He didn't return to Europe until 1987, when he revisited Normandy and the field at Brecourt Manor where he and the other members of Easy Company had captured the German guns targeting Utah Beach on D-Day: " Here, I finally felt I had found the peace and quiet that I had promised myself on D-Day," wrote Winters. In 1951 he had purchased a farm in Pennsylvania, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, and by 1960 he was able to move himself and his family out there permanently. Shortly before Winters was set to be deployed to Korea on active duty, there was a change of orders that permitted him to resign from his commission - an opportunity he took gladly. "Training new officers who couldn’t care less about attending classes exceeded my patience." " Compared to my wartime experience, training at Fort Dix was simply terrible," Winters wrote. In lieu of active duty, he agreed to report to Fort Dix in New Jersey in a training role, but quickly grew frustrated by the quality of the officers he was supposed to be turning into battalion commanders. " I had seen enough of war," Winters wrote in his autobiography, Beyond Band of Brothers.
Winters had never planned to return to the military, but the draft meant that he was still in the army reserves, and when the Korean War began in 1951 he was called to service again - much to his dismay.
Winters realized he was " in for the duration."Īs depicted in Band of Brothers, Winters' accomplishments and his rise through the ranks meant that he was faced with a choice as World War II came to an end: stay in the military, or return to his original plan of a career in business. He opted for the latter, going to work at his friend Lewis Nixon's family company, Nixon Nitration Works. In 1948 Winters married a woman named Ethel, and they had two children together. Then I don't have to worry about interrupting my livelihood." Just a few months after he enlisted, however, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese military, prompting America's entry into World War II. " And then when I have that taken care of, then go get a job. In 1941 Winters had just completed a business degree, but with the war going on and the possibility of America becoming involved, Winters was concerned that he might begin a career only to have it interrupted by the draft and compulsory military service. " I made a decision, 'Look, I'm going to volunteer, take care of this military obligation,'" Winters recalled in an interview featured in the documentary Dick Winters: Hang Tough. His decision to enlist was driven by the Selective Service Act of 1940, which required men between the ages of 21 and 35 to serve on active duty for 12 months if they were drafted. Richard Winters: What if you'd won? Don't ever put yourself in the position where you can take from these men.Though Richard Winters may seem like a born military leader in Band of Brothers, he originally had no aspirations to serve in the US Army. 'Buck' Compton: So what? Soldiers do that. Richard Winters: You were gambling, Buck. 'Buck' Compton: Are you ticked because they like me? Because I'm spending time to get to know my soldiers? I mean, c'mon, you've been with them for two years? I've been here for six days. Richard Winters: You know why they volunteered? Because they knew that the man in the foxhole next to them would be the best, not some draftee who's going to get them killed. 'Buck' Compton: Christ, Dick, I was just shooting craps with them. Richard Winters: These men have been through the toughest training the Army has to offer, under the worst possible circumstances, and they volunteered for it. When he first meets Dick and they are talking about how Buck was gambling with the soldiers he was leading, Dick's response always gets me: Buck's character arc is as good as Dick Winters.
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