Steven Spielberg, the 1998 classic follows a group of eight U.S. soldiers who survive the D-Day landings in Normandy, , and then receive a mission to track down a fellow serviceman. The story is loosely based on the Niland brothers who served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
In Saving Private Ryan, Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) leads the 2nd Ranger Battalion at Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion. He miraculously survives the experience, and learns about four siblings who also participated in D-Day, with only one of them surviving: Private First Class James Francis Ryan (Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
The first two acts of Saving Private Ryan explore the inherent dangers of Miller's mission, as both Adrian Caparzo (Saving Private Ryan changes a few facts.
In real life, Fritz Niland was indeed part of the 101st Airborne division and landed at Normandy on D-Day. In addition, he also wanted to stay with his military brothers upon learning that he would be sent home. Fritz's story deviates from Saving Private Ryan in that he actively sought out his brother Bob, only to learn that he'd been killed at Neuville-au-Plain in Normandy on D-Day. He then discovered that Preston had died one day after Bob in Normandy at the Crisbecq Battery, a German stronghold that was eventually abandoned. Saving Private Ryan also changes the fact that the third brother wasn't killed in New Guinea. Edward Niland actually wasn't killed at all. However, a report surfaced in 1944 that he'd died in Burma after being shot down in the jungle. One year later, Edward was released from a Japanese POW camp and returned home to America.
A 2018 news report (via Saving Private Ryan because his father did indeed come home. He also describes how his grandparents awaited Edward's return despite reports of his death:
"At the dinner table, they would set a place for my dad. They knew the other two brothers, their two sons, were dead, but they would set a place for my dad, hoping that he would come home."
