—

will slow them down -maybe for a minute. Have you done
anything else ? ”
Henderson seemed embarrassed . “ No, sir.”
“ How do you think the Germans are going to come? When
they come to cross this bridge, they’ll be coming with tanks.”
“ I know that, sir.”
“Maybe your new commanding officer can think of
something better.”
Henderson frowned in confusion. “ Who, sir ? ”
“ Your new commanding officer,” Miller said. “Me.”

Chapter 14 The Bridge

— —
Paratroopers Bill Trask twenty-three, Dallas, Texas and Ray
— —
Rice twenty-two, Tulsa , Oklahoma took Miller to the end of
the bridge near Ramelle , where there was a pile of guns, mines,
grenades, and bullets. Miller inspected the weapons. Sarge was at
— —
his side; the boys of the squad and Ryan were gathered
behind them.
“ Is this everything? ” he asked .
“ That’s everything,” Trask apologized. “It won’t be much
when the German tanks arrive.”
Sarge looked at the small pile of weapons. “What do you
think, Captain ? ”
“ I think the Germans are going to destroy us.”
“ Yes ,” Sarge nodded .
Miller pointed . “What would happen if we could make some
of them go down the main road . . . between those buildings? We
can use the broken bricks and stones to make the passage
narrower. Then they can’t go through it.”
Ryan said , “ There aren’t enough bricks and stones to stop a
tank . . . unless we can stop one of the tanks . . . ”

85
r
“Yes!” Miller said, grinning. “ If we destroy a tank there, it’ll
block the road . Then we have a chance to fight them.”
Nobody was grinning back at him. They wanted to share his
enthusiasm, but they knew his suggestion would be difficult.
But Corporal Henderson was nodding, realizing the
possibilities. “ Yes . . . that would separate them. We can’t let them
all group together.”
“Right,” Miller said. “Then we could shoot at them one at a
tim < not in one big battle, but little battles that we can win.
And as we do, we’ll move back toward the bridge and fight the
rest of them .”
Sarge was nodding now and pointing along the road . “We can
have a machine gun down here . . . ” Then he pointed to the bell
tower. “ The second machine gun can go up there. It’s high, and
we can fire down on their heads.”
“Good, good,” Miller said. He turned to Jackson, “Do you
want to operate the machine gun in that bell tower ? From there,
maybe you could kill a few German officers.”
Jackson stretched his wounded arm and said, “I’m always glad
to have a little time in church .”
I Miller slowly looked at the faces of his men. “What are your
opinions?”
“You’re asking us, sir ? ” Reiben said.
“Yes.”
“ Well . . . this isn’t the worst idea I’ve heard.”
Mellish said, “That’s the truth! The worst idea was Omaha
Beach .”
They laughed and nodded; Miller smiled.
“The problem is that everything depends on making a tank go
down the main street,” Reiben said.
!
“ That’s right,” Miller said . “And then destroying it.”
'

“Well . . . how are we going to do that?”

86
j
!
!
nodding toward the small pile of weapons. “ How do we stop a tank
with these ? And how do we make a tank go where we want it to?”
“We’ll give it something to chase,” Miller said. “Then we’ll hit it.”
“What will we hit it with? ” Reiben asked.
“Sticky bombs.”
—
Now everyone his squad, the paratroopers, and even Sarge
looked at Miller. Had he finally gone crazy?
—
“ And what are sticky bombs, sir ?” Reiben asked.
“ Sticky bombs don’t exist,” Henderson said .
“They’re in the army instruction manual,” Miller said. “ Look it
up.”
“We would , sir,” Ryan said politely, “if we had one . Since we
don’t, maybe you could tell us.”
“ I’ll be happy to. Do you have some explosives?”
—
“We have plenty of those,” said Alan Toynbe twenty-five,
Malden, Massachusetts. “ There are more than enough attached to
the bridge.”
“Then take some from there,” Miller said , “ to make the sticky
bombs. This is how, boys: take one army sock , stuff it with
explosives, and add a long piece of string. Then put grease all over
the outside. It’ll stick to anything you throw it at. That’s a sticky
bomb!”
They were still looking at him like he was crazy.
But soon Toynbe had a rope around him and was hanging
from the side of the bridge, taking explosives from under it . He
handed them to Trask and Rice, who were also hanging from the
bridge. They passed them to Mellish and Upham on the bridge.
Mellish and Upham delivered them to Miller, Ryan, Sarge, and
several paratroopers , who manufactured the sticky bombs.
—
In the church , Jackson and paratrooper Ron Parker twenty-
—
one, Sommersville, Vermont carried a machine gun, sniper ’s
rifle, bullets, and other supplies up to the bell tower.
Two paratroopers were getting a machine gun ready behind a

87
r
pile of rocks down the street. Upham delivered bullets to them
and moved on.
Inside a destroyed building, Private Mellish and Corporal
Henderson were setting up the second machine gun. Upham
delivered bullets to them, too.
“ Upham,” Mellish said , “ listen to me. This is just the starting
place. We’ll move back toward the bridge , find new positions, and
then move on again. You ’re going to have to find us and deliver
the bullets quickly. Do you understand ? ”
Upham nodded. “ I understand.”
At the end of the bridge, the sticky bombs were ready. Miller,
followed by the rest of the group from the bridge, walked
through town , inspecting the battle preparations.
Private Ryan quietly asked the captain , “ What’s my position? ”
“ You stay close to me— never more than one step away. That ’s
an order, Private. You still obey orders sometimes, don’t you ?”
With an embarrassed smile, Ryan quietly replied, “ Yes , sir.”
When he finished his inspection , Miller was satisfied that his
— —
men were positioned well. Then he and Ryan chose a place
for two of them in what was left of the building nearest the
—
bridge a former cafe .
Miller was in position at the window; Ryan sat on a chair in
the corner. He studied Miller for a while and then asked , “ Is it
true, what they say about you ? ”
“You’ll have to tell me what you mean.”
“ Is it true that you’re a schoolteacher? ”
“Yes.”
Ryan shook his head. “ That’s something I could never do. I
know how my brothers and I acted in school . After that, I could
never be a teacher.”
Miller glanced at Ryan and saw the private’s grief.
]i “ I can’t remember their faces. I keep trying, but I don’t have
any photos with me. I can’t picture them in my head .”

i 88
 “ You have to think of them in a situation ”
“What do you mean, sir ?”
“Don’t try to think of their faces. Try to remember something
you did with them. When I want to think about home, I think
about lying in my backyard or about my wife working in her
garden . When I do that, I’m there with them.”
Ryan thought about this advice. Then he smiled, and reported
to Miller : “ One night, after dark, Tom and Pete dragged me out
of bed, saying they had something to show me in the barn.
Something really special. We went upstairs and looked down .
Danny was there kissing a blonde girl . Then she heard something,
looked up, and saw us looking down at her. She screamed and ran
out fast. Danny was so angry that he chased us and ran into a
candle. The candle fell over and started a fire. He had to stop
chasing us and help us put out the fire before the whole barn
burned down .”
Miller smiled.
“Danny went to army training the next day,” Ryan said. “ That
—
was the last time the four of us were all together two years
ago ”
Miller nodded and smiled. They looked out the window,
listening to the silence and enjoying their memories.
Then Miller heard something and stopped smiling, “ Here they
come,” he said. “ Here they come.”
All around the ruins of Ramelle, and on the bridge, the men
—
heard the engines of the approaching tanks a sound they
greeted with relief and horror. They prepared their weapons for
batde.
Miller looked out at Jackson in the bell tower. Jackson was
looking out to see what was approaching. Parker signaled with
—
his fingers four tanks, two of them Tigers and two Panzers.
The ground began to shake as the tanks came nearer. Then the
— —
first huge tank a Tiger came into view. Riding on top, the

89
 commander surveyed the village. Another Tiger followed the
first, and the two smaller Panzers were behind it . Marching
— —
soldiers about 100 of them followed the tanks .
“God , give me strength ,” Jackson said as he looked down at
the line of tanks and soldiers.
Miller said, “ We’re lucky. They’re coming down the main
street . . . ”
He waited for the tanks to reach the blocked passage; Toynbe
watched him. At Miller’s signal he pulled the switch and
exploded the buried mines . A dozen Germans were killed, and
the others ran for cover. The Americans began firing their
machine guns, killing and wounding more German soldiers.
Reiben and five paratroopers were hidden on both sides of the
main street. When the first tank approached their position, they

raced out , carrying their sticky bombs. They threw them at the
tank’s wheels and ran away, finding piles of broken bricks and
stones to hide behind . The sticky bombs exploded in a cloud of
black smoke. But the tank continued .
! Then its wheels exploded, and the tank stopped, blocking the
road, as Miller had planned . The other tanks stopped behind it ,
! but the four tanks continued to fight. The machine guns on top
of each tank turned and fired toward the Americans’ hiding
places. Americans around the village ran behind stone piles,
diving for cover.
The German foot soldiers dragged their wounded off the
street and ran for shelter. Then they, too, began to shoot back at
the Americans.
From behind his rock pile, Sarge shot at the third tank , but his
shell hit the tank and then exploded against the wall behind it.
The wall fell . The tank’s machine gun shot in Sarge’s direction,
and he ran.
From his position , Reiben watched this happen and saw
smoke and flames coming from behind Sarge. When the smoke

90
cleared, there was no sign of Sarge. He didn ’t know if Horvath
was ahve or dead .
The tanks left the main street and moved forward toward the
bridge on other streets. Seeing this , Miller shouted to Ryan and
Toynbe, “Let’s go!”
Although the Americans had killed a lot of Germans, the
numbers of the enemy were still a threat to the small group. In
the church bell tower, Parker and Jackson , who never missed his
target, shot at the Germans. Then bullets hit the tower. The two
men looked at each other.
“ Those Germans on the ground know we’re here now,”
Parker said . “ I hope they don’t tell their friends on the tanks.”
One of the smaller tanks hit a stone wall and tried
unsuccessfully to push through it. Miller saw this and sent two
paratroopers to attack it. They raced out, sticky bombs in their
hands, toward the struggling Panzer.
Private Ryan began to follow them, but Miller grabbed his
arm, saying, “ Not you.”
Then the Germans approached. The captain and the private
began shooting to provide cover for the two runners. The two
paratroopers reached the tank and paused to get their sticky
bombs ready to throw. One went off early, killing the two
soldiers. It also hit the wall, which broke apart, making it possible
for the Panzer to move ahead .
The American machine gunners moved to new positions , and
Upham ran from one team to the other, delivering more bullets.
The American and German foot soldiers continued firing at each
other. And the tanks kept moving down the streets going —
through walls, firing, destroying anything in their paths.
The second Panzer reached Reiben and Toynbe’s position.
They ran out and attacked it, putting sticky bombs on its wheels
and running away quickly. Reiben was thrown to the ground
—
when the bombs exploded. But the tank went on undamaged!

91
 It turned toward Reiben, who climbed desperately on the
rocks to get out of the Panzer’s path. From his new position,
Reiben couldn’t see that the tank had been hit, but he heard it
halt. He glanced back at the motionless tank and also saw Sarge
sitting on top of a pile of rocks nearby. The two men looked
at each other. Sarge smiled and ran out of sight behind a half-
wall .
Glad to see Sarge alive , Reiben looked back at the tank. At
that moment, a man in the Panzer stood up and shotToynbe. He
was turning his gun toward Reiben when a bullet hit him in the
chest, killing him.
Surprised, Reiben turned and looked up, knowing that the
—
shot had come from the bell tower knowing that Jackson had
saved him . Like Sarge had saved him . . . In those few seconds, his
life had been saved twice by two of his brothers . . .
In the bell tower, Jackson, praying, was already searching for
more targets.
Reiben led a group of paratroopers to attack the damaged
Panzer. A second German came out of it. Reiben shot him and
!
•
then joined the others, who were throwing grenades into the
tank . They raced away as it exploded behind them.
Jackson looked through his gun’s special attachment at the
disabled Tiger, which still blocked the main street. Its gun was
raised , pointing at the bell tower. “Parker! Get out of hen
now!” Jackson shouted. The two men raced to the door, but
they both knew they wouldn’t reach it. Just then the tower
exploded.
From their machine-gun position, Mellish and Henderson
watched as the tower was destroyed.
i “Jackson!” Mellish shouted , staring in horror.
“We have to destroy that Tiger,” Henderson said. He took out
a grenade.
i
“Are you crazy ? That’s a Tiger! Grenades don’t destroy Tigers!”

92
 '
% "T

Henderson grinned and raced into the street . Mellish fired his
machine gun, giving Henderson the cover he needed to get close
to the tank . Henderson, grenade ready, waited until the machine
gun stopped firing. Then he ran straight to the tank, jumped up,
and threw the grenade at the gun. He got out a second grenade,
prepared it, and waited for the tank to stop shaking from the
explosion . Then he climbed onto the tank, and threw his grenade
into it.
The explosion threw Henderson onto the street . He stood up,
grinning, and ran back toward Mellish , shouting excitedly, “ Did
you see that ?”
And from somewhere, German machine-gun fire hit him .
Mellish screamed and kept firing and screaming and firing until
he had no more bullets. But the Germans still had bullets, and
they were hitting all around Mellish. He grabbed his gun and ran.
—
Changing positions, Miller ran with Ryan following him —
and took cover behind a wall. Sarge was already there, firing at
the Tiger as it moved toward them.
“Go to the meeting place! Run!” Miller shouted . The men left
just as the Tiger crashed through the wall.
Mellish, running, saw Upham ahead, confused in the smoke
and dust. “Upham!” he shouted, and Upham looked back at him.
“The bridge is straight ahead! Run! ”
Just then , a young German soldier ran out of the smoke into
Mellish’s path. Both men were surprised and looked at each other
—
for a second both ready to fire. But the German was faster.
“Mellish!” Upham screamed .
And the German turned toward Upham, who stood
motionless. The corporal knew that he was going to die. But
suddenly three bullets hit the German’s chest and threw him
onto a pile of stones . He lay there, staring.
Upham was shocked to be alive. Reiben appeared next to the
corporal, saying, “Come on, Upham, we have to go back.” But

93
 Upham didn’t move, so Reiben dragged him to their meeting
place near the bridge.
Miller, Ryan, and Sarge, ran for the meeting place, too. They
—
could hear the Tiger nearby destroying everything in its path.
From his position , Trask threw a grenade at the Tiger, but
nothing happened. He ran for the meeting place, too.
Miller, Ryan, Sarge, Trask, Reiben, and Upham arrived at the
same time. Then they raced for the sand bags on the bridge and
dove over. They got to safety just as machine-gun fire hit the sand
bags.
The remaining Panzer joined the Tiger, and both tanks moved
toward the bridge and its defenders. The remaining German foot
soldiers walked beside them.
Ryan picked up a huge gun. Miller put bullets in it and told
Ryan to fire. He did.
“Reiben and I will take this gun,” Sarge told Ryan. He looked
at Miller, reminding him of their real mission. “You two go to the
other end of the bridge!”
Miller nodded, grabbing Ryan s arm. He said to Horvath, “You
—
can’t keep this position much longer follow right behind us!”
Ryan and Miller grabbed all the weapons they could and ran
across the bridge. Sarge and Reiben continued shooting at the
Tiger, but the tank kept coming nearer. Upham and Trask fired at
the German soldiers, occasionally hitting some.
The Tiger and Panzer came nearer and nearer.
Sarge shouted, “ Let’s go!” He and Reiben grabbed everything
they could and ran.
One of the paratroopers stayed at the sand bags, firing to
provide cover as the others ran across the bridge. When he saw
the Tiger turn its gun toward his position, he jumped up and ran
after Sarge and the others. Just then an explosion blew the sand
bags apart and killed him.
Miller and Ryan reached the sand bags at the other end and

,1 94
threw themselves over. The captain grabbed a huge gun , shouting
to Ryan , “ We can’t let the Germans take this bridge! ”
They got the gun ready to shoot.
Then Sarge, Reiben, Trask , and Upham ran out from the
smoke on the bridge. The tank was right behind them.
“ Run! Run! ” Miller shouted.
The tank’s machine gun fired at the runners, hitting Trask in
the leg. Sarge picked him up and carried him behind a stone
column on the bridge. The firing continued, and smoke provided
temporary cover .
Sarge called to Reiben and Upham, “ Go! Go!”
They joined Sarge, helping him drag Trask to a safer place.
Then the tank’s machine gun fired again. Two bullets hit Sarge
in his back, and he fell to the ground.
“ Sarge! ” Reiben screamed .
Miller aimed his gun again. “ Get down! Get down!”
Reiben and Upham threw themselves down next to Sarge and
the wounded Trask, and Miller fired over their heads at the tank.
The noise and smoke of the explosion provided cover, which
encouraged Reiben and Upham to get up. Reiben dragged
Sarge, and Upham dragged Trask, and they slowly moved toward
the sand bags.
The Tiger continued to move forward and shoot. Reiben and
Upham, with Sarge and Trask, took cover behind a column.
The tank moved forward toward Miller and Ryan’s position.
They picked up a machine gun and put it on top of the sand bags.
Ryan fired at the tank, which continued moving forward. Its gun
was aimed at them. Then Miller remembered their mission.
Thinking only of sating Private Ryan now, he put his arms over
the boy and pushed him down out of the path of the bullets.
Those bullets missed Miller, but one of the German soldiers
running beside the tank shot at them. His bullets hit Miller in the
chest.

95
 Both Miller and Ryan were out of sight now, but Upham had
seen the shooting. And he had recognized the German who shot
the captain .
And the corporal, who would one day write a book about
these events, stepped out from behind the column, his gun ready.
He looked at the German soldier, the young prisoner who liked
Mickey Mouse and who Miller had allowed to live.
— —
That soldier that former prisoner had not recognized the
man he shot. But Upham was closer, and the German recognized
him. “Upham!” he said, grinning and lowering his weapon.
Upham shot him through the heart.
As Upham and Reiben continued moving toward the sand
bags, the wounded Miller sat up, took out his hand gun, and
began firing at the tank. He shot his last bullets at the
approaching Tiger, and the tank exploded. Astonished, he stared
at his gun, wondering how his bullets could explode a tank.
Then there was a second explosion, and the tank went over
the side of the bridge into the river. Miller heard the splash and
another sound that made him look upward. In the sky he saw an
American plane and knew that his gun had not destroyed the
tank.
Reiben and Upham watched the plane from behind the
column. The remaining Panzer and German foot soldiers were
going back, desperate to get off the bridge. Not threatened by the
tank now, the two men left Trask and Sarge’s body and ran to
their captain. Miller was lying in Ryan’s arms.
“ Captain,” Reiben said. “ Oh , God . . . Captain.” He screamed
curses and prayers. Upham cried. Ryan cried, too.
At the other end of the bridge, the smaller tank exploded.
Miller tried to talk, but he couldn’t. He raised his trembling hand
and pointed to the planes.
i Behind the soldiers on the bridge, American tanks came out
from the trees and approached, accompanied by foot soldiers. But

96
Miller wasn’t aware of them . He saw only the sky and the plane
and the clouds.
Then he looked at Private Ryan , the man they had come to
—
save the man they had saved . “Earn this,” he said softly.
“Sir ? ” Ryan asked.
The captain repeated it firmly, as an order : “Earn this.”
His last words. His hand stopped shaking.
Ryan, Reiben, and Upham carried Captain John H . Miller
away from the sand bags to the stone wall of the bridge and laid
him gently there.
Reiben leaned over the captain and reached into his pocket,
removing something and putting it in his own pocket . He didn’t
say anything, but Upham saw what Reiben had done. He knew
Reiben would deliver the letter to Caparzo’s father.
And Captain Miller’s boys went back to the war.

97