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Captain John H. Miller
Played by: Tom Hanks
Dubbed by: Jean-Philippe Puymartin (European French)
"Keep the sand out of your weapons. Keep those actions clear. I'll see you on the beach."
The Captain and leader of the eight man band sent to find Private Ryan. Captain Miller leads 'Charlie' Company of the 2nd Ranger Battalion during the D-Day landings. He is a Shell-Shocked Veteran, his hand often shaking when in the presence of danger. It is revealed he is a school teacher, due to the squad's Multiple-Choice Past bets.
- Badass Teacher: Given he was a schoolteacher before the war...
- The Captain: Serves as the top-ranked soldier in the squad.
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: The smooth to Horvath's rough.
- Defiant to the End: After being mortally wounded, he props himself up against an abandoned motorcycle and uses his last remaining shots on an approaching tank.
- Disconnected by Death: Miller tries to get a communications tech to contact reinforcements via radio, only to find the tech has had his head blown open the third time he goes to talk to him, and then finds the telephone gear has also been shot up.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Miller asks Ryan to make something good of his life at the end of the final battle.
- A Father to His Men: The fact that he is leading a bunch of young men through an incredibly brutal and graphic war in which the world is basically tearing itself apart clearly weighs heavily on him, and remembers the exact number of men he's lost under his command. After Wade dies, he breaks down crying when he's alone.
- Frankenstein's Monster: Invoked and discussed. One of the guesses about his old life is that he was assembled from leftover organs of dead GI's.
- The Hero: The main character of the film around whom the action centers around.
- The Hero Dies: He is mortally wounded by a prisoner he had extended mercy to when the two of them meet on the battlefield a second time.
- Heroic BSoD: Occurs twice in similar fashions at the beginning and end of the film, where close explosions render him in a soundless daze.
- Manly Tears: Captain Miller sobs to himself after Wade's death.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Guessed at by his troops. Revealed that he's a schoolteacher after Wade dies and Reiben threatens to leave.
- Mysterious Past: To the point his troops are placing bets on where Miller comes from and what he did, and Reiben even jokes that he was assembled "outta spare body parts of dead GIs".
- Pre-War Civilian Career: He's a teacher. When he reveals it, it's a deliberate invocation of a Wham Line to simmer down inter-unit hostility that is about to go out of control because they're grieving over Wade's death.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Manages to get Private Ryan home and hold the line at Ramelle before The Cavalry arrives, but at the cost of his life and all but three soldiers.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He can't wait to get home, and a nervous problem is even making his hand shake.
- The Strategist: As The Captain, always has to coordinate plans on the fly.
Technical Sergeant Mike Horvath
Played by Tom Sizemore
"This time the mission is the man."
Captain Miller's Lancer, Sergeant Horvath is loyal to his captain and has battled alongside him in numerous countries.- BFG: Uses a bazooka during the final battle, using it to blow up a tank destroyer and try to slow down the last Tiger tank.
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: The rough to Miller's smooth.
- Catchphrase: "We're in business!"
- The Collector: His bag is full of labelled tins containing earth from numerous battlefields he's fought on through the war.
- Dies Wide Open:In an iconic and chilling example.
- Implacable Man: Seemingly appears this way when he is shot multiple times and keeps on running. He dies shortly after though.
- Improbable Weapon User: In the Battle of Ramelle, after reaching a Mexican Standoff with a German, both of their rifles jam, the German throws his helmet, causing Horvath to throw his helmet at the German.
- The Lancer: Miller's second-in-command.
- Made of Iron: He gets shot several times during the final battle, to little clear effect. The one he takes through the back as he's running over the bridge is the one that finally does him in.
- Major Injury Underreaction: The final battle has what looks like a bullet or a piece of shrapnel go straight through him, to which Horvath replies as "just got the wind knocked out of me". He dies shortly later. In an earlier scene in the same sequence, he gets shot twice and his only reaction is to yell out "son of a bitch!" several times and toss his empty Colt at the Germans before running away.
- Mercy Kill:Gives Wade a fatal morphine dose so he'll die in less pain.
- Oral Fixation: Chews tobacco.
- Sergeant Rock: While Miller is a more reasonable and chilly figure, Horvath serves as a tough second-in-command, even threatening to shoot Reiben once he tries to abandon the squad.
- Undying Loyalty: To Miller. For one thing, he'll get into a standoff with Reiben when the loudmouth won't listen to Miller's orders.
Private First Class Richard Reiben
Played by Edward Burns
"My ma, she would've come home, shook me awake, chatted me up 'til dawn. I swear that woman was never too tired to talk."
A big mouthed and opinionated soldier from Brookyln, Reiben seems quite close to his friends and openly calls out Captain Miller's orders, particularly when Wade dies and Miller allows Steamboat Willie to leave unharmed, threatening to go AWOL.
- Alliterative Name: Richard Reiben.
- All Men Are Perverts: He tells a story about selling to the well-endowed wife of his apartment's superintendent a bra two sizes too small, only to see her trying it.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Ryan argues with Miller about being sent home and abandoning the other paratroopers. What Reiben says while he tries to defend his position stops Ryan cold, as for him it is a Wham Line.Reiben: Hey asshole, two of our guys already died trying to find you, alright?
- The Big Guy: One of the tougher members of the squad and carries the heaviest weapon: a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), which is basically a light machine gun.
- Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: Subverted. He's the only one from Miller's company who survives the war.
- Born Lucky: He says this about himself at the beginning of the final battle in Ramelle. He is absolutely right, as over the course of the entire film he does not sustain a single injury of any degree, and survives every moment of combat he takes part in.
- Brooklyn Rage: He is Hot-Blooded and even has "Brooklyn NY" on the back of his jacket.
- Deadpan Snarker: He frequently snarks on what annoys him.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: By the end, he's the only original squad member left.
- Heroic BSoD: Has one after Miller's death. His entire squad has been wiped out and only he, Ryan, and Upham have survived the battle.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Reiben is correct when he points out that he and everyone else on the squad going on a high-risk mission to find Private Ryan also has a mother. This gives everyone else second thoughts about going on the mission, though Miller dismisses it as griping.
- After Cpt. Miller decides to send Steamboat Willie away to surrender to the next Allied patrol he comes across, Reiben points out that there's just as much chance he'll run into the German army and they'll just throw him back into rotation.That's exactly what happens and it leads to Cpt. Miller's death.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Quite easily the most surly and temperamental member of Miller's Badass Crew, but when all is said and done and he and Upham (who was a new arrival to their squad and whom he barely knows) are all that remains of their squad, he is visibly quite pained and is especially distraught over Captain Miller's death, even though he was (not too long before) quite seriously considering deserting because he no longer felt confident in Miller's leadership. He also takes Caparzo's letter to his dad, which had been passed from him after his death, to Wade, to Miller, intending to make sure it got to it's final destination.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Comes close to pulling this off.
- Sole Survivor: Is the only member from Miller's original squad to survive.
- To Absent Friends: Reiben takes the deaths of his teammates very hard, threatening to go AWOL at one point.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Lays into Miller after he orders the squad to take down a machine gun nest, which results in Wade's death.Horvath: You heard him, gear up. Your captain just gave you an order.Reiben: Yeah, like the one he gave to take this machine gun. That was a real dozy, wasn't it, sarge?Horvath: Soldier, you are way out of line!Reiben: Yes sir, that was one hell of a call coming to take this nest, but hell, we only lost one of our guys going for it. I swear, I hope mama Ryan's real fuckin' happy knowing that little Jimmy's life is just a little bit more important than two of our guys! But then again we haven't found him yet, have we?! Have we?!
- You Shall Not Pass!: Ends up having to defend the bridge by himself against the final wave of Waffen-SS trying to capture it, with everyone else either dead, mortally wounded, out of ammo, or having gone hysterical with panic. Subverted in that he survives.
Private Daniel Jackson
Played by Barry Pepper
"Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight."
A religious Cold Sniper and the best marksman in the team. At times, he seems to have Bottomless Magazines.
- As the Good Book Says...: His pre-shot murmurs are taken out of the Psalms.
- Badass Boast: Probably the most explicit example in the whole film.Jackson: It seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift, made me a fine instrument of warfare.
Captain Miller: Reiben, pay attention. Now this is how you gripe. Continue Jackson.
Jackson: Well, what I mean by that is, sir, is if you put me and this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile of Adolf Hitler with a clear line sight, sir: pack your bags, fellas, war's over. Amen. - Bottomless Magazines: Seemingly at times, although this is minor since the gun he uses in the final battle has a limited number of rounds.
- Cold Sniper: Only when on duty, Jackson is coldly emotionless and murmurs Bible verses to himself. He is friendly when in casual talk with his friends.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Blown to pieces by an 75mm shell from a Marder III. There's a shot of Jackson's skull caving in as the shell hits.
- Friendly Sniper: Mostly. Put him in a battle, though, and he changes...
- Instant Death Bullet: Everyone who Jackson shoots dies instantly, though many of them are headshots. Jackson's also on the receiving end of this, though that's because he was hit with a shell meant to destroy other tanks and buildings.
- Oh, Crap!: Gets carried away shooting German infantrymen from his clock tower perch, and since he spends so much time looking through his scope's limited field of view, he doesn't realize that a Marder III has spotted him until it's too late to do anything except yell a futile warning to his comrade a second before they're both killed.
- Real Men Love Jesus: He's constantly talking about his faith, and is presented as one of the more efficient soldiers on the squad.
- Religious Bruiser: Typically says passages from Psalms before taking shots.
- Sacrificial Lion: Jackson is one of the more distinctive members of The Squad, given his skills as a Cold Sniper and his knack for quoting Bible passages. He winds up being the first of the squad to die in the Final Battle, and his death means that Miller's ability to adequately respond to threats is greatly reduced since he no longer has a vantage point.
- Scope Snipe: Jackson scores a bullseye on a German sniper by shooting through the other sniper's scope, blowing out his eye and killing him.
- The Scourge of God: Considers himself this, but every man he kills is in the name of good.
- Shout-Out: Possibly a subtle one to real life Vietnam War sniper Carlos Hathcock. In some scenes, Jackson can be seen with a feather stuck in the straps on the back of his helmet. Hathcock was noted for wearing a white feather in his hat on all but one of his sniper missions, and is perhaps the only person to actually pull off a Scope Snipe in combat.
- Situational Hand Switch: Jackson is notably left handed and uses a right handed bolt action rifle, resulting in his using an awkward motion to cycle the bolt.
- Southern-Fried Private: Southern, Bible-quoting killing machine, though he does not come off as any less refined than the other soldiers and is perhaps the most respectful. Reiben does get in a dig at him when Jackson thinks he's found Ryan's dogtag; Reiben points out the spelling is R-I-E-N-N, which is pronounced "ree-in".
- Tank Goodness: Jackson is killed by a tank firing on his hiding place in a church tower.
Private Stanley Mellish
Played by Adam Goldberg
"Your father was circumcised by my rabbi, you prick!"
A Jewish soldier who is good friend with Caparzo. He is nicknamed "Fish" by his friends.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: "Let's stop, let's stop! Listen to me! Listen to me! Stop, stop! No, no, d-don't! Stop, sto-". As a German soldier is pushing Mellish's own bayonet down towards his chest, and Mellish realizes he doesn't have the strength to fight him off. This frantic pleading turns out to be his last words.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Of all the squad members who die during the last battle, poor Mellish probably gets it worst...
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Pulls his rifle bayonet during a fight with a German. The German overpowers him and impales him with it.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: ...being stabbed down to the handle with a knife.
- Knife Fight: Gets into a tense one with a German. It doesn't end well.
- Man Bites Man: In his Knife Fight in the climax, both on the receiving and giving end of this.
- Nice Jewish Boy: Who makes sure to flaunt his Judaism to the Nazis every now and then.
- Oral Fixation: Chews gum.
- Those Two Guys: Mellish and Caparzo.
- Who's Laughing Now?: A somewhat downplayed and heroic example. After seeing numerous German prisoners walk by, Mellish cannot help but show his Star of David to the prisoners and rubs it in their faces that he is Jewish, in German no less.Mellish: Juden! Juden! I'm Juden, right? Juuuuuuuuudeeeeeeen!
Private First Class Adrian Caparzo
Played by Vin Diesel
"You gotta pay attention to detail, I know exactly where he's from and I know exactly what he did 'cuz I pay attention to detail."
A soldier in Captain Miller's group. He is killed by a sniper and dies a slow death, leaving a letter to his father in the hands of his friends.
- Badass and Child Duo: Averted since the badass is shot and dies.
- The Big Guy: Physically, he's the largest of the soldiers sent to find Private Ryan.
- Blood-Stained Letter: Caparzo tries to give Mellish a letter to his father after he's shot, but he wants it recopied so his family won't see the bloodstains on the original.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Seeing a girl in a destroyed home ("she reminds me of my niece!") makes him try to get her out of that hellhole.
- Genre Blind: And it costs him dearly.
- Instant Death Bullet: Painfully averted.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Miller even says "We're not here to do the decent thing, we're here to follow fucking orders!" right before Caparzo's attempt of a good deed leads him to be shot by a sniper.
- Real Men Love Jesus: Subtle, but he gives his crucifix to a little girl to calm her from her crying.
- Sacrificial Lion: The first of the squad to die.
- Tempting Fate: Ironically his Image quote. He didn't pay attention to details.
- Those Two Guys: Carparzo and Mellish.
Tech 4th Grade Irwin Wade
Played by Giovanni Ribisi
"...the trick to falling asleep is trying to stay awake."
The Medic of the team. Wade has a hard time saving the lives of fellow soldiers, but is willing to help anybody out, even wounded Nazis.
- Bulletproof Human Shield: Forced to use a dead soldier's body as a shield for another patient.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Given with good reason. After Wade and other medics seemingly stop a fellow soldier from bleeding to death, a bullet puts a hole through their patient's helmet. This ticks Wade right off.Wade: FUCK! GIVE US A FUCKING CHANCE, YOU FUCKING SONS OF BITCHES! FUCKING COCKSUCKERS!
- Driven to Suicide: Wade is fatally wounded when the squad attack a Nazi guard house, and asks his friends to give him an overdose of morphine, which they do.
- Heroic BSoD: After realizing just how badly he'd been shot. But then "Oh God, I can feel my liver!" would have that effect on most people.
- The Medic: Assigned as this for the squad.
- Mercy Kill: He was shot repeatedly, so he asks for an extra dose of morphine before expiring for real.
- Nerves of Steel: Was completely calm and deadpan doing surgery on Omaha Beach... up until the Germans shoot a patient that it looked like he was going to be able to save. Then he just snaps.
- Oh, Crap!: Gets a particularly horrific one after realizing how bad his wound is.Oh God, I can feel my liver!
- Parental Issues: Had some as a kid, due to having two working parents he spent relatively little time with.
- Sacrificial Lion: While he's not the first to die, Wade's death causes the tone of the film to become darker still, and several members of the squad to snap and come very close to murdering their German prisoner. As one of the younger and more friendly members of the squad (not to mention his status as a medic who spends his time helping people), his death feels especially bitter and senseless. Made worse by the fact he followed orders to the letter, unlike Caparzo.
- Shoot the Medic First: Horribly Exploited.
- The Smart Guy: Shares the role with Upham, particularly in deleted scenes and the novelization.
- Two First Names: Irwin and Wade are both very common American first names.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Angrily gives one of these to the squad as they're joking around sifting through dog tags in the hope of finding Ryan's, pointing out the fact numerous U.S. soldiers passing by are seeing their indifferent manner to it.
- You Are Already Dead: Understands he's this trope as soon as he realizes that he's been shot in the liver.
Tech 5th Grade Timothy E. Upham
Played by Jeremy Davies
"I looked up "fubar" in the German dictionary and there's no fubar in here."
A translator who speaks French and German, Upham is brought into the squad after Captain Miller's translator was killed.
- Cunning Linguist: The only one who can surpass the Language Barrier.
- Death Glare: Develops one when witnessing Steamboat Willie fatally shoot Captain Miller.
- Deconstruction: Of why it’s a liability to have a ‘normal’ person in the squad who’s not comfortable with killing if he has to, and who tries to apply typical ethical standards to a situation where a large number of people happen to want you dead. Upham is a relatable and endearing character, but he spends the majority of the film being The Load and refusing to face his own fear results in his friend dying horrifically.
- Desk Jockey: Before Miller brings him into his squad. He even tries to bring his typewriter!
- Dirty Coward: Justified, as his lack of combat experience makes him avoid fights for a good portion of the movie. His cowardice stops him from saving Mellish when he clearly had a chance to. Even the German who finds him sobbing on the staircase clearly thinks he's pathetic and just leaves him there.
- Heroic BSoD: When his fear prevents him from rescuing Mellish.
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Upham initially supported Miller's decision to release "Steamboat Willie" rather than execute him. Later, Upham kills "Steamboat Willie" to avenge Captain Miller.
- The Load: Upham tries, but he’s green as grass and it shows.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Gets some of this treatment from Miller's squad, although he slowly begins earning more acceptance toward the end of the film.
- Naïve Newcomer: To the point he even averts the firefights prior to the Ramelle battle.
- New Meat: While not fresh out of boot camp, he is definitely new to combat and field experience, and concerned with the ethics and morality of the group's actions in wartime. This earns him the ire of much of the squad, in particular Mellish.
- Not Worth Killing: The German soldier who kills Mellish thinks so little of Upham when he finds the latter cowering on the stairs that he just walks past him.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: He coldly shoots an unarmed prisoner dead, which is a crime. However, said prisoner was Steamboat Willie, so naturally your sympathies are entirely with Upham and can't really blame him for doing it.
- Sink the Lifeboats: Subverted early in the movie, when they capture Steamboat Willie. He and Captain Miller are the only ones who don't want to murder him. later played straight near the end of the movie, when Upham sees Steamboat Willie try to surrender and guns down the unarmed POW in cold blood. While the movie (arguably) treats this as a good thing, in real life it would make Upham a war criminal. The film even addresses this, as Upham lets the other German soldiers he had captured go, seeing as how they just watched him kill an unarmed prisoner in cold-blood. (Not that the guy didn't deserve it and then some.)
- Sixth Ranger: Originally from the 29th Infantry Division, recruited into the squad by Miller because the squad's translator was killed on Omaha Beach.
- The Smart Guy: Shares the role with Wade.
- Soldiers at the Rear: Before being forced to join Miller's squad, he worked as a translator and cartographer, not as a fighting soldier.
Private First Class James Francis Ryan
"You can tell her [Private Ryan's mother] that when you found me, I was with the only brothers I had left. And that there was no way I was deserting them. I think she'd understand that."
Played by: Matt Damon
Dubbed by: Damien Boisseau (European French)
The Private Ryan in question which Captain Miller's squad go to find. After three of his brothers died, Ryan is demanded to be found and brought home to his grieving mother. The squad find him, but Ryan refuses to leave his duty.
- Death Notification: Ryan's mother receives all three death letters of her dead son's on the same day.
- Decoy Protagonist: You're led to believe that the old man at the grave at the start of the film is Miller. It's not. Miller died in the final battle. The old man is Ryan.
- Dramatically Missing the Point:Miller: Your brothers are dead.
Ryan: [a few moments pass] ...which ones?
Miller: ...all of them. - Earn Your Happy Ending: Miller's last words are "Earn this" on Ryan's ear. And given he knows how many people died for his safety, he does his best to do this after returning home.
- Heroic BSoD: During the final battle, he curls up into a ball at the end and freaks out screaming as the bullets whiz by him. Largely understandable given the battle's absolutely brutal combat, his complete lack of combat options due to being out of ammo, and the fact that it's just him, Reiben, Miller, and Upham left and they're being rapidly overrun.
- I Choose to Stay: Refused to be rescued so he can continue fighting along with his squad.
- Improvised Weapon: He has the idea to use mortar rounds as grenades.
- Last of His Kind: Smaller focus than other uses of this trope, as he's the only survivor of four brothers, but some of the associated characteristics are there.
- Secondary Character Title: As the tagline goes, "The mission is a man". Thus he only appears once Miller's squad stumbles upon him.
- Sole Survivor: Narrowly averted. Of the paratroopers stationed at Ramelle, only Ryan and Rice surive the battle.
- Spoiler Opening: The old man at the beginning of the film is wearing a pin for the 101st Airborne. Ryan is the only main cast member who is a member of the 101st. Miller and his squad are from the 2nd Battalion, US Army Rangers and Upham is from the 29th Infantry Division.
- Two First Names: Like Irwin Wade, James and Ryan (and his middle name Francis) are common first names in America.
Steamboat Willie
"Hey. Fuck Hitler."
Played by: Joerg Stadler
A German soldier who is taken prisoner by Captain Miller's squad after Wade is killed. He is eventually allowed to walk free by Miller. Unfortunately, he reappears with disastrous consequences.
- Ambiguous Situation: Whether or not he is the German who shot Wade, which increases the tension of whether or not Miller's crew is being unlawful by executing a surrendering soldier. A lot less ambiguous when he shoots Miller.
- Asshole Victim: Upham straight up executes him in cold blood. He really had it coming for killing Miller, so no tears will be shed on him.
- Bald of Evil: Though German soldiers at the time had a "high and tight" crew cut instead of no hair.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He comes back to find Miller's squad again. Doesn't go well for the squad or himself.
- Death by Irony: His death came at the hands of Upham, a soldier who asked Miller to let him go before.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Literally, in fact. As he continues to bargain for his life and as the Americans pity him more and more, Willie just keeps on digging a grave for Wade.
- Dirty Coward: He shamefully grovels when the Americans have him prisoner, but isn't so forthcoming of mercy when the situation is reversed. He attempts to do this again when at the mercy of Upham, only he is not successful this time.
- Hate Sink: It's made very obvious very quickly that we aren't supposed to like this guy. Admit it, you didn't feel so sad about him getting shot dead by Upham.
- Hero Killer: Responsible for the death of Miller and maybe Wade.
- Kick the Dog: Gunning down Miller at Ramelle, after the captain let him go after Wade was killed.
- Manipulative Bastard: Plays on Upham's and Miller's sympathies to worm his way out of Miller's squad killing him. He tries this again with Upham at the end, only this time it doesn't work and Upham gives him his long awaited dues.
- No Name Given: His credited screen name comes from one of the references to American culture he does to try to save his life ("Steamboat Willie, choo-choo!").
- Punch-Clock Villain: He's initially set up as this, just a Wehrmacht soldier who shot at The Squad because it's his job, much like the American soldiers. It's later Subverted when he kills Captain Miller in cold blood, even though he owes him his life.
- Those Wacky Nazis: The only Nazi Played for Laughs if only because of how thoroughly pathetic he is.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: He gets shot without hesitation by Upham, one of the two people who gave mercy to him as revenge for shooting Miller the other one who gave mercy in cold blood.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He rejoins the Nazis after the troop spares his life. However, he wouldn't have had a choice if found by a German unit. Saying he promised to no longer fight against the Allies would likely get him shot. He still qualifies on account of his ferocity in combat to his erstwhile captors, though so this counts.
- What You Are in the Dark: An evil example, he begs Captain Miller for his life, and Miller spares him. Later, he shoots an unarmed Captain Miller fatally in the chest with absolutely zero hesistation.
- Wicked Cultured: Is very fluent in English and knowledgeable about American popculture for a common German grunt.
The Paratroopers
Played By: Max Martini (Corporal Henderson), Dylan Bruno (Private Toynbee)
A group of soldiers from the 101st Airborne defending the town of Ramelle, including Private James Francis Ryan. This group consists of:
- Corporal Henderson
- Private James Francis Ryan
- Private Parker
- Private Toynbe
- Private Rice
- Private Trask
- Private Lyle
- Private Weller
- Private Fallon
- Private Garrity
- Private Wilson
- A couple unnamed troopers
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Several paratroopers are blasted to pieces by a German 20mm team. Those who were shot by the 20mm but not killed were forced to crawl until taken out by other German soldiers.
- Henderson is shot in the throat by a German soldier, with whom Mellish engages in a brutal struggle, leaving Henderson to roll around the floor while choking on his own blood for a good few minutes, until eventually he bleeds out.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Garrity is killed when the sticky bomb he tries to use on one of the tanks goes off, blasting him to pieces.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Corporal Henderson takes a gunshot to the neck, and after some lengthy choking, eventually bleeds to death just before the death of Private Mellish.
- In the Back: Private Wilson is shot in the back by Steamboat Willie, just before Willie kills Miller.
- Last Stand: Trask fails to outrun the Germans and decides to fight, killing a few with his helmet before another German soldier apparently beats him to death.
- Molotov Cocktail: Weller and Wilson use these on one of the Marder tank destroyers.
- No Range Like Point-Blank Range: Private Lyle shoots the last remaining German in the first Tiger tank in the face with the muzzle about six inches away.
- Off with His Head!: One trooper is decapitated by a 20mm round.
- Posthumous Character: Captain Jennings.
- Redshirt Army: Only Ryan gets a first name and almost all of them are killed at Ramelle.
- Sole Survivor: Excluding Ryan, Rice is the only paratrooper to make it to the safety of the bridge and thus survive the battle.
- Private Fallon is shown being wounded in battle, but it is unknown if he survived.
- Sticky Bomb: Rice and Wilson use these on the first Tiger tank, disabling it.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Two cases; Toynbe starts off the battle of Ramelle with a pair of land mines and the aforementioned Sticky bombs.
- Tank Goodness: Private Parker is blown up in Ramelle's bell tower alongside Private Jackson.
- You Are in Command Now: Corporal Henderson took command after Captain Jennings was killed when the town was bombed some time ago.
