In order to safeguard the life of Brigadier General Amend, a steel plate was welded to the floor of the CG-4A glider that would take him into battle on the morning of June 6, 1944. Once airborne the glider proved difficult to control, and the pilot, Lieutenant DeWindt, was forced to crash land his glider in a French field filled with "Rommel's asparagus". Amend suffered massive facial injuries in the crash and was killed. The death of the fictional Amend character was based on a true incident that involved Brigadier General Don Pratt, the Assistant Divisional Commander of the 101st Airborne Division. Pratt was seated in his jeep when his glider crashed, and the resulting impact broke his neck and killed him. Pratt, second in command of the 101st, was the highest ranking officer to be killed on D-Day. The glider carrying Brigadier General Pratt was piloted by Lt. Colonel Mike Murphy, the real life counterpart for Saving Private Ryan's Lieutenant DeWindt. |
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