World War II veteran and the last living member of the famous 'Band of Brothers', Bradford Clark Freeman, passed away at the age of 97 on Sunday, July 4.

Freeman’s World War II parachute infantry regiment inspired the book, Band of Brothers, authored by Stephen E Ambrose. World War II veteran and the last living member of the famous “Band of Brothers”, Bradford Clark Freeman, passed away at the age of 97 on Sunday, July 4. The only surviving member of the historic World War II parachute infantry regiment of the US Army known as Easy Company, died at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Mississippi, according to a CNN report.

The nonagenarian joined the US armed forces in 1942 and was part of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. The division, known as The Screaming Eagles, was deployed in Normandy, France, on D-Day.

Freeman’s division was the one that inspired the book, Band of Brothers, authored by Stephen E Ambrose. The book chronicles the stints of the paratroopers in World War II. Later, the book was adopted into a 10 episode mini-series on HBO. The television series, created by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, won six Emmy awards. Freeman helped in guiding the makers of the show to bring it closer to reality.

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Freeman’s family friend, David Simmons, reminiscing about him, told NBC that he was a generous, kind, and humorous man. After World War II culminated, Simmons, recollected the days when Freeman returned to his home state, Mississippi.

“He went to three schools, spoke, answered lots of questions, and it was apparent he had a brilliant memory of each event he experienced,” Simmons was quoted as saying by NBC News. After returning from the war, Freeman got married to Willie Louise Gurley and took up a job as a mail carrier.

Freeman also received a purple heart from the US army for getting wounded during the war. In a conversation with the American Veteran Centre, Freeman recalled getting hit by a blast induced by “Screaming Mimi,” a nickname for German rocket fire during the Battle of the Bulge. He was injured, along with another soldier from Pennsylvania.

A memorial service will be organised for Freeman on July 8, according to Lowndes Funeral Home.

(Source: https://www.news18.com/news/world/last-surviving-world-war-ii-band-of-brothers-member-passes-away-at-97-5503069.html )