"Trying to do it the way Dick Winters wanted it to be done"—that was the impetus that led Jake Powers, Mark Patterson, and Chad Weisensel to come together and establish a tour company that specializes in following the footsteps of the "band of brothers" from Toccoa to the Eagle's Nest.

Battlefield tours are nothing new. Enterprising entrepreneurs took tourists around Civil War battlefields when memories of that war were still fresh. Given the popularity of HBO's miniseries Band of Brothers and the book by Stephen Ambrose that inspired it, no one should be surprised that a company might use Easy Company's World War II history as a basis for tours. What is more surprising is that this one is carrying on a tradition begun by Major Dick Winters, the commander of E Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Berchtesgaden.

Winters found himself in the public spotlight thanks to the book and miniseries, and he seized the opportunity to educate others about the lessons he'd learned in the war and the sacrifices made by the "band of brothers." The founders of Band of Brothers Tours hope to carry on that education for a new generation. One of the founders, Jake Powers, knows Maj. Winters very well and traveled with him to visit the battlefields where Maj. Winters and his comrades fought.

Another of the founders, Chad Weisensel of Wisconsin, spoke to HistoryNet on February 25, 2010.

HistoryNet: How did this all get started?

Chad Weisensel: Jake Powers, Mark Patterson, and I formed Band of Brothers Tours because we want to do it the way Dick Winters wanted it to be done. Major Winters used to do these tours with Jake and a few others. He took the actual maps he carried during World War II and walked the battlefields, showing people "this is where we established our line" and things like that.

We take these same maps, the ones that belonged to Maj. Winters with us on tours so our travelers can see where things were, to do it the way Maj. Winters did it.

Jake has been part of the Easy Company family for many, many years. He's the official historian of Easy Company and is very involved with some of the men who are still with us. He's gone to the battlefields, taken vets there.

HN: Who takes these tours now? Are they vets?

CW: Generally, we plan on bringing at least one vet on every tour we can, but we have a broad spectrum of people with us: wives, husbands, single men and women, high school kids. Many wives have told me, "Boy I wasn't sure this was for me," but by the end of the tour they're very excited. It turns into a big treat for everyone.

HN: You mentioned high school students. So young people go on tours like this?

CW: On the tours I've gone on there were young people. The first time it was a young boy, the next time there was a girl. Both were doing reports. They showed great respect for veterans. Many young people out there don't understand this, the importance of what we're doing and seeing. They did. It wasn't just a trip to them. It was something special and they were part of it and they know it. They'll never forget it.

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