Donald Malarkey Technical Sergeant Donald G . Malarkey ( born July 31 , 1921 ) is a former non - commissioned officer with Easy Company , 2nd Battalion , 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment , in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II . Malarkey was portrayed in the HBO miniseries " Band of Brothers " by Scott Grimes . Youth . Donald Malarkey was born in Astoria , Oregon to Leo Malarkey , and Helen Trask . They were married in 1918 . His father was Leo , who gained his nickname , " Tick " , while attending the University of Oregon , where he played football , and had a job winding a huge campus clock . He was also a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity . Two of Don ' s uncles , Gerald Malarkey and Robert Malarkey served in World War I . Gerald died in combat on August 11 , 1918 in France by shrapnel from a German shell , and Robert died in 1926 due to complications of a mustard gas attack . Don attended Star of the Sea , a Catholic school in Astoria , where he excelled as an athlete , most notably as point guard on the basketball team . He graduated from Astoria High School in 1939 . As a youth , he worked on a purse seiner crew on the Columbia River . He also was a volunteer firefighter during the destructive Tillamook Burn forest fire , which destroyed thousands of acres of Oregon timber . He was in his first semester at the University of Oregon in the fall of 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor . Military service . After Pearl Harbor , Malarkey tried enlisting in the Marines , but was rejected because of dental problems . He then tried the Army Air Corps , but lacked the requisite mathematics background . As such , when he was drafted in July 1942 , he volunteered for the paratroops of the United States Army , after reading a " Life magazine " article about them being the best . He trained at Camp Toccoa , Georgia . Of the enlisted men who trained at Toccoa , only one man in six received certification as a member of the fledgling paratroops . He received his jump certification in 1942 . He became a member of " Easy " Company , 2nd Battalion , 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division . He went to England in 1943 to participate in the largest amphibious invasion in history : Operation Overlord . In the darkness of the morning of D - Day , Malarkey parachuted into France with his unit . Later that day , he received the Bronze Star for his heroism in a pitched battle to knock out four German 105 mm artillery battery , an action now called the Brécourt Manor Assault . He fought for twenty - three days in Normandy , nearly eighty in the Netherlands , thirty - nine in the Battle of Bastogne in Belgium , and nearly thirty more in and around Hagenau , France , and the Ruhr Pocket in Germany . He was promoted to sergeant before Operation Market Garden . Never seriously wounded , Malarkey served more consecutive time on the front lines than any other member of Easy Company . Malarkey was awarded the Bronze Star , Purple Heart , Good Conduct Medal , American Campaign Medal , and others Later years . Malarkey returned to the University of Oregon in 1946 to complete his degree . He is a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity ( Gamma Zeta ) . While attending the university , he met and became engaged to Irene Moor of Portland . They were married on June 19 , 1948 . Don graduated in 1949 with a bachelor ' s degree in business . The couple lived in Astoria , Oregon , where Don became the sales manager for Lovell Auto Company . During this time , Don ran for the position of County Commissioner of Clatsop County , Oregon and was elected in 1954 . The family moved to Portland , Oregon , where Don worked as an insurance and real estate agent . The couple had four children . Irene died in April 2006 of breast cancer . In 1987 , Malarkey was introduced to author and University of New Orleans Professor of History Stephen Ambrose at an Easy Company reunion in New Orleans . In 1989 , Don traveled with Ambrose and other members of Easy Company , including Richard Winters and Carwood Lipton , to various sites where they had fought in Europe following the D - Day invasion . The oral history and first - person recollections that Malarkey and the others provided became the basis for Ambrose ' s book " Band of Brothers " , which was published in 1992 . During Ambrose ' s collection of anecdotal information for the book , Malarkey told of the saga of the Niland brothers of Tonawanda , New York , how two had died on D - Day and another was presumed killed . Fritz , one of the four Niland brothers , was close friends with Malarkey . This episode was the impetus for the screenplay of " Saving Private Ryan " . Malarkey lives in Salem , Oregon and travels and speaks extensively to high school and college students and other groups on his Easy Company experiences . He has traveled to Army posts and hospitals in the United States and Europe , where he has met with soldiers wounded in the Iraq War . In 2005 , he appeared in an advertisement urging repeal of the estate tax . For many years Malarkey has also extensively traveled with his friend Vance Day , who is a circuit court judge in Oregon and a former trial attorney and chairman for the Oregon Republican Party , and together have done many leadership seminars through Day ' s Frontline Leadership by On - Point Strategies . Since its premiere in August 2010 , the two have also had events around a new documentary titled " The Battle at Brecourt Manor " ( Brecourt Manor Assault ) executive produced by Day according to the group ' s promotional manager Justin Alderman . The group and documentary project operate a website at www . brecourtmanor . net . As of 2012 , Malarkey has since retired from public speaking events .