In what city is James Ryan defending an important bridge?
An elderly veteran visits the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial with his family. At a tombstone, he falls to his knees with emotion. The scene then shifts to the morning of June 6, 1944, as American soldiers land on Omaha Beach as part of the Normandy Invasion. They suffer heavy losses in assaulting fortified German defensive positions. Captain Miller of the 2nd Ranger Battalion leads a breakout from the beach. Elsewhere on the beach, a dead soldier lies face-down in the bloody surf; his pack is stenciled Ryan, S.
In Washington, D.C., at the U.S. War Department, General George Marshall learns that three of the four sons of the Ryan family were killed in action and that the fourth son, James, is with the 101st Airborne Division somewhere in Normandy. After reading Abraham Lincoln's Bixby letter aloud, Marshall orders Ryan brought home.
Three days after D-Day, Miller receives orders to find Ryan and bring him back. He chooses seven men from his company—T/Sgt. Horvath, Privates First Class Reiben and Caparzo, Privates Mellish and Jackson, T/4 medic Wade—plus T/5 Upham, an interpreter from headquarters. They move out to Neuville, where they meet a squad of the 101st engaged against the enemy. Caparzo is killed by a German sniper who is then killed by Jackson. They locate a Private James Ryan but he is not the right one. From passing soldiers, Miller learns that Ryan is defending an important bridge in Ramelle.
Near Ramelle, Miller decides to neutralize a German machine gun position at a derelict radar station, despite his men's misgivings. Wade is killed in the skirmish. At Upham's urging, Miller declines to execute a surviving German soldier, and sets him free. Losing confidence in Miller's leadership, Reiben declares his intention to desert, prompting a confrontation with Horvath. Miller defuses the standoff by disclosing his civilian career as a high school English teacher, about which his men had set up a betting pool; Reiben decides to stay.
Ramelle