World War II Military Figure. Nicknamed "Lew" or "Blackbeard" or "Nix," he served as a officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division, and the stories of he and his comrades were featured in the 2001 HBO television mini-series "Band of Brothers," based on the book by Stephen Ambrose. He is known and remembered for his love of the blended whisky Vat 69, which was commemorated several times in the book and the miniseries. Born Lewis Nixon III in New York City, New York, he took third place in the model yacht regatta at Conservatory Lake in Central Park on May 22, 1926, earning a gold and bronze medal in the 35-inch (890 mm) boat class. His family moved to Montecito, California when he was a young boy and they traveled the world, including France England, and Germany. He graduated from high school in Santa Barbara, California and attended Yale University at New Haven, Connecticut for two years. In January 1941 he enlisted in the US Army and attended Army Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and received a commission as a 2nd lieutenant. He decided to become a paratrooper and was assigned to Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He went through the regimental unit training and pre-airborne training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, and Airborne School at Fort Benning. After the US entry into World War II in December 1941 he was appointed as the 2nd Battalion intelligence officer (S-2) and later moved up to the regimental level as the 506th Infantry S-2,er of 3rd Squad. As a member of Easy Company, he made his first combat jump on D-Day (June 6, 1944) in Normandy, France and fought in several major battles in the European Theater, including Operation Market Garden (September 1944) in the Netherlands and the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium (December 1944). He developed a drinking problem, and was eventually removed and assigned back down to the 2nd Battalion as the operations officer (S-3), where he continued to display his skill at planning and operations, but did not have to contend with the politics and high visibility at the regimental level. For his military service, he received the American Campaign Medal, the Purple Heart, the World War II Victory Medal, the Bronze Star, the Presidential Unit Citation, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 service stars, the American Defense Service Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal, the French Croix de guerre, the Belgian World War II Service Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Parachutist Badge with 3 combat jump stars. He became one of the few men of the 101st Airborne to jump with another division or regiment. In March 24 1945 he was assigned by General Maxwell Taylor as an observer with the 17th Airborne Division on Operation Varsity. His plane took a direct hit after he and three others got out. He ended the war at the rank of captain and did not fire a single shot in combat. He returned to the US in September 1945 and worked at the family-owned Nixon Nitration Works in Edison, New Jersey. He offered his wartime friend and fellow Easy Company member Richard Winters a job and he eventually became a personnel manager at the firm. He was portrayed in the HBO "Band of Brothers" miniseries by actor Ron Livingston. He died of complications from diabetes at the age of 76.