They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak -- in Holland and the Ardennes -- Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Divison, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world. From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments. They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler's Bavarian outpost, his Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them. This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal -- it was a badge of office.

斯蒂芬·E．安布羅斯生於1936年，在威斯康星州懷特沃特長大。1960年，安布羅斯開始在新奧爾良大學任教，並著手撰寫一本名為《責任、榮譽、國傢》的西點軍校史。他28歲時，艾森豪威爾總統請他為自己寫傳。

自那時以來，安布羅斯已經齣版瞭二十多本書。其中的《D日——1944年6月6日》、《不屈不撓的意誌》，《世上獨一無二))被《紐約時報》列為暢銷書。他擔任過斯皮爾伯格的影片《拯救大兵瑞恩))的曆史顧問，還參加瞭許多美國全國性電視節目的工作，包括由曆史頻道和國傢地理頻道製作的節目，並參與瞭HBO史詩性連續劇《兄弟連》的製作。

安布羅斯曾任位於新奧爾良的艾森豪威爾中心榮譽主任、《軍事史學季刊》主筆、“美國河流”理事會成員、並且是“國傢D日博物館”的創建者。2002年10月13日因肺癌逝世，享年66歲。