Band of Brothers Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Chapter 7. Healing Wounds and Scrubbed Missions; Aldbourne, July 13–September 16, 1944

Summary

After their assignment at Carentan, the 101st returns to England as the first soldiers to come back from Normandy. There, the young soldiers drink in excess and celebrate wildly, fighting in bars and damaging London establishments. Others visit friends and relatives in the United Kingdom. Winters writes letters to the parents of the dead and wounded. The soldiers have plenty of time to heal their wounds before returning to duty. During this time, they also examine the realities of war as half their barracks had become casualties after only one operation. At this rate, the men wonder if any of them will make it home. One soldier, David Kenyon Webster, explains the wartime view of death in a letter to his mother, contrasting it with civilian life when sudden death is unexpected. The gratitude of being spared gives way to survivor guilt later on.

Promotions abound at this point. Welsh and another soldier, Lynn Compton, are promoted from second to first lieutenants. Lipton moves up to replace Dick Winters as the company first sergeant since Winters became the captain of Easy Company after Thomas Meehan was killed. Sergeant Boyle is promoted to staff sergeant for company HQ, while Bill Guarnere is promoted to staff sergeant of Easy Company. Don Malarkey, Warren Muck, Paul Rogers, and Mike Ranney move up from private to sergeant, and Pat Christenson, Walter Gordon, John Plesha, and Lavon Reese are promoted from private to corporal.

While recuperating physically, the ranks of Easy Company and the 506th are refilled with fresh recruits just over from the States and graduated from jump school. This means the necessity of training exercises to get the new soldiers integrated into the company.

Deployments come and go as the war progresses. A planned drop near Chartres is canceled when Patton’s Third Army Tank force captures the drop zone. A deployment near Tournai, Belgium, is scrubbed when the British Second Army captures Tournai. The men’s relief is tempered by the expectation that it is only a matter of time before they will deploy somewhere. The British commander Montgomery proposes to utilize the Airborne Army in Operation Market Garden to secure five Rhine River crossings for an advance in northern Germany and shorten the war. Eisenhower quickly agrees to the plan, and on September 16, Easy Company is en route to Holland.

Analysis

The events of Normandy have taken the enthusiasm for the fight out of many of the men of Easy Company. Some distract themselves from both memories and thoughts of their next deployment by heavy drinking and partying in London. Downtime at Aldbourne gives the men leisure for reflection on the deaths of their brothers-in-arms and their own close calls. Their sense of vulnerability comes to the fore during their time of inactivity as there is no adrenaline rush, no battle for survival to distract their thoughts. Lipton explains this dynamic as the loss of purpose. When in the heat of battle, a professional soldier feels a sense of inevitability that hardens him to death and injury. The drive to succeed and the thrill of combat return. However, the quiet time every soldier needs to regain his physical strength can often lead to a weakening of his mental resolve.

Webster is of this mind. He is embarrassed that his injury on D-Day precluded his fighting alongside his comrades in Carentan and is enthused to rejoin his friends. In his self-assigned role as a war correspondent via letters back home, he tries to characterize a soldier’s attitude toward death. Webster observes a distinct difference between the civilian’s view of sudden death as unexpected and horrifying and a soldier’s familiarity with the cessation of life all around him as a consequence of fighting. Like Webster, Winters also tries to bridge the gap between loved ones at home and the battlefield. His letters to families about the death and injuries of their sons, brothers, and husbands show his attempt to stay grounded in both worlds.

The list of promotions speaks of the bravery and intelligence of the officers as well as the good judgment of the leaders in encouraging hard work. Listing the names reminds the reader that individuals, real human beings with thoughts and feelings and lives of their own, are the heart and soul of Easy Company. Promotions are a reward, but they also increase responsibility, weighing heavily on the minds and hearts of those rising in the ranks. Easy Company is aware of its elite paratrooper status. Unlike other infantry still sitting in foxholes in Normandy, army leadership saves the men of Easy Company for difficult missions, which the men view as both a reward and a curse. The ups and downs of missions that are scrubbed or canceled are an emotional roller coaster. The recruits that take the places of their fallen comrades also are a mixed blessing. The current soldiers, not having bonded with the recruits through their rigorous stateside training, represents a potential pitfall in their cohesive functioning as a fighting machine. The veterans have to learn to trust the new men untested by battle.

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