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Fictional Figures and the Real Historic People Behind Them

Khalid Elhassan October 25, 2021 35 min

The real life Niland brothers, left to right, Edward, Preston, Robert, and Frederick, gave rise to the fictional Saving Private Ryan movie — The real-life Niland brothers, left to right, Edward, Preston, Robert, and Frederick, gave rise to the fictional Saving Private Ryan movie. Wikimedia

29. The Niland Brothers

During WWII, Edward, Preston, Robert, and Frederick “Fritz” Niland, four sons of Michael and Augusta Niland of Tonawanda, New York, served in the US military. Preston and Robert had joined the US Army before America’s entry into the war, and the other two joined the military in 1942. Because of the Sullivan Brothers tragedy in 1942, when five siblings in the US Navy were killed when the ship aboard which they had served together, the USS Juneau, was sunk, new rules prevented immediate family members from serving together. So the brothers ended up in different units.

Three served in the US Army: Preston in the 4^th Infantry Division, Robert in the 82^nd Airborne Division, Frederick in the 101^st Airborne Division, while Edward joined the US Army Air Forces. Then came 1944, a horrible year for the Nilands. In mid-May, 1944, Edward’s B-25 Mitchell medium bomber was shot down over Burma, and his parents received a telegram that he was missing, presumed dead. Just a few weeks later, before they had even begun to process their grief, Mr. and Mrs. Niland received two more blows: Robert had been killed in Normandy on D-Day, June 6^th, 1944, and Preston was killed nearby the following day, June 7^th.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.