Easy Company veteran William ‘Wild Bill’ Guarnere poses with the man who portrays him in ‘Band of Brothers’, Frank John Hughes.

Born in South Philly in 1923, Guarnere enlisted in the Army in 1942 and headed to Camp Toccoa, Georgia where he was assigned to Easy Company and trained to become a paratrooper.

Bill Guarnere’s bravery is highlighted in the series. After jumping into Normandy on D-Day, he took out almost an entire German unit by himself. He then joined Dick Winters in taking out a group of four 105 mm guns at Brécourt Manor despite being heavily outnumbered 13 to 50 by German soldiers.

Guarnere was shot in the leg by a German sniper several months later and was sent back to England to recover. He tried to break out of the hospital to get back to his unit but he was caught. He told them he would just keep doing it, so they kept him another week and then transferred him back to Easy Company.

Bill Guarnere caught up with Easy Company just before they were sent to the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. While fighting southwest of Foy, a massive artillery barrage hit their position. Guarnere’s friend Joe Toye lost his right leg and was shouting for help.

Guarnere left his foxhole and ran to Toye’s position. While trying to drag his friend to safety, shrapnel from an incoming barrage struck Guarnere in his right leg, wounding him severely. The injury took Guanere out of the war and he lost the leg. He used a wooden leg until the 1960s when opted to use just crutches. #BandofBrothers