The (Absolutely True) Legend of Vincent Speranza and His Epic Beer Run
Quick answer: Who is Vincent Speranza?
Vincent Speranza was a 101st Airborne Division machine gunner at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. With no medicine for wounded friends in a makeshift aid station, he carried beer to them in his helmet from a bombed-out tavern. The story spread across Belgium, where a local ale called Airborne Beer is served in a ceramic helmet in his honor.
Vincent Speranza was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York, on March 23, 1925, to a large Sicilian immigrant family, and grew up on Staten Island. Drafted at the end of 1943, he trained as an infantryman at Fort Benning with the 87th Infantry Division. After watching a jump demonstration, he volunteered for the paratroopers. He sailed to Britain aboard the Queen Mary and joined the 101st Airborne Division as a replacement after Operation Market Garden. When Germany launched its Ardennes offensive on December 16, 1944, the 101st rushed to Bastogne by truck, short of winter gear, and was soon surrounded. "The Germans had slipped around and they had surrounded the town and we had no place to put the wounded," Speranza said. The aid stations ran short of everything. When a wounded friend asked for something to drink, the 19-year-old found a bombed-out tavern with a beer tap still working, filled his helmet, and brought it back. An angry doctor caught him at the door. Asked what he was doing, Speranza said, "Giving aid and comfort to the wounded." For decades after he came home, Speranza buried the war. He married Iva Leftwich in 1948 and raised three children. At 85 he met a woman from Bastogne in a Florida shop who urged him to return. In 2009 he went back with his daughter for the 65th anniversary of the battle. A historian took him to his old foxhole. Then some young soldiers asked if he was the man who had carried beer in his helmet, told him he was famous in Europe, and ordered four bottles of Airborne Beer. The waiter brought them with four ceramic bowls shaped like helmets. In 2014 he published NUTS!: A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne. "No matter how tough things get, there's always something to look forward to," he says.
Why it matters for leaders: Small acts of kindness in terrible circumstances are often what people remember longest.
Q: What is Airborne Beer?
A: A Belgian ale served in a ceramic helmet-shaped bowl, inspired by Vincent Speranza's beer run at Bastogne in 1944.
Q: Did Speranza write about his experience?
A: Yes. He published NUTS!: A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne in 2014.
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By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation