There are many subtle details in the World War II minisseries Band of Brothers that most people miss, even with repeated viewings. In this video, I’m going to reveal 10 of the most easily overlooked details that will make you want to go back and rewatch the series to see them for yourself. Number 10, what Don Malarkey actually finds when he dashes for the Luger pistol in episode 2.

In the Band of Brothers episode Day of Days, during the Brecourt Manor assault, Don Malarkey sprints across a field toward enemy fire to retrieve what he thinks is a Luger pistol near the hand of a dead German soldier. However, he quickly discovers that it’s not a Luger. Disappointed, he tosses the item aside and runs back to safety as bullets whiz by around him.

What exactly was the item that Don Malarkey found? The series never answers this question. However, it turns out that what Malarkey picked up was a sighting device for one of the German 105 mm artillery guns that the men had incapacitated. I didn’t catch this back when I first watched the series, but pausing the scene clearly reveals this is what the item is.

Number nine, the actors can be seen loading blanks into the rifles. At several points in Band of Brothers, the actors can be seen loading blank rounds into their M1 Grand rifles. Blank rounds are used on film sets to simulate the sound and recoil of live rounds without the obvious danger. However, blank rounds have crimped ends and don’t look like the real thing, especially in close-up shots.

With blanks, the bullet has been removed or not put in at all, and the casing is filled with gunpowder and crimped at the end. for close-ups of say an actor loading his rifle, fake rounds are often used instead of blanks because while fake rounds can’t be fired, they resemble the real thing. However, at several points in Band of Brothers, fake rounds were not used in close-ups, and I’ll explain why in a moment.

In episode 2, Day of Days, during the Brecourt Manor Assault, Dick Winters can be seen loading an eight round clip into his M1 Grand Rifle. Notice that the odd-looking rounds that he’s loading are actually blanks. This happens again in the next episode when we see Private Elbert Ble reloading his M1 Garand during the Battle of Bloody Gulch.

While these are indeed mistakes in terms of historical accuracy, there’s no doubt that the filmmakers were well aware of it, but instead wanted to preserve the continuity of the sequence. By having the actors load blank rounds during a battle sequence, they can immediately begin firing without having to stop the filming to switch in the blanks.

Of course, fake rounds are used in the series, including in a scene immediately following the crossroads assault when Joseph Leegot is shown holding an eight round clip that looks like the real thing. These are fake rounds, which makes sense for the scene since the battle has ended and the weapon is not going to be fired in the remainder of the scene.

Number eight, who is Dick Winters writing letters to in Band of Brothers? At a couple of points in Band of Brothers, Dick Winters can be seen writing letters. The series never explicitly tells us who he is writing letters to. However, during one such scene in the first episode, the men are on a train headed for New York City where they’ll board a troop ship bound for England.

Dick Winters can be seen penning a letter and there is a close-up shot of the letter, albeit upside down. As the top of the letter comes into view, we can see the upside down salutation, dear Deetta, revealing the identity of the recipient. While nothing more is mentioned of her in the series, her full name was Deetta Alman.

She was a short and pretty redhead who Dick Winters had met in 1941 after visiting Asheville, North Carolina with a fellow soldier. He had been on a weekend reprieve from basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina. Winters and Deetta developed a friendship and spent time together, including going horseback riding at the Builtmore Estate.

Winters described Deetta as being his best friend and pen pal during the war, writing her more than a hundred letters. Her significance in his life during that time should not be underestimated and it’s a shame that she’s not more prominently acknowledged in Band of Brothers. Winters even credited Deetta with being one of the reasons he made it through the war.

However, Deetta was not the woman who would become Dick Winter’s wife. In fact, Dick Winters and Deetta Alman would meet up only once following the war in Washington DC. The sensitive boy Deetta had met four years earlier while he was in basic training had returned an embittered man who had started to cut ties with his past. This included the young lady who had been his pen pal for the past 3 years.

They wouldn’t reconnect again until 50 years later after the publication of Steven Ambrose’s book, Band of Brothers. It was then that Deetta gave Winters all of his old letters that she had saved. Winter’s many letters to Deetta were eventually compiled into the book Hang Tough, the World War II letters and artifacts of Major Dick Winters by Jared Frederick and Eric Door.

The letters offer a candid glimpse at Winter’s life during the war as it was unfolding in real time. Number seven, Easy Company veteran Babe Hefron’s Band of Brothers cameo. Actor Robin Lang portrays Easy Company paratrooper Edward Babe Hefron in Band of Brothers. But did you know that the real Babe Hefron has a cameo in the series? He portrays a Dutch civilian who can be seen celebrating the liberation of Einhovven in episode 4 of the series titled Replacements.

He appears immediately after the actor who portrays him can be seen posing for a picture with some of the locals as well as a few other soldiers. Just after that point, the real babe Hefron can then be seen waving a Dutch flag while seated at an outdoor table. Sitting across from him at the same table is Sergeant Floyd Telbert, who is making out with a local woman who gets her hair sheared off less than a minute later for having slept with a German soldier.

To my knowledge, Babe Hefron’s cameo is the only one by an Easy Company veteran in the series, not including, of course, the veteran interviews that precede each episode. Number six, the source of Bill Garnier’s STD is actually revealed in the series. While Easy Company is in Baston, Bill Garnier complains to Doc Row that he’s pissing needles, and he begs Doc Row to give him something for the pain.

Doc Row tells Garnier that he’s sorry, but he doesn’t have any penicellin, and Garnier is just going to have to tough it out. It’s clear that Garnier is showing symptoms of an STD, most likely gorrhea, which is kind of ironic since he had been nicknamed Gonorrhea earlier in the series, which was an obvious play on his name.

You might be surprised to learn that the source of Garnier’s STD is actually mentioned in the previous episode. In episode 5, titled Crossroads, Garnier visits Winter’s office after returning from the hospital. Though the series doesn’t explain it, he had been shot in the leg by a German sniper in Holland after stealing a Dutchman’s motorcycle to check on his men who were spread out over roughly a mile.

The sniper shot Garner as he was crossing an open field. Dick Winters acknowledges this by jokingly telling Garnier, “No more joy riding, right?” In that same scene, Garnier’s about to leave Winter’s office and he says to the men, “Well, uh, I’ll just go find some trouble.” Seconds later, as he’s walking away, he asks them if they’ve ever heard of a little joint called Lulu’s.

By the next episode, he’s complaining about pissing needles. Thus, it can be concluded that Lulu’s was likely a brothel where he contracted the STD. While Bill Garnier doesn’t mention an establishment called Lulu’s in his book, he does talk about girls of the night hanging out in Piccadilly Circus in London. He said that the girls were all over them and were aggressive.

He called the area a favorite spot for GIS. It was a den of iniquity is all I’ll say, said Garnier. Number five, the girl Lewis Nixon says he’s going to visit in Paris is the woman who would become his second wife. In episode 5 of Band of Brothers, titled Crossroads, Lewis Nixon hands Richard Winters a 48-hour pass to go to Paris.

Nixon then tells Winters that he himself is heading back to Albornne, England to look up a certain young lady. Though she is not mentioned by name, the young lady Nixon is referring to here is Irene Miller, who would become his second wife. She lived in Swindon, about a 20-minute drive from Albornne.

He began seeing her during the war as his marriage to his first wife, Catherine, was falling apart and would eventually end in divorce. Lewis and Irene would marry in June 1946 at Manhattan City Hall. With his best friend, Richard Winters present for the ceremony. Winters described Irene as being a good woman.

However, Lewis and Irene eventually separated in 1961, but they remained legally married until Irene’s death on February 2nd, 1969. Number four, Tom Hanks Blink and You Missed It cameo. Not only did Tom Hanks produce Band of Brothers and direct episode 5 titled Crossroads, he also has a cameo appearance in that episode.

He portrays one of the British paratroopers known as the Red Devils who were rescued by Easy Company. He can be seen just after the midway point of the episode wearing a maroon beret as he stands among the British soldiers who are celebrating the fact they’ve been rescued. There has also been a bit of debate online about a possible second Tom Hanks cameo around the midway point of episode 9, Why We Fight.

Some have tried to claim that Tom Hanks portrays one of the free French troops executing and looting German PS by the side of the road. This happens just after Private Webster’s rant. It has been suggested that Hanks is the one with the pistol in his hand. However, as you can see in this screenshot, while the man bears a slight resemblance to Tom Hanks, he is clearly older, has a fuller face, and is almost certainly not Tom Hanks.

To my knowledge, Tom Hanks cameo in Crossroads is his only one in the series, which makes sense given that it would have been easy to pull off since he was directing that episode. Of course, Tom Hanks son, Colin Hanks, has a starring role in the series, portraying Lieutenant Henry Jones Jr. in episode 8, The Last Patrol.

I did a whole video on Henry Jones Jr. and the tragedy that befell him, which resulted in him never making it home from the war. I’ll link to that video at the end. Number three, why is a soldier holding a lighter up to the front sights of his M1 Grand Rifle? In episode 8 of Band of Brothers, titled The Last Patrol, Easy Company paratrooper Daryl Shifty Powers, can be seen holding a lighter up to the front sights of his M1 Garand rifle.

The purpose for doing this was to apply soot to the sights in order to reduce glare, especially in bright conditions. The soot created a matte black color which would enhance the contrast against the environment enabling the target to be seen more clearly. Using a lighter to blacken the sights offered an adequate solution, but the recommended method at the time was to use a carbide lamp which burned acetylene gas.

This was the same type of lamp that was used for the headlights of early automobiles and bicycles. Number two, the song the men can be heard singing in episode 9, Why We Fight, is one of the most graphic World War II songs. In episode 9 of Band of Brothers, the men of Easy Company can be heard singing the paratrooper song, Blood Upon the Risers, as they drive through Bavaria.

It is perhaps better recognized by its refrain, Heing to Jump No More, and its chorus, Gory Gory, What a Hell of a Way to Die. Though the men only sing a few verses of the song in the series, it is actually one of the most graphic military songs ever written. The darkly humorous song was written around the time the airborne divisions were formed during the war, including the 101st Airborne.

It tells a cautionary tale of the dangers of being a paratrooper, especially when a soldier makes a mistake. The rookie paratrooper in the song embarks on a fatal training jump. He forgets to hook up his static line that automatically causes his main parachute to deploy. After realizing his mistake, he tries to deploy his reserve chute, but due to the fact that he is in an awkward falling position, the chute gets tangled around him, sending him hurtling to his death.

The soldiers in the series end the song before singing its most graphic verse. They conclude with the verse, “He hit the ground. The sound was splat. His blood went spurting high. His comrades, they were heard to say, a hell of a way to die. He lay there rolling around in the welter of his gore, and he ain’t going to jump no more.

However, the final and most violent verse of the song that we don’t hear in the series goes as follows. There was blood upon the risers. There were brains upon the chute. Intestines were a dangling from his paratrooper suit. He was a mess. They picked him up and poured him from his boots, and he ain’t going to jump no more. You might find it interesting to learn that this song is still sung by paratroopers today.

I’ll link to a full version of Blood Upon the Risers on YouTube at the end of this video. Number one, Shifty Powers name was the only one in the helmet when the lottery was held for a chance to go home. In the final episode of Band of Brothers, titled Points, a lottery is held so that one lucky paratrooper in each company could go home.

Soldiers had to have a total of 85 points to return to the States. They acquired points based on the number of campaigns they fought in, the length of their service, the medals they earned, the wounds they sustained in combat, and whether or not they were married. Most of the paratroopers, including Daryl Shifty powers, had not accumulated enough points despite more than deserving a ticket home.

In order to conduct the lottery, pieces of paper with each soldier’s name and serial number on them were to be placed in a helmet, and a single number was to be drawn. A detail that’s easy to miss in the series is that the helmet that Harry Welsh draws from during the lottery only has one piece of paper in it. This is because some of the officers had agreed that they wanted Shifty to get the ticket home.

Shifty was wellliked by the men and his skill as a sniper and his eye for detail had saved the lives of many soldiers. One reason he hadn’t gotten enough points was because he was one of the few easy company men who hadn’t been wounded in combat. Despite the generous gesture by his superiors to tilt the lottery entirely in his favor, his ticket home turned out to be a curse.

While he was in route to Munich and ultimately back to the States, the truck he was riding in was involved in a head-on collision with another truck that was driven by a drunken corporal from another regiment. Shifty P’s body went flying over the top of the truck and hit the pavement. He suffered a broken pelvis, a broken arm, and a bad concussion.

Another soldier in his truck, who had also won a ticket home, was killed in the accident. Shifty spent the next few months in the hospital and didn’t make it home until after the other Easy Company men. I hope you enjoyed these easy to miss details in Band of Brothers. Let me know in the comments how many did you know prior to watching this video.

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