Ross Owen chats with Band Of Brothers actors and Easy Company family members in Bastogne. Dec 2016

we're getting a long way from World War two and the black and white values that the world was confronted with with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and the Allies and the wonderful thing that they did for us all I mean we're not speaking German in Europe and without speaking Japanese in Europe so I think there are there was a generation of allies there's a generation of Brits there's a generation of Americans there's a generation of Australians there's a generation of people from all of the Allied nations in World War two that really are a very significant depth to these people now we can forget about that and we can say oh it was a long time ago and who cares anymore I suppose we could do that but that would be brutally unfair and that would be brutally ignorant on the part of all of us who've gained from the sacrifices they made and so I think it's important that we take every opportunity we can to keep that memory alive to understand that freedom didn't come to us freely we weren't born into it it was fought for by a generation of heroes and we owe it to them to build and maintain their memory I think that's that that's the importance of it alright is it just make sure that this mission this message goes on and and the younger generation understands and they educated enough to move that along to their kids kids you don't mean and because I'm a young kid in the Bronx yeah I had a history class but I wasn't like hey I am gravitating to history but if I could give to send that message to my kid then he said disk is the importance of this in this war and when it meant to the world it needs to be sent needs to be moved on from generation to generation it's important that the next generation and and the the next generations and the next generations are aware of what the previous generations did because it's it's not that the history has finished its that their history is influencing us today and it's that learning about the past helps us understand the day which helps us understand tomorrow because it's all just one big circle of the same things going round and round and again in the situations in the Afghanistan and the Middle East at all they're not new they've been for hundreds of years and if we can just keep to the people looking back it'll help us look forward I think in the States I fear that there is a huge disconnect between what happened here in the Second World War a lot of it has to do is because us as Americans we weren't occupied and the people here in Belgium and a lot of Europe were so you know we don't know what that is other than Pearl Harbor we we just don't know what it is I guess 9/11 would be something on our and to feel what that is but still it's not the same and being here and listening to the natives tell us how grateful they are and how much they respect and honor these men really brings it to the forefront for me and it makes me feel that what I contributed is all the worthwhile because we don't have that in the States you know that we don't treat our vets the way we should I wish that the way this this country sees our vets in this town by stone in particular sees our vets sees those men I wish that the entire US would would view them in that same manner you know often doesn't come to things like this so I've been to things before and I've I've I've been next to vets and in ink ink you and I sort of just you know I've been to things where I've had to kind of almost remind people that I didn't serve you know and I felt sort of fraudulent their times and but the flipside of that is coming to things like this seeing me in hat the show as has had on people and and and the younger generation that know there have been those cases of the younger generation coming up to me and I'm thinking well you probably would not old enough to watch it the first time around you know but it will it's such a encouraging thing to happen because what it has done what the show and I can now appreciate and not feel so much of a fraud about is that is reignited the imagination for well unfortunately evil exists there are evil men and they will unfortunately always be evil men and if we do not teach the next generation to seek that evil out and just in to destroy it before it comes a world war 3 before another person takes over Europe or another set of continents with evil intentions those kids are not going to understand what they're looking at if they don't understand what they've seen in the past so it's obviously very important to be able to spot evil as it comes in the future but to honor the sacrifices and to see why you have today which you have because of those who gave that to you there's ways and ways of crosses that represent men whose lives were given for the life that we have today so if kids don't understand why those crosses sit in the middle of those fields all lined up perfectly then they don't appreciate what they have and that freedom can quickly be taken away by keeping these stories alive and putting a face to it whether it's mine tell them I found the story or someone else telling their father the story we can maybe help stop with something like this from happening again without somebody stepping up and saying no this is wrong when we shot Bantu Brothers we built logic inside an aircraft hangar in Hatfield in the UK and I said well surely there had to be some compromise in that when we got two boys out today I found that there was no compromise it was almost letter-perfect thanks to Anthony Pratt and Allan Thompkins and the guys who were heading the art department of the research department for Band of Brothers it was almost perfect and there's something about boy Jacques that's almost I guess in America we'd say there's a hoodoo there there's a mojo there there are ghosts there and they live there you can you can feel them there's an emotional spirit that grabs you when you walk through those woods and you see the holes in which those men fought and you look around and see where the Germans were where the Allies were where the main armor roots were it's an extraordinary place and it deserves to be maintained in its simplicity it deserves to be there as a living monument to what those people did in the boys oh I mean the comparison from the set to being in these woods was incredibly eerie very very close the attention to detail was amazing you won't end then you're like oh wow this is exactly how it looked exactly how exactly I felt it was crazy to kind of feel that and be there with the actors and kind of go hey guys are you filming I'm feeling right now and they go yeah I kind of got that little feeling you know we were on a stage and we were on a soundstage and I would say the one thing that stood out on the stage was when they did do the explosions it echoed so that was you know big thing from the stages and the snow was that real snow obviously I mean but it was pretty close it was pretty close it was extremely surreal and it really gave me a perspective of what it was like for them more so than the set mind you that the production design on Band of Brothers is amazing and seeing the comparison from that to this beautiful but that is still asset and being here and seeing these foxholes and seeing how close the enemy was really just changes everything for me it it was extremely moving it just was kind of freaky up for one of a better word you know it was just so you appreciated everything about that art department at that time that they kind of captured that and even the different shaped foxholes and and just some of the stuff that I had to kind of run through and you know I I went around and had a walk today and and it was spot-on you know you know if there was if there was a moment let's say that that I was running from Fox or the fox hole and they just pumped the thing full of smoke and created this although low-level mist running a trajectory where they would squib up the earth to make it it looks like rain mud blow-up trees or whatever it was and by the time they actually called action they got the cameras very low it was it's kind of what you do when there's an action you had huh you do handheld staff and you're all around and you're doing this and they're keeping it low but by the time I can only remember seeing a small light red light on a camera that's all right that was all that was there that was sort kind of artificial to or felt artificial to the to the surroundings as soon as they called action this thing would just go and I had to follow this trajectory to keep in frame but ultimately everything else was just as far as I could see you know the real thing and and then your mind plays tricks on you and you kind of feel like for a moment just for a moment that you are running from shelling and and that was a very very profound experience as well you know the biggest thing would being a mess tone has got to be being invested with shame we played football and there was a neat moment when we were down at full today and mooch told that story that Milwaukee had told him that he watched from a high ground he watched row and the attack afford just moved from 1st platoon of 2nd platoon to 3rd platoon just moving through the battle and helping the guys and the end it brought tears to my eyes I mean you know you're what you're looking I'm sitting looking at the grounds the field where he where he did that and it was it was a surreal moment because was completely cloudy very cold and right after mooch told that story a break a hole in the clouds came through the sunshine and Shane was standing next to me and he said you know it's a shot from heaven you know and then right after that cloud the wind blew in that class so it was a very touching moment so to be here with Shane was probably most important the fact that I'm here with with the grandson of dr. o the character I played has made it all the more significant honoring Renee lemare and Augusta she we the nurses who played a vital part and were also showcased as just has resonated so much and I've I thought it would be emotional I didn't think you would be as emotional as it's been you know had seen Renee's grave a couple years ago I had not seen Augusta since she just died last year and those are two special people you know healers and nurses and medics in battle are completely unique in the fact that they don't go on the offensive they're completely defensive completely the humanitarian side of war if there is one so to honor those nurses that we did or the plaque a couple of days ago that the city honored them and and to visit their graves and pay our respects to them is just as important is to pay any respects to any of the any of the troopers that fought here any of the troops that fought here really you know those people played an integral part in saving lives and providing comfort and healing in the midst of just complete chaos and terror and death when you actually walk up on a spot like that and you're the emotions has hit you pretty hard where you think you know 70 years ago my dad was right here it was pretty chilly today but nothing like that and just bleeding on the bottom of this medi hold on Christmas Day and it's very uh got me a little emotional an emotional for me the reason I do what I do for a living is just a chance to tell people about what my predecessors were able to do to to bring freedom back to the Europe after World War Two and during World War Two and to be able to get people to focus on the past and therefore I have a methodology of just an attempt to to make it relevant their own lives so that those those ordeals then there are similar ordeals we're going through now in d then I think is more relevant now than it's ever been it's what can be achieved by lots of countries coming together for a common good because we're all so divisive this has been a year of division and bitterness and elections and and this is this is people working together which is which in turn is what we're doing here tonight in that these are people actors musicians tour guides businessmen all coming together for for the same reason you [Music]

Channel: Ross Owen Show

Views: 24,251

Rating: 4.9435296 out of 5

Keywords: ross owen, dale dye, james madio, douglas spain, shane taylor, chris langlois, scotty gordon, paul woodadge, bastogne, band of brothers, interviews

Id: M7q6OYvV0hk

Length: 15min 2sec (902 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 15 2016