Band of Brothers tells real-life stories of the 101st Airborne's "Easy Company," but what happened to David Webster after World War II? The HBO war drama first aired in 2001, chronicling the US Army unit's involvement in major historical events like the harrowing D-Day landings in Normandy and the horrific discovery of a German concentration camp. The show features an ensemble cast, with major and minor roles from notable figures like Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, and many more. The show devotes specific episodes to different members of Easy Company, following some of their stories.
Band of Brothers episode 8, "The Last Patrol," focuses on Private David Webster as he rejoins his men in 1945 following a stint in the hospital while recovering from battle wounds. Played by Eion Bailey, the former Harvard English major has to readjust to the front and the beaten-down spirits of his weary comrades. He's one of the men chosen for the anxiety-inducing task of a dangerous nighttime patrol to capture German prisoners. But like everyone else in the company - especially at this point in the war - he just wants to make it home alive.
David Webster lived a well-educated life prior to his Band of Brothers-chronicled service in World War II. Before his time at Harvard, Webster had studied at a prep school in Connecticut. After he was finally discharged from the Army he returned to his intellectual roots too, working as a reporter for papers like The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Daily News. He also married his wife, Barbara (with whom he had three children), in 1952. Webster even continued pursuing his love of writing by combining it with his passionate interest in sharks and his nonfiction book, entitled Myth and Maneater: The Story of the Shark, was published in 1962. The true-life Band of Brothers veteran also had some of his wartime experiences published in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post, and later worked as a technical writer.
Unfortunately, though Webster was lucky enough to survive World War II, he didn't live to see old age. In 1961, at the age of 39, he was lost at sea during a short fishing trip off the coast of Santa Monica. His boat was later recovered but he was never found, and thus assumed to be dead. After his death, in addition to his book on sharks, even more of his legacy was immortalized in literary form. A true story account of his time in Band of Brothers-mythologized 101st, Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich, was posthumously published in 1994.
Though it was cut short, David Webster lived an incredibly full life. By the time he was reaching middle age, he had already spent time in college, served his country in a major war as a decorated serviceman, helped build a family and became a published writer. It's fitting that, like other members of Easy Company, he's been immortalized in the highly regarded Band of Brothers series. Eion Bailey's portrayal of Webster paints him in a positive, likable light; he's just another dedicated soldier doing the best he can under hellish conditions.