Saving Private Ryan: A 101-Year-Old WWII Veteran's Story

What does a 101-year-old World War II rifleman think when he watches Saving Private Ryan?

Ceo Bauer has seen Saving Private Ryan more than once. He thinks the battle scenes are good but "pretty enhanced." In the attacks he joined under artillery fire, he says, soldiers didn't have the freedom to move around that the film shows, and he doubts they stopped for many theoretical discussions. "There's just not time for that," he says. Ceo knows combat from the inside. He grew up on a farm in rural Michigan and went into the Army at 19. He became a private first class rifleman in I Company, 377th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, the Iron Men of Metz, and on November 8, 1944, he was wounded in a night attack near Metz, France.

In Episode 259, the first of two parts, Christian Taylor shares her visit with Ceo for the Movie Rob Minute, the podcast where Rob, who lives in Israel, goes through a film one minute at a time. Christian recorded it in Michigan when Ceo was 101, for minute 166 of Saving Private Ryan, a few months before a trip back to Normandy with him. Ceo was the first World War II veteran Christian sat down with and got to know when she began filming The Girl Who Wore Freedom, and he is in the film. Watching Florent Plana interview him, she says, is where she learned how to really listen to a veteran. Here Rob asks the questions, and Ceo shares, sometimes through tears.

Ceo landed at Omaha Beach about 100 days after D-Day. He walked single file up a path off the beach and noticed a small sign at ground level that no one else in his 200-man rifle company remembered. As he recalls it, it read: "Up this path has passed the finest of America's manhood." He still finds it difficult to repeat without tearing up. He talks about the pump handle dance he invented as a farm boy to get through an hour or two of pumping water every day, which he has since danced on every continent except Antarctica. He describes the photo of his company, in which about one man in three lost his life. He explains why so many veterans stopped talking when they came home: people didn't really want to listen. Then he tells the story of the night attack on a medieval chateau near Maizières-lès-Metz: the bazooka nobody else would carry, the flare that lit up the wire, the explosion that wounded him and killed the two men beside him, and the long crawl back to his company's outpost, alone. Part 2 picks up the story from there.

Along the way, Ceo talks about Band of Brothers, which he calls "pretty realistic," and the rifle company reunions he calls therapy. Rob, who served as a rifleman in the Israeli army, compares notes.

WATCH THE FILM

The Girl Who Wore Freedom, with Ceo Bauer, is streaming in the US on Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home and YouTube: https://geni.us/TheGirlWhoWoreFreedom

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What a 101-year-old World War II rifleman thinks of Saving Private Ryan
• Why Ceo Bauer says the film's battle scenes are enhanced
• What the sign above Omaha Beach said, as Ceo remembers it
• What the pump handle dance is, and where Ceo has danced it
• Why so many World War II veterans stopped talking about the war
• What happened in the night attack near Metz on November 8, 1944
• How Ceo got back to his company after he was wounded inside German lines
• Why Christian says watching Florent Plana interview Ceo taught her how to really listen to a veteran

CHAPTERS

0:00 Meet Ceo Bauer, 101

6:44 Is Saving Private Ryan Realistic?

10:47 100 Days After D-Day

13:06 The Pump Handle Dance

16:41 The Omaha Beach Sign

23:47 One in Three Killed

27:39 Why Didn't WWII Veterans Talk?

32:26 Reunions as Therapy

37:03 Night Attack Near Metz

44:42 Wounded Inside German Lines

50:25 Crawling Back for Help

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is Saving Private Ryan realistic, according to a WWII veteran?

Ceo Bauer, a World War II rifleman who was 101 when he talked to the Movie Rob Minute, says the battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan are good but enhanced. In the attacks he joined under artillery fire, he says, soldiers didn't have the freedom to move that the film shows, and he doubts they stopped for many theoretical discussions: "There's just not time for that." A film, he says, has to tell a story the public will follow.

Who is Ceo Bauer?

Ceo Bauer is a World War II veteran from Michigan who served as a private first class rifleman in I Company, 377th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, known as the Iron Men of Metz. He landed at Omaha Beach about 100 days after D-Day and was wounded near Metz, France, on November 8, 1944. He appears in Christian Taylor's documentary The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

How was Ceo Bauer wounded near Metz?

On the night of November 8, 1944, Ceo Bauer's company attacked a medieval chateau near Maizières-lès-Metz, a German strong point behind a minefield and concertina wire. Ceo says a flare fell on the wire, and an explosion wounded him and killed the two men beside him. With a badly wounded leg, he crawled back through the wire alone, then got up, staggered and fell, again and again, until he reached his company's outpost.

Why did WWII veterans stop talking about the war?

Ceo Bauer says the reasons varied from veteran to veteran, and some memories were traumatic. But he says veterans who came home also found that people didn't really want to listen. Within a couple of minutes, their eyes glazed over, or they brought up a relative of their own. So after a while, he says, many veterans stopped talking. Ceo always talked, because he thinks it is his duty.

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Ceo Bauer

World War II Veteran, 95th Infantry Division

Ceo Bauer was born in Carson City, Michigan, and went into the Army at 19. He served as a private first class rifleman in I Company, 377th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, and was wounded near Metz on November 8, 1944, for which he received the Purple Heart. After the war he spent 31 years as an engineer with Michigan's highway department. France has awarded him the Legion of Honor, and in November 2024 he returned to Metz for the 80th anniversary of its liberation. He appears in The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

Ceo Bauer's Warrior Legacy profile, American Battlefield Trust: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/warrior-legacy-ceo-bauer

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers from Ken Burns to first-time directors. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide.

THE SAVING PRIVATE RYAN EPISODES

• Part 2 of this conversation with Ceo Bauer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA5RTHHjUNk
• Saving Private Ryan with actor Corey Johnson on the Movie Rob Minute, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDDoJx1DmVw
• Saving Private Ryan with actor Corey Johnson on the Movie Rob Minute, Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnFnXJ5Ny0g
• Related: Corey Johnson's interview with Christian, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-K2VyTmhDE
• Related: Corey Johnson's interview with Christian, Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoc5mvMwlUw

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Saving Private Ryan (1998) on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/
• The Girl Who Wore Freedom, with Ceo Bauer: https://thegirlwhoworefreedom.com
• Band of Brothers, the HBO series Ceo calls "pretty realistic"
• The Movie Rob Minute podcast, with Rob