Major Richard ‘Dick’ Winters, one of America’s most famous heroes of World War II, has died at the age of 92. Winters and his Easy Company were the subject of Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers book, which one of the two best modern accounts of WWII military history I’ve read along with Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad. Winters was a remarkably understated hero and so, so brave. I love that book and the TV mini-series that came along later was also superb.

Books like Band of Brothers truly appeal to me as they tell stories of remarkable deeds by ordinary people. One minute these people are passing you in the street and the next they displaying remarkable bravery on the beaches of Normandy.

Winters published a 2006 autobiography called Beyond Band of Brothers.