The Real Life and Tragic End of Private Roy Cobb | Band of Brothers [0:00-5:03]

Private Roy Cobb is one of the most misrepresented and maligned soldiers not only in the band of brother's series but also in books, articles, and media. From the date of his enlistment to his alleged court martial to the circumstances of his death, much of what has been reported about Cobb is incorrect. In this video, I'm going to set the record straight about Roy Cobb, including his early life to his time in the military, to the incident that led to his tragic death at just 42 years old. The real Roy William Cobb was born on March 4, 1922 in Hardland County, Kentucky. Roy had a brother named Ty and his sister named Jean. Their father, Perry Cobb, passed away when Roy was just two years old. Their mother, Nancy, remarried to a coal miner 16 years her senior named Lonnie Roscoe Scarborough. And together, they had six more children. Roy, who went by the name Ray, attended school up to the seventh grade. He enlisted in the army most likely around 1938 when he was 16, giving a false birth date of November 4, 1919 in order to be accepted. He was stationed at Fort Des Moines, Iowa for a time. By January 1940, Roy Cobb held the rank of private as part of Battery C, 68th Field Archery Battalion at Fort Knox, Kentucky. By July of that year, the battalion's designation had changed from mechanized to armored, which corresponds with the date of the formation of the first armored division. From June 1942 to August 1942, Cobb was hospitalized with Tertian Malaria at the 5th General Hospital near Belfast, Ireland. He is listed as being part of the signal corps at the time. According to Stephen Ambrose's book, Cobb then served with the first armored during Operation Torch in North Africa in November 1942. If true, this would likely make him the only member of Easy Company to have experienced both a beach landing and an airborne assault. On his way back to the states after Operation Torch, Ambrose states that the troop ship he was on was torpedoed. Cobb made it off the ship safely and returned to America on a destroyer. Why could find no record of a troop ship being torpedoed during that period? The incident may reflect one of the many lesser publicized convoy losses during the ongoing U-boat activity in the Atlantic and Western Mediterranean after Operation Torch. As noted by the Reddit user, W.B. Gamer, who posted their extensive research in the Cobb, his grave marker form doesn't say anything about him serving in North Africa with the first armored. But that is not a significant enough indicator in itself to say that he wasn't there. And I have no other reason to believe that Ambrose is incorrect. After returning to the states, Cobb volunteered for the paratroopers in 1943. And in June of that year, he is on record as being with Company A of the 515th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bening, Georgia, where he attended Jump School. In November 1943, he received the promotion from private to private first class at Camp McCall, North Carolina, when he was with Company A of the 541st Parachute Infantry Regiment. Either later that month or in the months that followed, Cobb joined Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the company depicted in band of brothers, linking up with them when they were stationed in Oldborn, England, in the months prior to D-Day. Based on these records, this means that the real Roy Cobb was not with Easy Company at Camp Dakota, Georgia, in 1942, as the series falsely depicts in the first episode. During the D-Day drops in enormity. Cobb, a light machine gunner, switched seats on the C-47 with George Luz, who was worried about making it to the door of the plane with all the gear he was carrying, which included a radio and batteries. Switch proved to be a mistake for Cobb, who was struck in the leg by a flack that penetrated the fuselage. He was groaning and was unable to stand up. Private Robert Raider recalled that Cobb was livid. He had trained for two years but didn't get to make the big jump. Seconds later, the green light came on, and the men began to exit the plane, as Cobb remained behind. Two days later, Cobb received the Purple Heart for his wounds. He recovered and rejoined Easy Company in England, prior to Operation Market Garden. It is at this time in the series that Cobb picks on Private James Miller, a replacement who is portrayed by James McAvoy. Cobb tells him that he shouldn't be wearing the presidential distinguished unit citation because he didn't fight in Normandy. Bull Rannoman then steps in and tells Cobb that he didn't fight Normandy either. Cobb leans over and tells Private Antonio Garcia, I got hit in the plane before I got a chance to jump. The entire scene is fictional and is meant to set Cobb up as an abrasive antagonist and Rannoman as the respectable hero who steps in to stick up for Miller.