“Band of Brothers” and the village of Aldbourne where they stayed

On June 6, 1944, thousands of men from the Allied forces attacked German troops in Normandy, France, as part of the military operation known as D-Day.

Many of them had trained for the operation in southern England, including the US Army’s Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division. The group of men, better known now as ‘Band of Brothers’ after the TV series of the same name, left a lasting impression on the Wiltshire village where they were based.

Aldbourne is an idyllic village in the Wiltshire countryside, surrounded by chalk hills and full of character.

The village green, a pond and an old church paint a beautiful picture of English country life, but it is also where, throughout the Second World War, British and Canadian forces were based.

And then, in 1943, the Americans arrived.

This included the now famous US paratrooper unit Easy Company – the ‘Band of Brothers’ immortalized by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks in the 2001 television series based on the book by Stephen E Ambrose.

Many of the officers remained in the old rectory or people’s houses, based at Littlecote House. Other soldiers were housed in Nissen huts on Farm Lane and poured into the stables at Hightown.

The village had five pubs. The Blue Boar was the officers’ pub, while the others served all the soldiers, including The Crown, which remains open to this day and has a discreet blue plaque on the wall.

Simon Crisp, villager and owner of The Crown, said the pub’s association with Easy Company attracted people from all over the world – including hundreds of Americans who came on tours each year.

“For a very small village, the ties to America are pretty big,” he said.

“For me as a villager and with veterans in my family, it’s all about respect.”

For the locals, in 1943, the arrival of the “toys” was an exciting prospect.

They brought with them sweets, chewing gum and dances.

In an oral history recorded in 2006 by the Trustees of Memorial Hall, Audrey Barret said, “Everyone was so friendly. For young people – and boys – it was interesting. It was really an event when the Americans came.”

Ms Barret recalled attending dances with them, adding: “They would come to our house and write letters and talk and laugh.”

Rosemary Connor was the daughter of the local barber and spoke to the BBC a decade ago when she was 86.

She said: “We took to them quite quickly. They could write home and tell people they got their hair cut by a lady barber.”

Archaeologist Richard Osgood – who is rarely seen without his Indiana Jones-style hat – said that for Americans, the village was “like waking up on a film set”, with thatched roofs and roses growing on trellises.

However, with the war, the quiet village became much more crowded.

“It would have been full force, it would have had people in jeeps, a lot of training nearby. Hearing gunshots, maybe bigger things,” he said.

In the village, the Light Company prepared for the D-Day invasion.

The paratroopers took off from Upottery in Devon in the early hours of June 6, 1944, before parachuting into Normandy.

Left behind enemy lines, they would fight several battles across Europe.

Evidence of Aldbourne’s time lies just below the grass of the village playing field, which 80 years ago was covered with Nissen huts, the crescent-shaped buildings that housed soldiers.

Veterans and service personnel are invited to work on the digs and say they feel a connection to the people whose lives they are also learning about.

Patrick Carter was a paratrooper with the 101st US Parachute and took part in a dig in May of this year.

“With deployments, there’s a lot of preparation beforehand and there’s always a lot of boredom,” he said.

“I can imagine sitting in one of these huts, bored, playing cards or playing balls, as we keep finding.”

Meanwhile, British Army veteran Chris Burdon found Operation Nightingale so beneficial that he became a professional archaeologist.

He said, “Fighting is fighting. The experiences are very, very similar.

“Even camp life – having to get up early for morning runs, eating terrible food in the kitchen, still happens today.

“There’s that connection there. The politics have changed, but the way soldiers live and what they do hasn’t changed at all.”

More than 20 years after the television series Band of Brothers, many of the actors are also returning to the village, some also taking part in the excavations.

Rick Warden, who played Lt. Harry Welsh, Alex Sagba-Brady, who played Corporal Frank Mellet, and Christian Black, who was Walter Hendrix, visited in May.

Mr Sagba-Brady said the actors were given the chance to meet the real veterans before filming.

“Seeing what it was about, what they would do for the man next to them, that really struck a chord with me personally,” he said.

“Trying to emulate and capture that was the essence of what that show was.”

But he said there was more to the Band of Brothers story than Easy Company.

“That’s the focus, but it really shows a picture of a lot of what happened and the emotion of what happened (during the war),” he said.

Finds from the dig included a “clicker” designed to be used on D-Day itself, men’s name tags and a trigger for a parachute.

Metal detecting in an Aldbourne resident’s back garden also turned up a complete WWII American canteen (water bottle).

The artefacts go to the Aldbourne Heritage Centre, which now has so many items it had to have an extra display case.

Terry Gilligan founded the center almost 10 years ago and said Easy Company is now a big part of the village’s identity.

“We have a massive history and this is one part of it, but it’s probably the most important piece now,” he said.

This is also driven by the many visitors, especially Americans, who come to learn more about the Band of Brothers and where they trained before D-Day.

“The village likes to see visitors – they will see the coaches coming into the village,” Mr Gilligan said.

This coming weekend The Crown pub will mark D-Day with the Aldbourne Big Band playing there.

Owner Simon Crisp said: “As a proud Brit it’s nice to be able to support the community, support the veterans.”