Edward “Babe” Heffron left Southern High to help support his family. After working at New York Ship, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in Easy Company with the 101st Airborne Division, where he fought in many battles throughout Europe with Southern’s “ Wild Bill” Guarnere. He was highly decorated for his valor in Operation Marke Garden in the Netherlands and in the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium. As a machine gunner, Babe was awarded the Bronze Star. He participated in the liberation of the Kaufering Concentration Camp in Landsberg, Germany and helped to seize Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. Heffron and Guarnere returned home and became lifelong friends. These WWII heroes wrote Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends and were featured often in Stephen Ambrose’s book, Band of Brothers, and in Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s HBO miniseries of the same name.