The Wild Story Of William “Wild Bill” Guarnere
Public DomainSome of William “Wild Bill” Guarnere’s true stories were so wild that they didn’t make it into Band of Brothers.
Of all the men featured in Band of Brothers, William “Wild Bill” Guarnere — played by Frank John Hughes — had some of the craziest true stories. And only a few of his exploits were portrayed in the show.
Born on April 28, 1923 in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Guarnere could have hypothetically avoided the war because his job at Baldwin Locomotive Works was considered crucial to the war effort. But he enlisted anyway. And by the time D-Day rolled around, World War II had become personal — Guarnere’s brother had been killed while serving in Italy.
“I couldn’t wait to get off the plane,” William Guarnere later remembered. “I killed every German I could. That’s why they called me ‘Wild Bill.’ I landed in the middle of a square and they [Germans] were shooting at us. They were kind of scared; we were scared, too.”
HBOWilliam Guarnere was played by Frank John Hughes in Band of Brothers.
Some of Guarnere’s more rebellious actions during the war are portrayed in Band of Brothers, like when he ignored Dick Winters’ command and opened fire on a German platoon delivering supplies. One of Guarnere’s most excruciating moments is also seen in the show, when he and Joe Toye both lost a leg after intense shelling in Episode 7, “The Breaking Point.”
But the show omits the fact that Guarnere and his fellow soldier John W. Martin went on leave to Scotland after D-Day, where they got so drunk that they both decided to get tattoos (of a paratrooper with an open parachute).
And Episode 5, “Crossroads,” only briefly mentions Guarnere getting injured by a sniper and leaving the hospital. In fact, Guarnere was using a stolen motorcycle during a battle in the Netherlands when he was shot in the leg by a sniper. He then escaped the hospital by putting black shoe polish on his cast and hobbling outside. Though Guarnere was caught and reprimanded, he was eventually able to return to Easy Company.
