Easy Company Medic Eugene Roe

The Daily Herald (WA) - Sept. 7, 2001

Easy Company Medic Eugene Roe: Band Of Brothers in the News: The Daily Herald (WA) - Sept. 7, 2001

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By Chrisdfw (Chrisdfw) (209.245.229.153 - 209.245.229.153) on Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 08:37 pm:

This Band of Brothers marches on

Larry Henry
Sports Columnist
The Daily Herald (WA) - Sept. 7, 2001

This column isn't about sports. It's about heroes. Genuine heroes. Not the phony kind we write about every day.

Lynn "Buck" Compton and Don Malarkey would scoff at the notion that they're anything special. They would simply say they were men doing their jobs, and their jobs during World War II were to fight Germans.

They were members of a crack rifle company (Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne) that distinguished itself in France on D-Day and at the Battle of the Bulge.

You'll get to know them beginning Sunday night when HBO presents the first of a 10-part miniseries entitled Band of Brothers, based on the book by Stephen E. Ambrose.

I had the privilege of sitting and talking with Compton and Malarkey on Monday afternoon. And I mean that sincerely: It was a privilege. Two of the best hours I've had interviewing people in a long time.

Malarkey was in Everett visiting his daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and John Hill.

The two old veterans are part of a great period in American history that, sadly, many young Americans have only scant - and often, no - knowledge of.

Monday night, Compton, 79, of Burlington, and Malarkey, 80, of Salem, Ore., threw out ceremonial first pitches before the Mariners-Devil Rays game at Safeco Field.

The sellout crowd gave them a standing ovation. Then Mariners chairman and CEO Howard Lincoln invited them to share his private suite.

It was treatment befitting old soldiers who gave so much for their country.

Both came back from the war decorated for their actions in combat. Compton won a Silver Star, Malarkey a Bronze Star.

Both came back with memories, good and bad. They made many friends, and left many friends behind on the battlefields of Europe.

"The greatest experience was ... to get to fight with guys like Compton ... a group of volunteers ... dedicated and motivated (to defeat the Germans)," said Malarkey, who looks much younger than his 80 years with handsome white hair and a solid frame.

Malarkey said he told Ambrose, the author, "You probably think I'm crazy, but I thank Adolf Hitler every day of my life for giving me the opportunity to be with those guys."

Sharon Hill said her father never talked about his war experiences. "The only thing I remember is at Christmas time it was very difficult for him because they were surrounded by Germans (at the Battle of the Bulge)," she said.

"The worst thing," said Compton, recalling that time more than 56 years ago, "were the miserable conditions, the cold and no supplies."

Unable to change his shoes and socks for days on end, he got frostbite.

"The final thing," he said, "was a barrage that sounded like they were dropping boxcars on us."

Compton says he was never "haunted" by his memories. "About the only thing is ... I have a twinge of guilt," he said. "A lot of those guys didn't even see their 22nd birthday and I got out in one piece."

He calls it luck. Easy Company had enormous casualties.

On D-Day, he surprised two Germans manning an artillery piece.

"I'm thinking I'm gonna do a Jimmy Cagney and I jumped through this hedge and pulled the trigger of my machine gun and it goes 'plunk.' I had a broken firing pin."

The Germans fled. Little did they know that they were dealing with an ex-catcher from UCLA. Compton threw a strike with a grenade and killed them both.

That got him the Silver Star.

"He won't tell you this," said Malarkey, nodding at his friend, "but he deserved the Distinguished Service Cross."

There was that bond again, formed 50-some years ago, as strong now as it was then. Two elderly gentlemen now having the memories of those years rekindled through this book and TV miniseries.

The men have done some serious traveling in conjunction with the production. They and two other veterans from Easy Company were asked to come to Los Angeles to preview the miniseries and offer their criticisms.

The production company also flew them - and other members of Easy Company - to France for the world premiere at Utah Beach on the anniversary of D-Day, June 6.

And they recently attended another premiere at the Hollywood Bowl in LA.

Both men got to meet the actors who will portray them. Scott Grimes will play Malarkey and Neal McDonough is Compton.

When someone asked Compton how he felt having a handsome guy like McDonough playing him, he cracked, "I hated it. They should have gotten somebody like Wallace Beery."

After the war, both men went home and enrolled in college, Compton at UCLA and Malarkey at the University of Oregon. Malarkey would later have his own real estate business and Compton would become the chief deputy district attorney in LA.

He headed the investigation of Sirhan Sirhan, assassin of Robert Kennedy.

"It wasn't a complex case by any stretch of the imagination," Compton said. "Our whole thing was to try to discover if there was anybody else (involved)."

Compton and his wife Donna moved to Lopez Island in 1986, living there until 1994. When Donna died, Compton moved to Burlington.

He now does two five-minute daily commentaries for a radio station in Anacortes (he says the owner likes him because their politics are similar - "pretty conservative"). And he watches the Mariners.

"I'm not one of these rabid fans," he said, "but I'm getting to like some of these guys. I love (David) Bell and (Dan) Wilson."

It was Wilson who caught the old veterans' ceremonial first pitches.

He can now say he's met two real-life heroes.

By sbiwyfoc (151.9.14.155) on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 02:27 am: