OSHKOSH, Wis. — The funeral was nearly over when George Lus Jr. noticed a man he did not recognize standing over this father’s casket.

“When they turned it around, he put his hand on the casket and with tears coming down his eyes, he was rubbing the casket,” said Lus, who spoke at EAA as part of the Aviation Adventure Speaker Series. “And he said, ‘Goodbye, George.’

"And at that moment, I just said, ‘Let’s see if I can just do more in life than what I’m doing now.’ Not that I was doing nothing, but that was my moment to take over and to carry on what he had done.”

Like so many in his generation, George Lus had done so much. He signed up for the Army in 1942 despite the objections of his father. But, as a child of the Great Depression, the job paid $50 more a month than the job that was paying him $16 a week.

He would wind up in Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Easy Company was part of the Allied invasion on D-Day, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, liberated the Dachau concentration camp and raided Hitler’s “Eagles Nest” after he committed suicide.

When it was all over, historian Stehpen Ambrose wrote a book on Easy Company called “Band of Brothers.”

“He really didn’t want it to do that,” Lus Jr. said of his father on being part of the book. “He got together with his buddies every year. Right? So, it wasn’t like, ‘I’m not doing that for that guy.’ It was just that, ‘Don’t get my stories in there. We all did the same stuff.’ But my sister pushed him to get some stories in there.”

That book would turn into the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as executive producers. The series debuted in 2001, three years after George Lus passed. In that time, Lus Jr. reconnected with many of the men from Easy Company and attended their annual reunions. He was on hand for the series debut in Normandy, as were about 50 members of Easy Company.

“Some of the guys saw the series, some of the guys didn’t want to see the series,” Lus Jr. said. “It was images of (expletive) they saw. ‘Hey, I was there. I don’t need to see it again.’ But most of the guys enjoyed it, to a degree. They appreciated their story was told.  

“When I asked about how accurate it was, (Darrell) Shifty Powers said, ‘Well, you know, it happened. But it might not have happened that way’ kind of thing.

So, they did take some liberties.”

The commander of Easy Company was Maj. Richard Winters, and it was a letter he sent to Lus’ wife following his death that changed the course of Lus Jr.’s life.

“Winters had sent a Christmas card to my mom,” he said. “And he said that this now is your responsibility. He told my mom, “It’s you and your family’s responsibility to carry on the message of George and all the men he served with.”

So for the past seven years, Lus Jr. has been touring the country telling the story of Easy Company in a presentation called “Through My Father’s Eyes.”

It’s through this program he is doing what was asked of his family; keeping alive the memory of his father and Easy Company, of which there are no surviving members.

Lus Jr. said when the “Band of Brothers” series was released, his family was surprised at how much his dad was a part of it.

“Every unit needs a funny guy,” he said. “And you know, my dad was the funny guy. So, we had no idea how much of dad was going to be in this. Because he was just an enlisted guy. He was a radio guy, but he was the funny guy. So, we were we were surprised and admired the young kid (Rick Gomez) who did play our dad and did a great job. And everybody will always remember who George Lus is.”

To Richard, though, Lus was much more than a soldier who could bring levity to a company that faced a daily battle with life and death.

“One of the pillars of Easy Company,” Winters told stephenambrosetours.com. “George Lus typified the average soldier in Easy Company. He was tough as nails, had a wonderful sense of humor and possessed a first loyalty to Easy Company that was second to none.”

Story idea? You can reach Mike Woods at 920-246-6321 or at: michael.t.woods1@charter.com