a sense of the historic gravity of what was unfolding on that day?

LIPTON: I saw the immense size of the invasion as we were coming across the channel. The sky was clear as we flew across the channel. And being jump master of my plane, I was able to lie on the floor at the door with my head out in the slip stream and see the channel filled with all kinds of craft, from LCIs up to battle ships, and I saw then the immense size of the invasion and what an impressive event was taking place. We didn't look on it from the standpoint of what it was -- what it would mean to history or even to the people back in the States. We -- our minds were filled with what our missions were when we got on the ground. We had plenty to think about on what we were supposed to do.

BLITZER: And you saw the horrors of war up close and very, very personal. Listen to what Steven Spielberg said about Easy Company only recently. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN SPIELBERG, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "BAND OF BROTHERS": These guys got terribly wounded. I mean, you know, Easy Company was decimated in terms of casualties, but so many of them went to hospital and then returned to the front lines and fought in the Ardennes and fought at Market Garden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That happened to you, didn't it?

LIPTON: Yes. I was hit (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on June 12, hit quite seriously. Put me in the hospital for six weeks. I rejoined the company then back in England at Alburn (ph) before we jumped into Holland.

BLITZER: You have seen some of these episodes of "Band of Brothers." How realistic in your opinion are they?

LIPTON: Oh, they're quite realistic. I've seen all the episodes. The jump into Normandy with the anti-aircraft fire, with the cloud cover, with the planes swerving, banking and swerving, is exactly how it was. I don't know how they made that.

There was a shelling that we went through on January 3 at Baston, and their depiction of that shelling is exactly like it was.

BLITZER: Is there anyone in particular who didn't make it that you remember especially, that you remember most right now?

LIPTON: Well, there are a number, of course, that I remember. We had 51 men killed in the company. I remember Bill Keen (ph), who was killed right almost at the end of the war, down in Haganaw, a town of Haganaw in Alsace/Lorraine. Bill Keen (ph) was a good friend of mine, and he was killed there just shortly before the war ended.

But there are many others that were in E Company. It was a remarkable group of men, and there are many others in the company that I remember.

BLITZER: Mr. Lipton, I want to thank you very much for sharing some of your memories with us, very meaningful especially as we all get ready to watch this HBO series. Thanks so much for spending sometime with us.

LIPTON: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Remarkable men who did indeed save the world.

Up next, more sputtering in the world's largest economy. Unemployment lines grew longer last month, longer than they've been in years.

And he was last seen in 1975. Now there's a new clue to the disappearance of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. In other top stories, more Americans were out of work last month than at any other time in four years. Last month's employment report shows the jobless rate rose to 4.9 percent, a figure not seen since September 1997. Employers cut 113,000 jobs last month. The news ignited a selling frenzy on Wall Street, with the Dow closing at its lowest level since April.

In Miami, the people hired to keep the law are arrested for allegedly breaking it. Thirteen current or former police officers have been charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and other crimes. Federal prosecutors say the officers planted guns and tried to cover up four shootings that claimed three lives. Two retired officers have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy and are said to be cooperating with investigators.

There's a new clue in the 26-year-old case of missing Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa. The FBI says DNA tests have positively identified one of Hoffa's hairs found in a car police suspected was involved in his disappearance. That car was driven by Hoffa's friend Charles "Chuckie" O'Brien the day Hoffa vanished in 1975. Investigators reinterviewed O'Brien, who has always denied Hoffa was in his car that day.

Up next, I'll open our mailbag. Our focus last night on Senator Hillary Clinton generated lots of reaction, from love to hate. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Time now to open our mailbag. We received lots of reaction to our focus last night on Senator Hillary Clinton.

Deanne from Buffalo, New York writes this: "With all the money she and Bill are making now with the book deals, when are they going to return the Clinton defense money to those who actually supported them?"

Jordan from Tenafly, New Jersey: "Let's see Hillary do something for the great state of New York before she passes judgment on the president." But Sandra from Oak Ridge, Tennessee writes: "She's not my senator, but I would gladly take her over what we have in Tennessee. Unlike the Bush administration, I believe she deeply cares about people and the issues we are about."

Remember, I want to hear from you. Please e-mail me at wolf@cnn.com. And you can read my daily online column and sign up for my e-mail previewing our nightly programs by going to my Web site, CNN.com/wolf.

That's all the time we have tonight. I'll you Sunday on "LATE EDITION," the last word in Sunday talk. Among my guests: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN" begins right now.

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