Ronald Speirs, The Fearsome And Controversial Easy Company Captain
Public DomainRonald Speirs in an undated photo.
In Episode 3 of Band of Brothers, “Carentan,” a number of Easy Company men discuss the rumor that their fellow paratrooper Ronald Speirs killed a group of German soldiers on D-Day. “Well, I heard he didn’t do it,” says one, to which another replies, “No, it was him all right.” The scene speaks to the fog of doubt that surrounds warfare. So what exactly did Speirs do?
His story was one of the most remarkable in Band of Brothers, though Speirs’ wartime exploits weren’t always directly portrayed on screen.
Born on April 20, 1920, in Scotland, Speirs moved to the United States with his family at a young age. His military training began when Speirs was still in high school, and he eventually became a platoon leader in E Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment after the United States entered the war.
During the D-Day invasion, Speirs landed in Normandy with about 15 others. They’d missed their mark by about four miles, and so Speirs started to lead his men toward Brecourt Manor. But during this trek, they came across a group of German soldiers. Speirs had orders to “take no prisoners” — and he didn’t think he should risk letting the Germans escape — so he shot them.
HBOMatthew Settle as Ronald Speirs in Band of Brothers.
Some soldiers claimed that Speirs gave the Germans cigarettes before shooting them, but the veracity of this is unknown.
During the war, Speirs also shot one of his fellow soldiers, a drunk sergeant who allegedly disobeyed orders and leveled his rifle at Speirs. Winters acknowledged that the shooting happened, but also defended Speirs’ actions: “In doing so, he probably saved the lives of the rest of the squad.”
But perhaps the most remarkable thing that Speirs does in Band of Brothers is run straight through German forces — twice — in Foy, Belgium during Episode 7, “The Breaking Point.” This shocking sprint, which was necessary to pass intel between two U.S. units, did happen in real life.
