Saturday, February 11, 2012

Band of Brothers: Episode 10: Points (2001)

Presented by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the epic WWII miniseries Band of Brothers originally aired in 2001 on HBO in 10 parts to critical acclaim and massive ratings. I know several people who have seen and raved about the series, but no one ever mentioned two references to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania until I got an email from Annie:

"It appears at around 2:36 (the clip is 7:32 minutes long), Harry Welsh is sitting with Carwood Lipton and the voice over narration says:

'Harry Welsh! He married Kitty Grogan, became an administrator with the Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania school system.'"

The Wilkes-Barre reference occurs at approximately 2:36 in the YouTube clip below.

Annie also told me there is a second reference to Wilkes-Barre elsewhere in the Band of Brothers miniseries.

However, Annie also pointed out that Wilkes-Barre is not referenced at all in the book that was the basis of the miniseries--Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest--although she points out that a Wilkes-Barre reference was included in another book she read on Company E.

Band of Brothers is available to borrow on both DVD and Blu Ray from the Lackawanna County Library System.