"Band of Brothers and Ernst Hemingway" Topic

Four new historical characters in 28mm join the ranks of the US forces at Stoessi's Heroes. You will meet Hemingway as a reporter and Wild Bill Guarnere.

Ronald C. Speirs
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Eugene Gilbert Roe, Sr
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"Wild Bill" Guarnere
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Ernest Hemingway
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Amicalement
Armand

Ya know, putting that draft dodger w/orange hair in this group of "heroes" has ruined this otherwise very cool group of minisfor me. I for one will never buy any of em. What a load of crap…

Ceterman +1

Would be more appropriate to have the figure holding a reverse-firing shotgun.

Wait… I don't get it well… are you saying that the figures are crap or the history of those soldiers are crap?…

Amicalement
Armand

You should examine the range of figures more closely.

If he wanted a "polarizing" politician.
He could have used the man who said this.

"that his other reason for enlisting was that he did not want someone with fewer options than he to go in his place."

Or said this

, "that he would have to go as an enlisted man because, he said, 'In Tennessee, that's what most people have to do.'"

Thank You Zone. Tango, I'm saying I think the Company is crap. Nice figs, I just won't buy one.I mean I go to your link and there it is, staring at me. Maybe, just maybe if it wasn't on the Companies Masthead, I could let it go. Deephorse, I said I think the other figs are great "otherwise very cool group of minis". But on PRINCIPAL, I refuse to buy any of em. And one more thing GunFreak, Yeah, Al Gore was/is such a problem around the World, huh? Just what are you trying to say here? Are you bitchin because he served when he coulda copped out? Or that he did a "Good" thing?

Or a more known politician who fled to Canada

Ceterman, my comment was directed at the person that made the post directly above mine. What makes you think that it was in any way a reply to you?

Thank You Zone. Tango, I'm saying I think the Company is crap. Nice figs, I just won't buy one.I mean I go to your link and there it is, staring at me. Maybe, just maybe if it wasn't on the Companies Masthead, I could let it go. Deephorse, I said I think the other figs are great "otherwise very cool group of minis". But on PRINCIPAL, I refuse to buy any of em. And one more thing GunFreak, Yeah, Al Gore was/is such a problem around the World, huh? Just what are you trying to say here? Are you bitchin because he served when he coulda copped out? Or that he did a "Good" thing?

I thought it was obvious, if he wanted a polarizing politician, he could have chosen one that had actually served and put his life on the line, instead of "corporal bone spurs"

That would make more sense.

So I take it there is no objection to the Colonel Klink or Sergeant Schultz figures? It appears some of the models are based on known people from movies or TV. Sadly, there are many heroes in war mostly only known to their buddies (or themselves). Some get a shot to the head on their 1st day of combat and never get a chance to be "heroes". Others get the Medal of Honor and have to try to live up to the reputation the rest of their lives. War and life isn't simple or clear cut. These figures are a bunch of toy soldiers. The characters they represent may or may not have been "heroes". I may use a German army in WW2 gaming, but I don't use it because I think they were good guys. Anyone who thinks wargaming has anything to do with real life should probably find another hobby.

Okay, Sorry, Deephorse. I see now. Also my Apologies to Gunfreak. After I posted I re-read your comment & thought that was what you meant. But I had to go to work. So sorry for the misunderstanding to you both. As for your reply, Gruber, MOST of these minis are representations of REAL men, some of them REAL heroes. I agree with some of your points, completely. Others, well… And btw, a lot of the actors from Hogans Heroes served. Or were directly affected by the Nazis. A little info for ya:
"Hogan's Heroes" had five Jewish actors, the four "NAZI's" were actually American Veterans of WWII and the French POW was actually interned in concentration camp and almost died there.

Werner Klemperer joined the United States Army to serve in World War II. While stationed in Hawaii, he joined the Army's Special Services unit, spending the next years touring the Pacific entertaining the troops.

Klemperer won two Emmy Awards for his role as the bumbling, cowardly and self-serving Kommandant of Luft Stalag 13.
Klemperer, conscious that he would be playing the role of a German officer during the Nazi regime, agreed to the part only on the condition that Klink would be portrayed as a fool who never succeeded.

Robert Clary "LeBeau" was born Robert Widerman in Paris in 1926, the youngest of fourteen children.
He was deported to the Nazi concentration camps in 1942 but miraculously was liberated from Buchenwald in 1945, the only one of thirteen deported family members to survive.

John Banner "Sgt Schultz" was born in Vienna, Austria. Because of his Jewish heritage, he was transported to a concentration camp before being released out of occupied Germany. Fortunately for him, Banner's time in the concentration camp was during the early stages of Nazi rule, when Jewish extermination policies were not yet fully implemented.

In 1938, Banner, a trim 180 pounds, worked with an acting troupe in Switzerland and found out he could not return to his native Austria because he was a Jew. He immigrated to the United States and, though unable to speak a word of English, was hired as a Master of Ceremonies. Banner learned his words phonetically and soon mastered the English language. From 1942 to 1945, Banner served in the U. S. Army Air Force.

Leon Askin (September 18, 1907 — June 3, 2005) was an Austrian actor who played "General Albert Burkhalter" from 1965 to 1971.
He was born Leon Aschkenasky in Vienna, Austria to a Jewish family during the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Leon wanted to become an actor from an early age, and appeared on stage for the first time in 1926. After an audition before Walter Bruno Iltz, he performed in Düsseldorf, Germany from 1928 until 1933 when he was removed by the National Socialists or Nazis, because he was Jewish. During his time in Düsseldorf, he mainly performed for the Dumont Playhouse. In April, 1933, he was arrested by the SA and was later beaten up by members of the SS. It was from this beating that he got the prominent scar that can be seen on his face. After his release from jail, he moved to Paris, France.

While in Paris, he, along with several other immigrants, started a political cabaret called the Künstlerclub Paris-Vienne. It was very successful. In 1935, he returned to Vienna, where he helped form the ABC Theatre, where he worked as a cabaret artist and director. In this position, he helped to launch the career of the writer Jura Soyfer, among others. As a highly versatile stage actor, he was well-known as "the man of a thousand faces."

He lived happily in Vienna until the German "Anschluss" the union between Germany and Austria of 1938, returning to Paris after a narrow escape. After France's declaration of war against Germany in September, 1939, Leon, along with other refugees from the Nazi's regime, was placed in an interment camp by the French government. He was eventually released and in early 1940 moved to the United States. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Leon joined the U.S. Army, becoming a member of the Army Air Corps. During the war, Leon wrote The Orientation Digest, which provided information for soldiers who were being sent overseas, changed his last name to Askin and became a US citizen. He served in the European Theater of Operations, ending the war with the rank of Technical Sergeant. He learned after the war that his parents had died in the Treblinka extermination camp.

Howard Caine (January 2, 1926 — December 28, 1993) was an American actor Gestapo officer, "Major Wolfgang Hochstetter".
Caine was born in Nashville, Tennessee into a Jewish family. At the age of 13, his family moved to New York City. After his family's arrival in New York, he began to study acting, where he learned to erase his southern accent, while also learning 32 foreign and American accents. After serving in the U. S. Navy during World War II, he continued his studies at The School of Drama of Columbia University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

John Banner once said, "Who's more qualified to make fun of Nazis than us Jews?"
It's bad enough we have to deal w/Fake News, but FAKE mini Heroes? Come on now…

I just wish this kinda crap didn't show up on the Masthead of that Company. I woulda never said a word…

Man, no matter how hard I try, I just can't make myself care. President Trump lives in some people's heads…

…believe me!

The characters they represent may or may not have been "heroes"

Kind of defeats the purpose of a range of figures called Stoessi's Heroes then, doesn't it? Unless that one is a personal hero of Stoessi?

The term hero can often be used with some irony. This was done with both Hogan's Heroes and Kelly's Heroes. (New Yorkers think of a hero of some kind of weird sandwich, but for a million bucks I can be a hero too). I don't regard German SS officer Hans as a hero, wearing a leather trench coat and armed with a pistol. As a matter of fact, he looks like a prototypical Nazi villian to me. But for those who are sensitive, I guess we are getting to the point now the we need to create safe spaces for wargamers. Perhaps the name should be changed to Stoessi's characters: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

HG: +1

Crikey, how can some folks get in such a tizzy over some little metal figures?
HG +2

I don't need no safe place. I need some truths told tho. Crikey…

Also my Apologies to Gunfreak. After I posted I re-read your comment & thought that was what you meant.

No problem at all. I had to reread it my self. Sometimes my dyslexia activates and indeed some paragraphs might be hard to disipher. ..

I presume the objections are to Ernest Hemingway. If so I am not sure what objections are to his inclusion. Not that I have really studied his life and work. However I believe he was awarded a medal for rescuing wounded Italian soldiers, while himself wounded, which would give him a nod in the direction of hero hood I would think.

Fred: not Hemingway, this is the figure referred to:

link

Perhaps the name should be changed to Stoessi's characters: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

That would be a step in the right direction.

Fred: not Hemingway, this is the figure referred to:

Ah I see. I thought that was a fictional character!

Who was Doony…?

Amicalement
Armand

Who was Doony…?

I was confused too Tango, which is why I thought it was Hemingway, cos I know some people think of him as an egotistical self publicist, but he did put himself in harms way when required. To answer your question Donny = Donald and Drumpf was apparently what the Trump family were called before changing their name. Not uncommon for people to Anglacise their surnames in the US.