Col Cole Kingseed Conversations With Major Dick Winters

Fifty years after the end of World War II, Dick Winters suddenly found himself thrust into the spotlight after the publication of Band of Brothers and the internationally successful television miniseries that followed it that focused on him as the main “character.” A quiet, reluctant hero, Dick Winters’ modesty and strength which drew him admirers among his men half a century before as Major Dick Winters, commander of Easy Company, now was felt by millions worldwide. Colonel (Ret.) Cole Kingseed, a veteran himself, befriended Dick Winters in the last years of his life and was the last person Winters allowed into his exclusive inner circle of friends. He spoke with him openly about his life and upbringing in Hershey, PA, his wartime experience – from parachuting into Normandy, to the turmoil of D-Day, to the final capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and the announcement of the end of the war – and what followed. In CONVERSATIONS WITH MAJOR DICK WINTERS, Kingseed presents Winters’ candid discussions and vivid recollections of the war. Following Winters’ death on January 2, 2011, the outpouring of grief and adulation for one of the nation’s preeminent leaders of character, courage, and competence shows just how much of an impact Dick Winters left on the world. Through Cole Kingseed, readers will get to know the man Dick Winters was – both behind the uniform and because of it. Cole C. Kingseed is a thirty-year Army veteran who served in a variety of command and staff positions. He earned his M.A. in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College and his Ph.D. in history from Ohio State. He taught at West Point, where he served as chief of military history for four years. Kingseed is the author of fifty-three articles on corporate and military leadership and such books as Eisenhower and the Suez Crisis of 1956, Old Glory Stories: Combat Leadership in World War II, and coauthor of the New York Times bestselling Beyond Band of Brothers.