T-4 Eugene Gilbert "Doc" Roe Sr. was a medic and Paratrooper in Easy Company. He was the main focus of the episode Bastogne, where he befriended a Belgian nurse named Renée and discussed what treating the men felt like, as depicted in the miniseries, Band of Brothers.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Eugene was born in Bayou Chene, Louisiana, on 17 October 1922 to Edward Malcomb and Maude Cecile Roe. He went by the nicknames "Gene" and "Bud". He had 2 sisters and 2 brothers; Minnie Eta Green (Roe), Winnie Elmira Smallman (Roe), Charles Horace Roe and John Everrett Roe. He quit school in his elementary school years.
WWII[]
Roe enlisted in the U.S. Army at Lafayette, Louisiana in 1942. He was made a combat medic and worked hard to learn his position. He was assigned to Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, at Camp Toccoa, where he trained under martinet Captain Herbert Sobel. After Toccoa, he graduated from jump school at Fort Benning and did extra training at Camps Mackall and Shanks. He then headed to England in 1943.
Roe jumped into Normandy with Easy Company on 6 June 1944 as part of Operation Overlord and was with the Company at Ste. Mere Eglise. After Normandy, he and the Division headed to Holland on 17 September as part of Operation Market Garden. He was wounded in the leg and evacuated, but returned to the Company a few days later.
Sometime around 1 October, Roe helped evacuate "Moose" Heyliger after he was hit by friendly fire, and then reprimanded Capt. Winters and Lt. Welsh for accidentally over-administering morphine to Heyliger.
The Company left Holland on 26 November and headed Bastogne in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium as part of the Battle of the Bulge, which occurred on 17 December. There, casualties were mounting at a rapid rate and Roe began running out of supplies. PFC. Alex Penkala was wounded in the arm and Pvt. Wayne Sisk was wounded by mortar fire; Roe evacuated them both to a hospital in Bastogne.
In the episode Bastogne, Roe was shown meeting a Belgian nurse named Renée, and they developed a bond. A real nurse named Renée Lemaire was in Bastogne at the time, though there is no evidence that Roe ever met her. The series shows Renée dying during a bombing, leaving a distraught Roe to find only her head scarf.
After Bastogne, Roe helped with the occupation of Germany and treated the prisoners of a concentration camp they found in Landsberg.
Later life[]
After the war, Roe became a construction contractor. He married a British woman named Vera and they had one son together, Eugene Roe, Jr., and two daughters, Marlene and Maxine. Eugene and Vera divorced after 27 years together, and Eugene went on to marry Myrtle Inez Roe (Hudson). Eugene had six grandchildren; Kyle and Derek Tircuit, (Maxine and Al Turcuit), Christopher and Ryan Langlois (Marlene and David Langlois), Greg and Michelle Roe (Eugene and Betty Roe). He died of lung cancer on 30th December 1998. He was buried on 3rd January 1999 at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum.
Though serious and seemingly detached from the camaraderie that permeates combat troops, Roe was nonetheless incredibly dedicated to serving the men of Easy Company. He is often seen going above and beyond his duties, forgoing sleep and putting himself into harm's way to provide the best aid possible.
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