says i got two grenades, bill, what do you want me to do with them? bill said give hethem to heffro. i got the two grenade, i put a pin in them right here. another guy come up and he had two grenades. so bill -- i took them and i put one here and one here. another guy come up and said what am i going to do with this. and i shout give to heffron! he walked over, and he goes to give to me, and bill says hold that a minute. the reason i'm telling you this story, these gentlemen here,

these two fine guys here on the he said, the actors, great guys. you got to be with them to know them. but anyhow, that's why i'm telling these stories. so i said wait a minute. bill said, no, you, come on heffron, come over here. i want to talk to you. i said what is it, bill? you're giving me everything in the platoon to jump with. he said, we're jumping in harlem, ain't we? i said yeah. okay. what's that got to do with me? he said let me tell you something. do you weigh 1338 pounds. how tall are you? 5'4" and a half. you got to astronaut half in

there. i said because i am 5'4" 1/2. and he said he's 4'5". i said i got nothing to do with that. and he said, yeah, well, you know, he said, look, let me tell you guys what this is all about. you're 138 pounds, 5'4" 1/2. let me tell you something. i asked you if we're jumping in harmony and i said yes, i know. and he said god damn it, and he may have cursed, but i don't want to curse, he said let me tell you something. you son of a bitch, we're jumping in harmony. the reason you got that, we don't want to go looking for you in spain. [ applause. >> [ and you got a little bit

irritated over the whole thing. >> thanks for not swearing. there's an interesting story about you and lieutenant brewer. there's a scene when you're outside where lieutenant brewer is out haefahead of the column michael's column says doesn't he make a fine target. brewer gets hit. you go to his aid as a medic. could you finish that sorrtory? >> i'm right back to e company again because initially i was an infant infantry.

and we were in holland situation and they were calling for a medic up front. and we were this light woods and i said there medics up in front. so i went up, i said what's the problem up here. and they pointed over a little ditch they were down in, they're pointing out in the field and there was a fellow lying in the middle of that field between four houses and the woods. and then e company had fallen bank. i was down there and he looked like death warmed over. and so i told him i was there and i would take care of him.

and i had prlasma and finally gt a vein that could i get pli cou into. and then a medic that was supposed to be there came out and the chairman opened up on us again and he took off and went back to the rest of e company. and i heard a crack and i thought, oh, boy, they broke the bottle after all that trouble. you're not thinking about what's actually going on. in my best bedside manner, i said lieutenant, are you still alive? and i finished his sentence because i said if you're done, i think i better leave.

he was croaking through the net here's croaked out that, no, but he didn't know why he was still alive. and i said, well, i'll stay with you. well, the dutch -- three of the e company came out there to help. they got shot. so there are now more of us. and the dutch guys came out from the houses. those dutch had guts, i tell you. they came out. and they put brewer on the ladder and they were going to take him and they take him to where the houses are where the german is upstairs. oh, my patient's going the wrong way. and meanwhile i got kicked like a bull when i got hit a couple times. and my leg wouldn't do anything but stay like this. but there was a ditch going right to the houses. they wanted to take my boot off because they thought will her going to help me. but it was right above the boot and so gave me a shot of morphine so i wouldn't go into

shot. and meanwhile one of the dutchmen picked up brewer's gun and he had a double thing there. and it would fire 30 shots like an automatic weapon. and he was firing all 30 shots went out. and he threw it down. and anyway, we get back to the house and there are four of us now in there. and i was getting a little nauseous and the place was emmac could y emmac could you lat. i couldn't speak dutch. some woman three houses down, there were four in a row, the end one was hollering dead, dead. wasn't anything i could do for that person. it wasn't until just recently that i realized that maybe some person was shot by the german when he fired off that way or fired by us when we came through again. but it's haunted me ever since.

things like that do bother for you a long time. and i warned her that i was going to throw up, you know, she came with a bowl and everything. being considerate. we got out to the cross roads there, we were right on the edge. and germans came from behind the houses a little further out and they started firing at us. i couldn't run, so i dove into a german type round foxhole. and two put me in a wheelbarrow

running down the road. germans figured we weren't worth the trouble, so they stopped. but it's interesting what happens when you're in a situation like that. >> thank you. >> babe, before we take some questions, i know you have one story that you always like to share about the dutch. and about a little old woman -- >> oh, yeah. >> that one. >> yeah, i like to tell that one. >> go ahead. and then we'll open it up to questions. >> it's not dirty, but it just has to be told. we were the first platoon in into -- we were the first squad. i was machine gunner. and they said bill said push it

down here, point to that road up there, only road they can come in. okay, bill. oh, i should tell you i didn't end up in spain either. but i pointed the gun ready tos the secondary road and it was three underground guys, they were really good, they were there. unlike the french, the dutch were there. that's true. but anyhow, to get back to that -- glad i interjected about the french. but these three underground guys asked lieutenant conklin, who just passed away, he was 90,

they said can you permit us, there's a horse and wagon coming up this road. it's got eight german soldiers on it, pour on each side. and they have an artillery piece they're pulling in back of the wagon. would you give us permission to take it out. and conklin said tell me, i've been under these people for five years. you go ahead and do it. kill them all. so we all agreed. anyhow, they let him have it. they had automatic weapons. and the germans were flying over the wagon like this backwards. and about 6'2", blond hair, blue

eyes, regular airman looking. and he had been hit in the shoulder. and he said we're going to take them for questioning and then we'll take them to a medic. we didn't care either way. she was about 83 years old. area, she was older than us, we were 18. she said where does it hurt. the soddier, he said here, here.

and she went like this with her hand and he said ahh! and we were sitting there and we were happy. beat the hell out of him. and still hurting. she hit him again with the handbag. nobody's feeling sorry for the poor kraut. i say poor kraut. he had more money in his pocket than i guess we can. but anyhow, here comes the underground. they said come, come. and they take her away. and we said what did you do that for? she deserved to do it. they said we had to think of a way, we want him for questioning. and she had a brick in her

handbag. now, that poor little old lady that we felt sorry for, she put a brick in her handbag. she beat the hell out of him. and we all gave her a nice round of applause. we thought of world of that. that was one of the finest scenes i ever remember. >> al, go ahead. >> when we first came in, the dutch people came out and they're firing and waving their flags and then the firing start the down the street. they all disappeared. and i stepped back in the doorway and a hand came out and i know it was a woman's hand. i'm not that dumb, you know. and a hand came out with a spoon and some cherries in it and fed me the cherries. and went back. and the firing stopped and i took off down the street. i never did see who it was. to this day, i would like to see

who it was and thank them. >> sounds like the first drive-through. we'd like to take an opportunity now to take some questions from the audience. i know a lot of you, yeah, obviously have a lot of questions. we have the gentleman up there with a microphone and we'll start over there and you just -- the handsome gentleman here, whose appear was featured prominently in band of brothers, gorm's father was the funny guy who get everybody loose during some really tough times. george is just like his dad. first question up there. go ahead. >> i'm jim from wakefield. last february 2011, there was an e-mail came around about shifty.

and not being on it in 2009. so chuck with my boss during the war and i went to dinner april 9 last year, had 140 guests. and made everybody aware of band of brothers. >> thank you very much. >> we should mention shifty was the expert rifle man in easy company, featured throughout the series. i believe he was the only one features in every episode? >> a couple guys were. >> what do i know. >> shifty was the guy when we first went on the firing range i bet a candy bar couldn't hit the bull's-eye. eight candy bars later, he hit every bull's-eye and i didn't lose anymore because i didn't have anymore. and that was shifty.

i didn't realize who i was dealing with. >> shifty powers was certainly one of the most well-known band of brothers. question over here. >> i have a question for al. we chatted a little bit earlier outside from one medic to another. did you choose to be a medic or did the army choose you to be a medic? >> the army chose to ask me. >> and what additional training did you get in preparation for what you were about to do? >> i had good training. i was a boy scout. and the fellow that started about the same time i did at the co-op also had boy scout training. we had a little training, but not what they have today. it's wonderful today. by the way, he ended up sinkigi

in the choir and everything, but we used our heads and our hand and whatever good sense if we had any. >> i was wondering if you could speak about your experiences right after. >> he'd like to know about your experiences right after karitan. >> it was my last effort in the war. i was hit. and we had a about a tail i don't know of 800 men went single file all night long to the south and got ready for an attack. single file. one person make a mistake, the whole thing is gone. but we did it and 800 men made

that trip. we got set up and the germans had no expectation of any attack at all. the actual incident where i was wounded, we were inexperienced, but suddenly we realized maybe this was a little too easy and we were at a cross roads and there were some houses and somebody felt maybe germans were in the houses. so in the movies, you check the house for snipers or people in them. you pull a grenade and throw it in. we didn't have any grenades. we just had to kick the doors down. and the first house i came to, i kicked that door in and went in and there was no be in the

house. so i went out to look in the back, there was a backyard stone fence about 6 or 7 feet high. and i think there was an outhouse connected to the house. i thought maybe there's somebody there and i called them do come out with their hands up and nobody answered, so i put a couple shots in to the outhouse for good luck. and i went back out out hollered. i went upstairs but nobody was upstairs. came back down. i yelled across the street to the guys coming this house is clear. and a little bit later,% tremendous impact, knocked me down. and the training i had was so good that i didn't drop my rifle. still held it up.

and i thought it was a german is coming in. but nothing happened, nothing happened. and so i went across the street and he yelled, hey, and i came to the door and he came running over and told me it was mortar shell. the situation was the germans were retreating and they had set up almost a measured distance and they knew we would be coming up to that crossroads. and they were more experienced probably than we were, but we still -- i was out of the war,

but e company still took karitan that day. >> thank you. gi i just want to say good luck to carrie. to the crowd, his daughter is running the boss continton maras monday. so best of luck. >> you have a question? >> i have a question. as an outfit survivor, what quality or qualities do you think were needed that enabled you to sur strivive that terrib experience? what qualities in your life or your experience there enabled you to survive that horrible experien experience? >> what qualities that you had in your life help you survive

the camps you were in. was it something internal, was it youth, what was it? >> i don't think that you need any special quality. you needed a little luck and men. and i was fortunate enough to get help from people in different camps that i know. keep in mind i come from a family my father, my mother and five brothers. my mother used to say she has a basketball team, five boys. in 1942, in a town in the middle of the night without any prior

warni warning, came into the ghetto with barking dogs and ordered all the entire jewish population out to assemble in the center of the town. the selection took place. the germans selected those who in their opinion were capable of performing slave labor. they needed workers to work in the industries because young men and women were in the military. that day was the dwarkest day of my life which is still with me today. because during the selection, i and two of my brothers were selected to one column say on the left side.

my parents and my 7-year-old brother were selected on the other side of the column. i was never away from my parents. i was never away from my family. and i didn't want to be separate this time either. and so i sneaked back over to the column where my parents were. and i said to myself whatever happens to the members of my family, let it happen to me, too. we're going together wherever we have to go. my father at that time realized what has taken place here and he said to me and to two of my brothers, children, go back over there. save yourself. and if you survive, remember to carry on with jewish life and jewish tradition. those were the last words that i

hear from my father. they took them away. they were taken to a concentration camp and they were gassed and cremated there the same day. i and two of my brothers were sent to another camp in that city and we were assigned to work in various places. my first job was to be assigned by the community council, and so you had to go there and register in order to get a ration card. the only way could you gyou cou ration card is if you were assigned to work. i was assigned to work in the gestapo. i'm sure that you all know what the gestapo is.

don't think for a minute that i was a gestapo agent. i was doing labor work. i had to come in the morning, shine the officers' boots, clean and do other various work. i was mistreated. i was beaten. and i went back to the community council crying and said i can't work there. please send me on another -- to another place of work. which they did. and they sent me to a factory. remember that when the war broke out and the germans came in where i was living with my family, i was 14 years old. at the age of 14, i was declared a slave, condemned to death for the only crime i have committed because i was born to jewish parents. for that, i had no right to

live. in 1942 at that time i was in that camp working in the factory. the conditions in that camp were so bad that people could not stay any longer. in 1942 just a few months after we arrived at that camp, due to the conditions of unreasonable, up u unusable for water and toilet and so forth, it broke out. the germans took one of the ba placed it quarantine. and all the people that got infected with the typhoid

sickness in that barrack. after a certain amount of people accumulated there, we had a camp commandant there by the name of billy alcove. i'll be honest with you. i still today, although the know the man was talking and breathing and doing all the horrible things, i don't believe that he was not a german, he was not a human being. his greatest pleasure was to shoot people. he was having a little sub machine gun handy and whenever he came in to the camp, he was just shooting people for no reason at all. on sundays, he usually invited guests to a show for an exhibition, how he's killing people. he was the camp commandant. and so when the sick people