Unless you're watching actual combat footage from real battles, there's no more accurate depiction of the horrors of war than observing what the men of Easy Company went through beginning with the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6th, 1944. The series chronicles the exploits of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from that day through the end of the war in Europe, taking a two year step back in time to the birth of the unit in Toccoa, Georgia.
Adding poignancy to the war time casualties as well as the heroics seen on screen, surviving members of Easy Company regularly open each of the ten episodes with brief insights into their personal experiences serving in the unit. The producers wisely kept their identities hidden until that final episode, when the members are revealed as the real life heroes portrayed in the film. I would challenge anyone to maintain a dry eye as some of these men recount their pain and horror at seeing friends dying all around them, while still maintaining their integrity to the mission at hand. It may be true that these were ordinary men who did extraordinary things, but one can't help but wonder from what depths of inner fortitude they managed to survive the ordeals they went though during the course of their campaigns.
Probably the most surreal episode in the series is Chapter Nine, opening with violin musicians playing amid the utter devastation of Thalem, Germany. Nearby, some of the soldiers discover a Nazi concentration camp which the Company proceeds to liberate while declaring martial law in the city.
