Frederick “Moose” Heyliger: The Easy Company Leader Taken Out of War Too Soon

Frederick “Moose” Heyliger: The Easy Company Leader Taken Out of War Too Soon

I have been learning about another of the remarkable men of Easy Company from the series Band of Brothers, and I want to turn my attention to Frederick Theodore Heyliger, often known by the nickname “Moose.” 

Heyliger was born on the 23rd of June 1916 in Concord, Massachusetts, and he worked as a farmhand and also studied at Lawrence Academy in Groton before attending college. Like many American men of his generation, the outbreak of the Second World War changed his life.

He joined the United States Army and became part of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment within the 101st Airborne Division. He parachuted into Normandy during the Normandy landings and later fought in Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.

In October 1944, Heyliger commanded Easy Company during Operation Pegasus, helping evacuate more than a hundred stranded British airborne soldiers from behind German lines. For his leadership and courage, he was awarded the British Military Cross.

Just days later, on the 31st of October 1944, tragedy hit when he was accidentally shot by one of his own men while on patrol. This forced him out of active service, and he was discharged in 1947.

After the war, Heyliger returned to Massachusetts and studied horticulture. He died on the 3rd of November 2001, aged eighty-five, only one day before the final episode of Band of Brothers aired.