Real soldier who inspired ‘Saving Private Ryan’ actually said Matt Damon’s line

Relatives of the family who inspired Saving Private Ryan are reflecting on their late relatives’ legacy.

In honor of the anniversary of the Normandy landings, Buffalo’s local CBS station WIVB interviewed members of the Niland family, whose real World War II experience served as the jumping-off point for the classic Steven Spielberg drama.

For the uninitiated, the 1998 film follows a group of soldiers who are tasked with retrieving the titular Private Ryan (Matt Damon) after all three of his brothers are killed in action. Screenwriter Robert Rodat came up with the premise for the movie while looking at a monument memorializing soldiers who had been killed in American wars and noticed sets of brothers in the list of deceased veterans. Rodat was also inspired by the story of the Nilands, who were mentioned in Stephen E. Ambrose’s book D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II.

The Niland brothers — Preston, Robert, Fritz, and Edward — all served in the American military in World War II. Preston and Robert were both killed during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, while Edward was presumed dead until the conclusion of the war (he actually survived as a prisoner of war in the Pacific Theater and lived until 1984).

Since the military assumed Fritz was the only remaining Niland brother left alive, when he attempted to join the 82nd Airborne Division shortly after D-Day, he was informed of his siblings’ death and sent home.

In an interview with WIVB, Edward Niland’s son Preston said that his uncle Fritz reacted to his dismissal from the military the same was as Private Ryan. “The Matt Damon character — my cousin Catie said — he said exactly what Uncle Fritz said when they sent him home,” Preston said.“‘I am with the brothers I have now, I’m going to stay…’ [he was told] ‘You can’t stay, you got to argue with General George Marshall.’”

After a tumultuous journey to locate Ryan, the movie’s central characters are ultimately infuriated by the titular private’s stubborn refusal to leave his post after they tell him of his brothers’ demise.

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James Niland, the great-nephew of the Niland brothers, also discussed his family’s legacy with the outlet. “They came together to conquer an unthinkable task and really showed the world that nothing is impossible with the American spirit,” he said. “Those men were legends, and it was a legendary triumph. They’ll live on forever.”