Easy Company.

The beginning

Col.Robert Sink (Colonel Bob 1905-1965) arrived at Toccoa,Ga., in 1942 to establish the training site for his new regiment. The first troops stayed in tents. He commanded the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to Kaprun (Austria). So lasting was his impact on the regiment that even today veterans of the 506th refer to themselves as "Sinkmen".

The newsletter that was started in 1970 was called: "Five-0-Sink"When General Bill Lee formed the 1st Parachute Battalion in 1940 (later named the 501st Parachute battalion) Captain Sink was among the first voloteers. He became a master parachutist, a distinction only held by 4 % of parachutists. Every year he jumped on his birthday that lasted until his last jump in 1954. Sink was the right man to convert recruits into an elite combat unit, because of his 15 years of service -including experience as a marksman, parachutist and organizer. The men of Easy Company still speak of him with reverence and credit him with their getting home alive. During the war Col.Sink twice turned down a promotion to brigadier general because he would have to transfer to a different airborne or infantry division. After the war he was promoted in 1952 to Major General. He died on Dec.13, 1965. He was burried in his Army blues in the family plot in Lexinton.

text by Robin Sink McClelland(Col.Sink's daughter)

Inspired by an article he had read in the Reader's Digest that discribed a Japanese army battalion's 100-mile march down the Malay Peninsula, which had been completed in 72 hours, Colonel Sink decided his 2nd Battalion should march from Camp Toccoa to Atlanta.
The distance was 118 miles. The trek began on the morning of Dec.1, 1942, and 33 hours and 30 minutes later the men of the 2nd Battalion marched into Atlanta.
Sink's men had chattered the Japanese record.
A proud Colonel Sink told an Atlanta newspaperman that "Not a man fell out: but when they fell, they fell face forward."

above right: Posing at Camp Toccoa.
Top row fltr: Carwood Lipton-Cecil Page and Jim Alley (others unidentified)
Middle row fltr: Kenneth Baldwin and Wayne Sisk
Bottom: William "Bill" Maynard.
Ed Tipper lifting Walter Hendrix in Aldbourne, England.
ltr: Robert Rader - Donald Hoobler - William Howell, during a training exercise at Clemson University. Hoobler died during the Battle of the Bulge after he accidently shot himself with a captured German pistol. Howell was severly wounded on January 3, 1945, during the same shelling that wounded Joseph Toy and Bill Guarnere.
Charles "Chuck" Grant and Warren Skip Muck (r) prior to the company's deployement overseas.
Grant was accidently wounded by a drunk GI at the end of the war.
Warren was killed outside Noville (France) when his foxhole received a direct hit. In the TV-series he is portrayed by Richard Speight Jr.
James "Jimmy" Diel began his time with Company E as a private in Toccoa, Ga.
He received a battlefield commission after Normandy and was assigned to another company in the 506th.
He was later killed in action while leading his men at the Son Canal Bridge, north of Eindhoven.
His grave side is at Margraten War Cemetery in the South of Holland.
Col. S ink (middle) marched into Eindhoven with his men to move to the 506th command post in Eindhoven. This photo was taken in Eindhoven, Frankrijkstraat.

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"Band of Brothers" & all related marks & media are TM & © 2001 Dreamworks Television & HBO. This site is in no way affiliated with any entity involved in the production of this film. All opinions contained herein are those of the author alone. All pictures and other material were obtained through approved channels or from the public domain and are not intended to infringe on any copyrights. I just want to show my respect for the people who were involved in the liberation of my home country.

Text and photos are from the special collectors edition from "World War II" with kind permission of Chris Anderson, editor.