Damian Lewis (Richard Winters)

British actor Damian Lewis says he was told from the outset that Maj. Dick Winters was "a difficult man to impress," a man who "distrusts Hollywood and what it is going to do with his story." So it probably didn't surprise him when Winters — Easy Company's esteemed leader and a key collaborator for Stephen E. Ambrose's best-selling book, Band of Brothers (Simon & Schuster), on which the HBO miniseries is based — pointed out an inaccuracy after viewing rough cuts of the first two episodes. In one scene "we showed Winters as being hesitant and uncertain of what Easy Company was about to go through," says Lewis, 30. "We thought it was an interesting character arc for him." But Winters, who lives with his wife, Ethel, on a farm near Hershey, Pennsylvania, didn't agree. "I never would have stopped," he told Lewis, and the scene was changed. While Lewis says Winters was always "generous and supportive," he also admits they never really got close. "[Dick] is someone who has successfully buttoned down his emotions," he says. Winters did let his guard down a little during documentary-style interviews with veterans that lead into each episode. "It was very emotional," says Winters, 80. "My wife, our children and all the cameramen stood up and started clapping [when it was over]." Of the entire series, Winters gave his implicit endorsement when he told Hanks that he "put the tapes in a safety-deposit box."

Ron Livingston (Lewis Nixon)

In episode 10, the men of Easy Company pack up Third Reich treasures in Berchtesgaden, the Bavarian town where much of the loot collected by the Nazis was kept. Intelligence officer Lewis Nixon, however, is led to his cherished prize — thousands of bottles of the finest liquors and wines — by his good friend Dick Winters. "There are two things about Lewis Nixon that are inescapable," says Ron Livingston, 33, who joins The Practice this fall. "He was unbelievably intelligent, and he drank like a fish." Nixon, who died of complications from diabetes in 1995, came from an incredibly wealthy family (his father owned a successful industrial company). "The other men would get packages of cookies from home," says Nixon's widow, Grace. "His mother sent him fur-lined slippers and cashmere underwear. He just threw it away."

Donnie Wahlberg (C. Carwood Lipton)

To prepare for his role as Lt. Carwood Lipton, Donnie Wahlberg talked to the Easy Company veteran almost every day by phone. "I was extremely intimidated the first time I called," says Wahlberg (The Sixth Sense). "My respect for him is limitless. He was able to process all of the pain and fear and psychological difficulties that go on in war and turn it around and have a wonderful life." Although Lipton, a retired glass company executive living in North Carolina, was only 20 when he entered the war, he says the 32-year-old Wahlberg is "perfect; for the part" and that he is "quite; pleased" with his portrayal. And while he finds Band of Brothers to be more accurate than other war movies, Lipton says, "[the; filmmakers] want to show more emotion, but in combat you don't show sorrow. You don't show shock. You don't show fear. You just don't show emotions."

Scott Grimes (Donald Malarkey)

As Easy Company attempted to take Brécourt Manor following D-Day, Sgt. Donald G. Malarkey ran into German lines in a brazen effort to take a Luger from a dead soldier. But what he thought was a handgun turned out to be just a black leather case, and Malarkey dodged enemy fire while trying to get back to his foxhole. "How those dumb Germans didn't hit me I don't know," he recalls. Malarkey, 80, who now lives in Oregon, continued searching for the handgun throughout the war. "I asked him why he wanted this Luger," says 30-year-old Scott Grimes (Party of Five). "He said it was because then he would have something to take home to people. It is like this mental thing that if I have it, that means I have to show it to people, which means I have to get home to show it to people. That was how he dealt with the pressures of war."

Frank John Hughes (William Guarnere)

During a production break last year, Frank John Hughes showed up at Heathrow Airport in full 101st Airborne dress uniform to greet Sgt. Bill Guarnere, who lost a leg during the Battle of the Bulge. "Bill; came flying down on his crutches at what seemed like 90 miles per hour. 'Hiya, kid. Good to meet you.' Boom, he was gone," Hughes recalls. "He; was outside the place, having a cigarette." The Bronx-born Hughes, 33, adopted a distinctive South Philly accent to play Guarnere, who earned the nickname "Wild Bill," in part for his relentless combat tactics. "This; is life and death, and you can't be John Wayne," says Guarnere, 78, who still lives in South Philadelphia and coordinates many Easy Company reunions. "That is the way it was. When I see [Hughes], I see me."

Matthew Settle (Ronald Speirs)

Matthew Settle didn't meet Lt. Ronald Speirs until after production on Band of Brothers ended. Settle was worried: Throughout the series, soldiers talk about the "legend"; of Speirs — that he came upon a group of German prisoners, gave them cigarettes, then gunned them down. "He asked me how much time they give to 'the story,'" says Settle, 31. "I told him, 'The series exonerates you.' He was sort of satisfied with that." Another scene shows Speirs bravely running like a quarterback straight into German lines at Foy, Belgium, dodging fire. Other veterans say that although the incident wasn't quite that dramatic, it did happen. Speirs, 81 — succinct in his words but cordial and charming — stayed in the military after the war. He now lives in Montana and says of his portrayal, rumors and all, "I didn't have a problem with it."