This is the story of "E" Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from their initial training starting in 1942 to the end of World War II. They parachuted behind enemy lines in the early hours of D-Day in support of the landings at Utah beach, participated in the liberation of Carentan and again parachuted into action during Operation Market Garden. They also liberated a concentration camp and were the first to enter Hitler's mountain retreat in Berchtesgarten. A fascinating tale of comradeship that is, in the end, a tale of ordinary men who did extraordinary things.

Almost all the main actors were cast because of their close physical resemblance to the real-life soldiers they were portraying.

Bill Guarnere:
Crazy Joe McKlosky was fucking nuts... that's why they called him Crazy Joe.

Anachronisms: In "Crossroads", the British para commander is referred to as a Brigadier General and is wearing a general officer's cap badge. There has been no such rank in the British Army since the 1920s. The equivalent, Brigadier, is not a general officer and wears a different cap badge.