Edward 'Babe' Heffron

Edward James Babe Heffron May 16 1923 December 1 2013 was an American Army soldier and World War II veteran He served as a Private First Class with Easy Company 2nd Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division joining the company as a replacement in July 1944 Born in South Philadelphia Pennsylvania Heffron left high school during the Great Depression and worked as a ship sandblaster at New York Shipbuilding before enlisting in the US Army in November 1942 He volunteered for the airborne forces and completed his training before being sent to Europe Heffron joined Easy Company after the Normandy campaign and served as a machine gunner during Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge During the fighting in Bastogne he earned a Bronze Star for his actions as a machine gunner He was also involved in the companys advance through Germany and the capture of the Eagles Nest near Berchtesgaden Heffron was particularly affected by the death of his close friend John T Johnny Julian during the Battle of the Bulge The two had made a pact during airborne training to look after each others families should either of them be killed Years after the war Heffron contacted Julians mother to fulfill that promise After returning to Philadelphia Heffron worked for Publicker Industries at a whiskey distillery before spending many years working on the Philadelphia waterfront He remained close friends with fellow Easy Company veteran William Wild Bill Guarnere and the two coauthored the 2007 memoir Brothers in Battle Best of Friends with journalist Robyn Post Heffron was prominently featured in Stephen E Ambroses book Band of Brothers and appeared in the HBO documentary We Stand Alone Together The Men of Easy Company He was portrayed by Robin Laing in the 2001 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and also made a brief cameo appearance in the series Heffron died on December 1 2013 at the age of 90 in Stratford New Jersey