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tv   [untitled]    May 30, 2012 1:00am-1:30am EDT

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"babe. they're my people." i said, "ed, they're our people. but it won't be long till they're out of here." and th joe liebgott and any one of yous, this gentleman said it all. 's awful. you don't want to ever, ever see it. there's a man who went through it. he can't talk about it. i can't talk abo it. and i only saw it. >> thank you, be. >> i just want you to know that. it's very sad. and i live with it like he does. but it something that shoul be -- i just wish i could get
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into detail about it,ut i can't. i can't. it'she truth. you can't. >> very emotional. >> thank you, babe. >> one of the hardest episodes for the actors to film was the concentration camp episode in lanzberg. ross had a prominent ro in that, and jimmy obviously was featured as well. could you guys address how that was set up by stev spielberg and tom hanks? and there was a little bit of a surprise for the actors filming this episode as well, correct? >> yeah. you ow, that was -- we knew the episode was coming. and that was a big -- big conversation that theyme. leibgott i think was one of two jewish company members that were featured in the show, ando the
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producers had talked to me eay on and said we think it's probably a good idea if we sd you to one of the camps in europe to go see him now. and that sat really strangely with me. i believe everybody shoulde aware of it and everybody should see what went on out there in the ruins that they are now and i think everybody needs to be privy to that, but for the job, i knew that nobody haditnessed these camps until came across landsburg and i kind of wanted to convey that as much as i cod in a realisc enough way so i said i'm not going toe go. i don't want to go. i want to see it on film for the
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first time. so we shot thehow in europe all over the place, switzerland and england and they got a camp and build a camp in the middle of the forest that was a 20, 25-minute drive from our base camp, and the first time i saw it was the first time we saw it on film. and ey recreate something that was jus man, i don't know, when i first saw it, i couldn't believe the hollywood had made something for us to see. but also just hearing e stories from the men, hearing israel's stories right now, i kind of feel even pathetic talking about it in a hoywood way, but you know, it was
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important that we showed this episode. it was important that erybody's aware of the situation that happened in nazi, germany, and evebody is horrified by it, but to truly get as close as you can in today's society to this thing was heartbreakings not enough, and it's just, you can't fathom it. you can't fathom that, you know people actually put time and effort in to build these things, and then to imprison human beings, man. it's just, you know, anyway i'm digressing. the camp we used for the show was ju as real as they could make it, to show the world we're ping the show was going to be as big as it was and to show the world what it must have been
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like for any company, for any man or woman to see this firsthand, and to are experience what these people went through. we even went as fares agetting animatroincs made because we couldn't get any as epaceiated as we were finding in the pictures so there was a lot of body makeup used on guys who were of slender build, but en then, we used green screen to just convey the brutality of this situation. it was a hard thing, just because i knew, i'd grown with
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joe leibgott, he'd become a part of me and all ofa sudden i'm seeing this as much as i can through his eyes. i know it's a film shot. i know, i get th, but they made a wonderful effort to make this bas shocking and as heartbreaking and realistic as humanly possible and that did it for me. i'm not jewish, so i wanted to study the jewish faith. i wanted to get into joe's skin a little bit. d when this episode came along, as important as it was for the show, it jt -- you know, we all lost something that episode. that was a rough time, butt was important. you know, we have to continue telling that story. you know, it can never, ever, ever be forgotten. it can never be, you know, remotely discussed that it didn't happen. so hopefully we manad to do that with the show.
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>> jimmy? >> we got -- i remember us getting -- we had good times as we shot. i meanwe joked around a lot. we had fun ayou can tell. and i just remember getting the memo that this is going to be a very hard episode and let's just focus and concentrate on the job at hand. and then david frankel directed th episode. terrific director. and word came down that david had family that spensome time inhe camps. and so i think all the jokes went away for that month. and i remember it being set up,
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the world was set up, like we said, before we even got to the set. when we got to the set, everything was set up already. all the extras, and they were all terrific and dedicated, were set up, and the fencinand th hutsnd, forgive me, truly forgive me. it was very -- it was very hd to pull up and just look around and it was just quiet, man. not too many people were saying many things and the jokes stopped. and it was a very, very hard episode. it was a really hard episode. and david was great. david frankel was great. but you saw, you know, what you saw. it's a powerful one. hopefully we did, you know, a fraction of what maybe -- what ally happened. yeah, it was a very -- it was a very tough episode. >> a lot of fansrom the show actually would single that episode out in particular of being, you know, obviously the most heart wrenching but one of
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the most memorable which i always found, you know, fascinating and wonderful that people really did click into that. they wanted to know about it. they wanted to learn about it. so. >> yeah. yep. >> we're gng to open it up to some questions. i have one final qstion, gentlemen, for you, and then we'll open it up for the audience, so please, get you questions ready. when you talk about the television series, were you guys happy? did they do a good job portraying what war was like, or can u portray that on tv? ed? >> well, some of it was very, so realistic, it shook me up. the anti-aircraft fi. people asked me, isn't that a
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big exaggeration in hollywood, use special effect i said, ohno, it was exaly the way it happened. but they took liberties in a couplef case early on after the jump when private hal bleith confessed to an officer that he didn'know what to do. he was very sympathetic. the officer that i know uld never have been sympathetic to him. he wouldn't have shot him, but he would have said you don't belong in this outfit, get out. and i guess there was some dramatic reason for putting that in. but the book i think was much more accurate. and yet, nobody can ever describe to anybody else what war is like unless they've been
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in it. we for probably 60 or 70 years after the war, almost no of us talked to our families. i taught school all those years. i didn't tell my kids war stories or anything. and you just, it's so horrible, it's so wasteful, and you just can't talk to anybody about it unless he's experienced it, himself, and knows what you're talking about. >> babe, how about you? how do you feel they did with the tv series in terms of accuracy and portraying war? >> well, i -- my personal feeling, and i don't think -- i don't want you to get irritated because you're going to say, you know, i'm t a jokester and i'm only telling the truth and that's what i'm here for. but they should have had more little details in the movie to
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at least -- king pple laugh that's in the audience, in their parlor, i don't ca wherehe tv is, in the kitchen, because i remember one scene that actually happened with me and my platoon. weere in the shed and putting on material to jump with, grenades, machine guns, ammo, .30s, whatever was required, and one of the guys come up, he had o vandaleers of ammo and he'd say, bill, i t two vandaleers of ammo here, what to you want me to do? he said, give them to heffron. healks over and gives them to me. i throw them over me. another guy comes.
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he says, i have two grenades, bill, what do you want me to do with them? bill said, give them to heffron. i got the two grenades. i pin them right he. another guy come up and had two grenades. so bill -- know,ive them to heron. i say, yeah, give me them. i put one here, one there. another guy comes up, he has a small box, i don't know what's in there. he said, bill, what am i going to do with this? and i out, give it to heffron. he walked over and he goes to give it to me and bill said, wait a minute, hold that a minute. e reason i'm telling youhis story, these gentlemen here,
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these two fine guys here on the end, the actors, great guys. you got to be with them to know. but anyhow, that's why i'm telling you this story. which makes me look a little bit short, as he mentioned, short. so i said, wait a minute. bill said, no, you, come on, come over here. m going to talk to you. i said, what is it, bill? you' giving me everything in the platoon to jump with. he said, we're jumping in holland, ain't we? i said yeah. okay. what's that got to do with me? he said let meell you something. how much do you weigh, 138 pounds. how tall are you? 5'4" 1/2. 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
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you guys what this is all about. babe, you're 138 pounds, you're 5'4" 1/2. let me tell you something. i asked you if we're jumping in lland and i said yes, i know. we're going to jump in holland. 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 holland. the reason you got that, we n't want to go looking for you in spain. and i wanted to fight -- i did [ applause ]
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>> see, the movies don't have that. and i got a little bit irritated over the whole thing. >> thanks for not swearing. al, there's an interesting story about you d lieutenant brewer. the's a scene when you're outside where lieutenant brewer is out ahead of the column and michael's character said, doesn't he make a fine target. something about look at general patton. brewer gets hit. you go to his aid as a medic. uld you finish that story? it has a little bit of humano it. >> i'm right back to "e" company again. because initially i s with "e" company as an infantry man.
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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 wt up, i said what's the problem upere? and they pointed over a little ditch they were down in, they're pointing out in the field and there was fellow lying in the middle of th field between four houses and the woods. and they had fallen back, "e" company had fallen back when the german oped up on them. yeah, i understand brewer was out there waving likhe was charging like an old western, you know? so i went out there and it was quiet. no sense crawling out ere. i'd been hurt on the jump anyway. and i was down there and i looked at him. he looked like death warmed over. so i -- i told him i was there and i would take care of him. and i had plasma and finally got a vein that was -- i could get some plasma into. and then i had the -- i was holding the bottle up there. meanwhile the medic that was
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supposed to be there came out and the german opened up on again, and he got clipped on the heel so he took off to the rest of "e" company. and i heard a crack and i thought, oh, b, they broke the bole after all that trouble. you're not thinking about what's actually going on. you know, just the problem they've created for you. in my best bedside manner, i said lieutenant, are you still alive? [ laughter ] d i finished his sentenc 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'know why he was still alive.
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and i said, well, i'll stay with you. well, the dutch people came -- three of my guys, three of the "e" company came out there to help, they got shot. so there are now more of us who are woded. and the dutch guys came out from the houses. those dutch had guts, i tell you. they came out. they had a ladder with them d they put brewer on the ladder. they take him to where the houses are with the german upstairs. oh, my patient's going the wrong way. and meanwhile i got kicked like a mule when i got hit a couple times. and my leg woun't do anything but stay like this. but there was a ditch going right to the hses. they wanted to take my boot off cause they thought they were going to help me. but it was right abovehe boot and so gave myself a shot of morphine so i wouldn't go into shock. and meanwhile one of the dutchmen picked up brewer's gun and he had it to where it would fire 30 shots, he it a double
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thing there, and it would fire 30 shots like an automatic weapon. and was firing all 30 sts went out. and he threw it down. and anyway, we get back to the house and therare four of us now in there. and i was getting a little nauseous and the place was immaculate. i couldn't speak dutch. the woman s in there. when i was getting to the house, some woman three houses down, there were fr in aow, the end one was hollering -- i knew what that meant, dead, someone's dead. there wasn't anything i could 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.
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you know. but it's haunted me ever since. things like that do bother for a long time, don't they? and i warned her that i was going to throw up, you kno she came with a bowl and everything. being considerate. we got out to the crossroads there. we were right on the edge. and the other one led back to the town we came throu when we topped in. we were arguing there. i wanted to go back. there was a doctornd couple other dutchmen. what settled it, a platoon of germans came from behind the houses, a little bit farther out. they start firing at us. they took off. they had a double decker or something, little cart. they put the guys down there. they were running down the road. i couldn't run, so i dove into a german type round foxhole. two dutchmen pulled me out, pu me on a wheelbarrow. they were going with one on each handle running down the road. germans figured we weren't worth the trouble so they stopped. but it's interesting what
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happens when you're a situation like that. >>hank you, al. >> babe, before we take some questions, i know you have one story that you always li to share about the dutch. and about a little old woman -- >> oh, yeah. >> that one. >> yeah, i le to tell that one. >> go ahead. and then we' open it up to estions. >> this is very serious. this is very serious because it's -- a woman's involved in it. it's not dirty, it just has to be told. we were the first platoon in the second platoon of easy company. we were the first squad. joe tooey's squad. i was machine gunner. and they said, bill, wild bill said, put your gun here, point it to the secondary road up there, it's the only road they can come in. okay, bill. oh, i ould tell you i didn't end up in spain either. [ lahter ]
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but i pointed the gun towa the secondary road, and there was three dutch underground guys. and they were really good. they were there. unlike the french, the dutch were there that's true. [ applause ] but anyhow, to get back to that -- glad i interjected about the french. but these three underground guys asked lieutenant conklin, who had just pasd away, he was 90. and they asked him, could you permit us, there's a horse and wagon coming up this road. it's got eight german soldiers on it, four on each side.
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and they have an artillery piece they're pulling in back of the wagon. would you give us peission to take it out? and conklin said, let me tell you, i've been underhese people for five years. you got the opinion do it, you go ahead and do it. kill them all. so we all agreed. anyhow, these dutchmen get in the doorways and they let them have it. they had automatic weapons. and the germans were flying over the wagon li this, backwards. and one of them was about 6'2", 6'3", whatever, blond hair, blue eye, regular airman looking. he had been hit in the shoulder. and he, one of our men brought him up, said we're going to take
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him for questioning then we'll take him to the medic. we didn't careither way. and anyhow, a little old dutch lady, she, really, she wasn't wide enough to bless herself. she was about 83 years old. she was older than us, we were 18. she asked the german soldier, where did it hurt? the germansoldier, he said, here, there, oh, oh. she had a handbag. and she whoppled him with the handbag. and he said, ahh! ahh! and we were sitting there, we were happy.
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beat t hell out of him. and still hurting. she t him again with the handbag. nobody's feeling sorry for the poor kraut. i say poor kraut. he had more money in his pocket i guess than we did. but anyhow, she went at him again and here comes the underground. and they pick her up. they say, mama, mama, come, come. and they take her away. and we said, what did you do that for? gee, she deserved to do it. said, well, we had to take him away, we want him for
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questioning. and she had a brick in the 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 the world of that. that was real -- really, it wa one of the finest scenes i ever remember about war. >> al, go ahead. >> i have a ny vignette here to tell you about. wh we first came in to zon, the dutch people all came out in their finery, they're waving their flags. firing started down the street. they all dispeared. i stepped back in the doorway and a hand came out. i know it was a woman's hand. i'm not that dumb. a hand came out with a spoon and cherries in it, 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 y, i would like to see who it was and thank them. [ applause ] >> sounds like the first
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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 scott up there, the handsome gentleman up there as a microphone, and we'll start right overhere. and you just -- the handsome gentleman here, mr. george jr. whose father was featured prominently in "band of brothers." george's father was the funny guy in "band of brothers" who kept everybody loose during reallyough times and george is just like his dad. he has quite the sense of humor. well, we like to say that as a disclaimer. we have the first question up there. go ahead, sir. >> i'm jim from wakefield. last february 2011, there was an e-mail came around about shifty. and not being on it in 2009. by major general chuck yeager. chuck was my boss during the war and i went to dinner april 9th st year, had40 guests. and i made everybo aware of
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"band brothers." >> thank you very much. >> we should mention shifty powers was a gtleman, he's talking about, the expert rifleman, sharpshoer in easy coany and featured throughout the series. i beeve he was the only one features in every episode? is that true? >> a couple guys wer >> what do i know? >> good answer. >> al? >> shifty powers i think was the guy when we first went on the firing range that i bet him a candy bar he 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 ve anymore. and that was shifty. i didn't realize who i was dealing with. >> shifty powers was certain one of the most well-known band of brothers. question right here.

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