--- title: Band of Brothers WWII Veteran 'Wild Bill' Guarnere Dies at 90 description: South Philly native served in the famed Easy Company canonical: https://time.com/17960/band-of-brothers-wwii-veteran-wild-bill-guarnere-dies/ author: Nate Rawlings article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-10T11:21:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:40:23.903Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Band of Brothers WWII Veteran 'Wild Bill' Guarnere Dies at 90 og:description: South Philly native served in the famed Easy Company og:url: https://time.com/17960/band-of-brothers-wwii-veteran-wild-bill-guarnere-dies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Band of Brothers WWII Veteran 'Wild Bill' Guarnere Dies at 90 twitter:description: South Philly native served in the famed Easy Company twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # _Band of Brothers_ WWII Veteran 'Wild Bill' Guarnere Dies by [Nate Rawlings](/author/nate-rawlings/) ## Nate Rawlings Mar 10, 2014 11:21 AM CUT by [Nate Rawlings](/author/nate-rawlings/) ## Nate Rawlings Mar 10, 2014 11:21 AM CUT William “Wild Bill” Guarnere, one of the World War II veterans who gained fame from the book _Band of Brothers_ and its HBO adaptation_,_ died of a ruptured aneurysm on Saturday night. He was [90 years old](http://news.yahoo.com/band-brothers-vet-william-guarnere-dies-90-204029890.html "undefined"). A native of south Philadelphia, Guarnere served as a non-commissioned officer in the famed Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during World War II, where he participated in some of the biggest battles in the European theater. Guarnere parachuted into Normandy the night before D-Day, fought in Operation Market Garden and helped hold the critical Belgian town of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. His war ended in Bastogne when he lost a leg while trying to help another wounded soldier, and he returned home having been awarded the Silver Star – the nation’s third-highest award for valor – two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in combat. Guarnere and other veterans of Easy Company gained fame decades after the war when historian Stephen Ambrose wrote [_Band of Brothers_](http://www.amazon.com/Band-Brothers-Regiment-Airborne-Normandy/dp/074322454X "undefined") about their war experience. HBO turned the book into a highly popular mini-series in 2001\. After the war, Guarnere was an active member of many veterans organizations and traveled widely, telling Easy Company’s story. Along with fellow south Philadelphia native Edward “Babe” Heffron, Guarnere published the bestseller [_Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends_](http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Battle-Friends-William-Guarnere/dp/0425224368 "undefined") in 2008. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/17960/band-of-brothers-wwii-veteran-wild-bill-guarnere-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/17960/band-of-brothers-wwii-veteran-wild-bill-guarnere-dies/"},"headline":"Band of Brothers WWII Veteran 'Wild Bill' Guarnere Dies","datePublished":"2014-03-10T11:21:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:40:23.903Z","description":"South Philly native served in the famed Easy Company, and lost a leg holding the Belgian town of Bastone during the Battle of the Bulge","url":"https://time.com/17960/band-of-brothers-wwii-veteran-wild-bill-guarnere-dies/","keywords":["Veterans","World War II"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nate Rawlings","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nate-rawlings/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/17960/band-of-brothers-wwii-veteran-wild-bill-guarnere-dies/","name":"Band of Brothers WWII Veteran 'Wild Bill' Guarnere Dies"}}]}] ```