Hubbry Logo
Edward HeffronEdward HeffronMain
Open search
Edward Heffron
Community hub
Edward Heffron
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Edward Heffron
Edward Heffron
Edward Heffron
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Edward James "Babe" Heffron (16 May 1923 – 1 December 2013) was a private with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II. Heffron was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Robin Laing. In 2007, Heffron wrote Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story with fellow veteran William "Wild Bill" Guarnere and journalist Robyn Post.

Key Information

Early life

[edit]

Edward James Heffron[1]: 8  was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1923,[1]: 87  the third of five children to Joseph (a prison guard) and Anne. The family was Irish Catholic and attended Mass every Sunday; Heffron and his siblings attended Sacred Heart Catholic School.[1]: 8–9  He attended South Philadelphia High School, but had to drop out to earn money during the Great Depression.[1]: 11–12 

Heffron went to work at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey, sandblasting cruisers in preparation for converting them to light aircraft carriers. Because of his job, he had a 2B exemption from military service, but he did not use it, since he wanted to go with his friend, Anthony Cianfrani, into the airborne.[1]: 13–14  As a teenager, he had developed an intermittent medical condition where his hands and fingers would curl under and lock up, causing severe pain (possibly, the onset of Dupuytren's contracture), but this was never mentioned to anyone as he wanted to continue playing football in school. Either the exemption or the medical condition would have allowed him to remain stateside, but he refused to stay home when his brothers (Joseph, James, and John), friends, and neighbors were all doing their duty.[1]: 10–11, 14  Heffron enlisted on 7 November 1942 in his hometown.[2]

Military service

[edit]

As a replacement member of E Company, Heffron fought and proved himself in several major battles, including Operation Overlord in France, Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, and the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium. During the latter, he served as a machine gunner and was awarded the Bronze Star. He helped to liberate the Kaufering concentration camp in Landsberg, Germany, and to seize Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus).[3][4]

While at jump school, Heffron made a pact with his two best friends, John T. "Johnny" Julian and J. D. Henderson, that if anything happened to one of them, the others would gather up that person's personal belongings and return them to that person's family, while also making sure that they contacted the family and carried out any other individual requests. Henderson was wounded in Veghel, and made it back to the US.[1]: 51, 57, 124  Julian and Heffron served together in Easy Company.

On 1 January 1945, Heffron was in his foxhole manning his machine gun when he heard Sergeant Johnny Martin cry out that Julian had been hit. He left his position and attempted to get to Julian, but enemy fire prevented any approach. Every time he tried to make a move for Julian, the Germans opened fire, driving Heffron and his fellow soldiers back. Later, the squad that Julian was in repelled the Germans and brought back his body, but Heffron could not bring himself to look at his friend's corpse.[1]: 180–181  It would be 12 years after the war before Heffron could bring himself to call Julian's mother, honoring the pact he and his friends had made at jump school.[1]: 237–238 

In early May 1945, after Easy Company's penultimate operation, the capture of the Eagle's Nest, Heffron was standing guard duty at a crossroads near Berchtesgaden when German General Theodor Tolsdorff, commander of the LXXXII Corps, came down the road leading 31 vehicles (much of them loaded with the general's personal property). The general told Heffron that he wished to surrender, but only to an officer, not to an enlisted man. The officer who ultimately accepted the surrender was Lt. Carwood Lipton.[4]: 267–268 

Later years

[edit]

After the war, Heffron went to work for Publicker Industries, which operated a whiskey distillery at 3223 South Delaware Avenue in Philadelphia. His brothers worked at Publicker's Snyder Avenue plant, also in South Philadelphia. In 1966, after he had been employed by Publicker for 20 years, the company moved its Philadelphia operations to Linfield, Pennsylvania. Heffron did not move with the company, and spent the next 27 years working on the Philadelphia waterfront, checking cargo and clerking.[1]: 223 

Heffron and Guarnere remained lifelong friends after returning home. Guarnere was best man at Heffron's wedding in 1954,[5] then godfather to Heffron's daughter Patricia.[6]

In the Band of Brothers miniseries, Heffron was played by Scottish actor Robin Laing. Heffron appears as himself at the end of episode ten, speaking about the company, and also makes a brief cameo appearance in the fourth episode, as an unidentified man sitting at a table in Eindhoven and waving a small flag as Sgt. Floyd Talbert kisses a Dutch woman.[1]: 267 

Heffron and Guarnere wrote Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story with journalist Robyn Post in 2007, outlining the activities of E Company from 1942 to 1945.[1]

In 2013, Heffron, who never graduated from high school, was named an honorary graduate of West Point High School in West Point, Virginia.[7]

Heffron maintained he always hated New Year's Day, with its reminder of Julian's death; he also felt a similar dislike concerning Christmas Day, with its reminder of his experiences in Bastogne. Toward the end of his life, Heffron expressed concern that he was dying so close to Christmas because he did not want to spoil the holiday for his friends and family.[citation needed]

Death and legacy

[edit]

Heffron died on 1 December 2013 at Kennedy Hospital in Stratford, New Jersey;[8][9] he was survived by his wife Dolores and daughter Patricia.[10]

On 17 September 2015, the 71st anniversary of Operation Market Garden, a statue of Heffron's likeness was unveiled in his old neighborhood in South Philadelphia. Located near 2nd and Reed streets, the 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) statue[11] includes a plaque detailing Heffron's military career, as well as a bronze heart that contains a portion of his and his wife's ashes.[12] In 2019, the statue was additionally joined by one of Bill Guarnere.[13]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Edward Heffron

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Edward James "Babe" Heffron (May 16, 1923 – December 1, 2013) was an American soldier who served as a private and machine gunner in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the during . Born in , , to a family of five children amid the , Heffron dropped out of high school and worked in a before enlisting in the U.S. Army on November 7, 1942. Heffron volunteered for airborne service and joined Easy Company as a replacement, participating in major European Theater operations including the D-Day invasion of (Operation Overlord), in the , and the in , where he earned the Bronze Star for valor. His unit also advanced into , liberating the Kaufering IV concentration camp near Landsberg and later seizing the at , during which Heffron accepted the surrender of German General . Heffron received for wounds sustained in combat, along with the Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and . After the war, Heffron returned to civilian life in and later co-authored the memoir Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends (2007) with fellow Easy Company veteran , detailing their shared frontline experiences and enduring comradeship. Heffron died at age 90 in , survived by his wife Dolores and daughter Patricia.

Early Life

Childhood and Family in South Philadelphia

Edward James Heffron was born on May 16, 1923, in , , to Heffron, a prison guard, and Anne Heffron, both of Irish descent. He was the third of five children in this working-class Irish Catholic household, which included three brothers—James, Jr., and John (also known as Jake or Jack)—and one sister, Anna Margaret. The family resided at 218 Wilder Street, embodying the dense, row-house living typical of the area's blue-collar neighborhoods. South Philadelphia's Irish-American enclave provided a formative environment of tight-knit communal bonds, where extended families and neighbors relied on mutual support amid economic hardships. The Heffrons adhered strictly to Catholic traditions, attending every at Church in the local parish, which reinforced values of discipline, faith, and familial duty. Heffron and his siblings pursued early education at Catholic School, though he departed after the eighth grade to enter the workforce, reflecting the era's emphasis on in immigrant-rooted households. This upbringing in a patriotic, loyalty-driven —marked by neighborhood and blue-collar resilience—instilled in Heffron a strong sense of personal responsibility and interpersonal trust, hallmarks of South Philadelphia's cultural fabric during the interwar years. The family's immigrant heritage further underscored themes of perseverance, as Joseph's role in modeled steadfast service within a resource-constrained setting.

Pre-War Employment and Influences

Edward Heffron attended but dropped out during the to contribute to his family's income amid widespread economic distress in the 1930s. He secured employment at the in , where he worked as a sandblaster, a physically demanding role involving the cleaning of ship hulls and components in the region's industrial shipyards. This position reflected the era's reliance on manual labor in Philadelphia's working-class neighborhoods, where youth often entered the workforce early due to limited opportunities and family financial pressures. The job honed Heffron's practical skills in handling tools and enduring harsh conditions, attributes that later proved useful in military service, though his formal education remained incomplete, consistent with many peers from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Influences from his upbringing included tight-knit neighborhood ties, where camaraderie among young men fostered a shared sense of adventure and obligation; Heffron volunteered for the paratroopers alongside four friends from the area in late 1942. These local bonds, rooted in Irish Catholic , emphasized resilience and group loyalty amid the lingering effects of economic hardship and rising global tensions.

Military Career

Enlistment and Paratrooper Training

Edward Heffron, born on May 16, 1923, enlisted in the on November 7, 1942, at the age of 19, volunteering specifically for airborne service alongside four friends from his neighborhood. This decision reflected a sense of patriotic duty amid the ongoing war, drawing young men from working-class backgrounds like Heffron's into the military's elite units. Following enlistment, Heffron completed basic training before advancing to the Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where candidates underwent intense physical conditioning, including endurance marches, obstacle courses, and rigorous drills designed to weed out those unfit for parachute operations. Qualification required successful completion of five parachute jumps, fostering the and essential for airborne infantry. The training's demands—emphasizing speed, precision, and resilience under stress—prepared volunteers like Heffron for the high-risk nature of missions, where errors could prove fatal. Upon earning his paratrooper wings, Heffron was assigned to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the , an elite formation known for its specialized tactics and demanding standards that prioritized brotherhood and operational readiness. This assignment marked his entry into a unit renowned for its , built through the shared trials of airborne preparation that instilled a profound sense of camaraderie among its members.

Joining Easy Company and Initial Deployments

Edward Heffron was transferred to Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, , as a replacement in the summer of , following the unit's heavy casualties during the Normandy campaign and subsequent operations. Initially assigned to regimental headquarters upon arrival in , Heffron's reassignment addressed the manpower shortages in the frontline company. Upon integration, Heffron encountered a cool reception from the battle-hardened veterans, who viewed replacements with due to their lack of experience, though he was eventually accepted into the fold. Assigned the role of machine gunner, he adapted to the demands of the position under the guidance of seasoned paratroopers, focusing on weapon handling and team coordination amid the unit's preparations for continued European operations. Heffron's early time with Easy Company exposed him to the logistical realities of the European theater, including equipment maintenance and supply dependencies in forward areas, marking a stark transition from stateside training simulations to the immediate hazards of active warfare, such as potential enemy encounters and environmental rigors. This period emphasized the psychological shift required for replacements to align with the company's operational tempo and camaraderie forged in prior engagements.

Major Combat Engagements in Europe

Heffron participated in from September 17 to 25, 1944, as part of Easy Company's airborne assault into the to secure key bridges along . During the operation, he engaged in ground combat following the parachute drop near , contributing to the capture of on September 18 amid encounters with German armored units and infantry counterattacks. Easy Company then held defensive positions on "The Island" south of , repelling probes by German forces seeking to disrupt supply lines, with Heffron manning weapons in sustained patrols and ambushes under harsh autumn conditions. In the , Heffron and Easy Company were trucked to , , on December 19, 1944, to reinforce defenses against the German offensive. Surrounded by mid-December, the unit endured barrages, subzero temperatures, and shortages of rations and during the siege from December 20 to 26, when General famously replied "Nuts!" to a German surrender demand. Serving as a machine gunner, Heffron provided during assaults on foxhole lines, including repelling attacks near Foy in early January 1945, and assisted in evacuating wounded comrades under fire, actions for which he received the . These efforts helped maintain the perimeter until the arrival of Patton's Third Army relieved the pressure on December 26. Following the Bulge, Heffron advanced with the 101st Airborne into in early 1945, participating in operations around , , before pushing eastward. In late April 1945, Easy Company liberated the Kaufering IV concentration subcamp near Landsberg, , on April 27–28, where Heffron witnessed emaciated prisoners and evidence of Nazi atrocities, contributing to the unit's security sweeps amid the final collapse of German resistance. These engagements underscored the paratroopers' resilience and close-knit reliance on one another in closing the European Theater, culminating in occupation duties as the war ended on May 8, 1945.

Post-War Life

Civilian Employment and Career

Following his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1945, Heffron secured employment at Publicker Industries, a Philadelphia-based firm operating a whiskey distillery plant on South Avenue. He held this position for approximately 20 years, contributing to industrial production in the city's sector amid post-war economic expansion. When Publicker relocated to Linfield, , in 1966, Heffron remained in and transitioned to waterfront work along the , where he spent the next 27 years checking and clerking . This role involved inspecting shipments and ensuring logistical accuracy at the docks, reflecting the era's demand for diligent labor in maritime and reflecting his commitment to long-term in local infrastructure. He retired at age 70 in 1993, having exemplified the steady, unassuming diligence characteristic of many veterans who focused on rebuilding personal stability through consistent blue-collar work rather than seeking prominence.

Family Life and Enduring Friendships

Edward Heffron married Dolores Moffitt, with whom he raised a , Zavrel, forming a tight-knit unit emblematic of post-World War II American domestic stability. Heffron integrated his wartime experiences into life without succumbing to the isolation that afflicted some veterans, instead fostering loyalty and resilience in his household through shared values of perseverance and community. A cornerstone of Heffron's personal bonds was his lifelong friendship with fellow Easy Company paratrooper William "Wild Bill" Guarnere, both hailing from South Philadelphia's working-class neighborhoods. Their camaraderie, initially forged amid the perils of in , endured seamlessly into civilian life, marked by near-daily interactions, mutual aid during hardships, and joint reminiscences of shared trials. Guarnere served as best man at Heffron's and later as godfather to Patricia, underscoring the depth of their fraternal tie that prioritized unyielding support over personal acclaim. This relationship exemplified the rare, battle-tested loyalty that Heffron cultivated, channeling wartime brotherhood into enduring personal anchors rather than distant nostalgia.

Public Life and Recognition

Memoir Co-Authorship and Personal Accounts

Edward Heffron co-authored the memoir Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story with fellow Easy Company veteran and writer Robyn Post, published on September 4, 2007, by Berkley Caliber. The book draws directly from Heffron's and Guarnere's eyewitness recollections, detailing their shared experiences from paratrooper training through key European campaigns, including the chaos of D-Day drops, the intensity of , and the harsh conditions at . These accounts emphasize the raw mechanics of combat survival, such as rapid adaptation to scattered landings that demanded personal initiative over rigid command structures, and the causal role of interpersonal trust within small units in maintaining cohesion amid high casualties. Heffron's contributions highlight empirical details often absent in aggregated histories, such as the physical toll of and ammunition shortages during the , recounted from his frontline positions as a replacement private who rose through replacements and wounds. Unlike broader compilations reliant on after-action reports, the prioritizes unfiltered testimony, attributing operational successes to decentralized —evident in instances where paratroopers improvised assaults without radio coordination—rather than solely to strategic oversight. This approach preserves causal realism by linking outcomes to on-the-ground variables like terrain improvisation and peer accountability, grounded in the authors' direct involvement rather than interpretive overlays. Beyond the book, Heffron provided personal accounts through oral histories and interviews that captured unaltered perspectives on Easy Company's dynamics. In the 2001 HBO companion documentary We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company, he shared firsthand narratives of combat improvisation and unit loyalty, contributing to a compilation of testimonies filmed over two years. These recollections, delivered without script mediation, countered tendencies toward romanticized retellings by stressing the mundane brutalities—like scavenging for food in Dutch towns—and the ad-hoc leadership that arose from necessity, offering primary data on how individual agency and forged bonds enabled endurance in fluid airborne warfare. Heffron's inputs in such formats, including a 2011 historical society presentation on his roots to frontline service, further documented these elements through direct verbal recounting, prioritizing experiential evidence over institutionalized narratives.

Involvement with Band of Brothers Media

Heffron's experiences were prominently featured in Stephen E. Ambrose's 1992 book Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, which relied on interviews with Easy Company veterans to reconstruct events such as the harsh winter siege at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, where troops faced subzero temperatures, constant shelling, and rationed food and medical supplies. For the 2001 HBO miniseries adaptation produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, Heffron provided direct input by consulting with actor Robin Laing, who portrayed him as a machine gunner navigating the psychological toll of combat, including the naivety of replacements and the trauma of losses in episodes depicting Bastogne's frozen foxholes and amputations from . Heffron shared personal anecdotes multiple times to refine Laing's South Philadelphia dialect and mannerisms, aiding the series' commitment to authentic character portrayals over sanitized heroism. Heffron appeared in a cameo in episode 4, "Replacements," as a Dutch civilian waving a amid the , 1944, liberation parade in , marking him as the sole Easy Company veteran with an on-screen role and underscoring his validation of the production's historical fidelity. This involvement, including set visits alongside fellow veteran , reinforced the miniseries' grounding in survivor testimonies, which emphasized the raw physical and emotional strains of airborne infantry service rather than romanticized narratives. Heffron endorsed the result, commenting that he thought it "very good." Through these contributions, Heffron helped elevate public awareness of Easy Company's unyielding discipline and mutual reliance under fire, with the ' veteran interviews—featuring Heffron—further anchoring its depictions in empirical recollections over dramatic invention.

Death and Legacy

Final Years and Health

In his later years, Edward Heffron resided in the area, where he managed age-related health challenges privately without seeking public attention. He was diagnosed with cancer but deliberately withheld this information from family members, including his daughter Zavrel, to avoid causing them distress. No extended details on his medical condition or treatments were disclosed publicly during this period. Heffron died on December 1, 2013, at the age of 90, at Kennedy Hospital in . He was survived by his wife, Dolores Heffron, and daughter Patricia Zavrel.

Memorials, Honors, and Cultural Impact

A statue commemorating Heffron's service stands at Herron Playground in , at the intersection of 2nd and Reed Streets. Unveiled on December 28, 2019, the 5-foot-7-inch sculpture depicts Heffron and fellow Easy veteran William Guarnere as young paratroopers, capturing their shared bond forged in combat. The memorial includes a plaque detailing his career with the . Heffron's ashes, along with those of his wife Dolores, are interred in a heart embedded within the statue's base, serving as a site of public tribute rather than a traditional . This arrangement underscores community-driven recognition of his contributions, including participation in major European campaigns. Among his military honors, Heffron received the and , awarded for valor and wounds sustained in action. Heffron's legacy endures through his portrayal in the miniseries Band of Brothers, where actor embodied his role, drawing from Heffron's firsthand accounts to illustrate the raw determination and unit cohesion of Allied airborne forces against Axis aggression. This depiction has sustained awareness of paratrooper ordeals, emphasizing empirical bonds of loyalty over later interpretive narratives of the conflict.

References

  1. https://militaryhallofhonor.com/honoree-record.php?id=222801
  2. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/babe-heffron.html
  3. https://www.geni.com/people/Edward-Heffron-Jnr/6000000074065024386
  4. https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13135009.edward-heffron/
  5. https://www.myheritage.com/names/edward_heffron
  6. https://catholicphilly.com/2008/10/features/brothers-in-battle/
  7. https://www.army.mil/article/117208/farewell_brothers
  8. https://www.ww2online.org/view/edward-babe-heffron
  9. https://shiftyskip.tumblr.com/post/185511555305/embed
  10. https://www.facebook.com/groups/281208571148756/posts/605819592020984/
  11. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1042&context=hist_etds
  12. https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Company-Soldier-Legendary-Sergeant-ebook/dp/B00125OKYY
  13. https://cornellpress.manifoldapp.org/read/the-airborne-mafia/section/bd7191cd-df5a-47b9-9d68-148c6dbf1dad
  14. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=240066
  15. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20131203__Babe__Heffron__90__hero_of__Band_of_Brothers_.html
  16. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/edward-heffron-of-wwiis-band-of-brothers-dies-at-90/
  17. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/03/14/band-of-brothers-vets-wild-bill-guarnere-babe-heffron-remembrance/
  18. https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Battle-Friends-William-Guarnere/dp/0425217280
  19. https://books.google.com/books/about/Brothers_in_Battle_Best_of_Friends.html?id=D1SEQMTAdYsC
  20. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056050.Brothers_In_Battle_Best_of_Friends
  21. https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Battle-Best-Friends-Paratroopers/dp/0425224368
  22. https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/bitstreams/b01700f9-24fc-4401-867b-e386ddbdb034/download
  23. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302022/
  24. https://assets.alumni.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2025-09-Easy-Company-Brochure.pdf
  25. https://radnorhistory.org/video/edward-babe-heffron/
  26. https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/private-edward-heffron-private-with-easy-company-whose-wartime-exploits-were-recorded-in-the-hbo-series-band-of-brothers-8996326.html
  27. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2001/06/01/veterans-day-guarnere-heffron-band-of-brothers/
  28. https://www.historynet.com/band-of-brothers-babe-heffron-robin-laing/
  29. https://screenrant.com/what-happened-to-edward-heffron-band-of-brothers/
  30. https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/bill-guarnere-and-babe-heffron-band-of-brother/
  31. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/07/arts/arts-abroad-a-normandy-landing-this-one-for-a-film.html
  32. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20131203_Edward_James__quot_Babe_quot__Heffron__90__one_of_the__quot_Band_of_Brothers_quot__in_World_War_II.html
  33. https://www.whyy.org/articles/heffron-of-wwiis-band-of-brothers-dies-in-nj/
  34. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/band-of-brothers-wwii-vet-babe-heffron-dies-90/2080034/
  35. https://www.inquirer.com/life/william-guarnere-edward-heffron-band-of-brothers-statues-20191228.html
  36. https://passyunkpost.com/2014/11/06/easy-companys-babe-heffron-to-be-immortalized-in-bronze-at-herron-playground-in-pennsport/
  37. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121088398/edward_james-heffron
  38. https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/new-efforts-underway-to-erect-memorial-to-local-wwii-hero/
  39. https://mitchlohr.com/2021/12/band-of-brothers-20-years-on/
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.