Michigan junior offensive guard Ben Bredeson found out a few days before the Wolverines left for France that the Niland Brothers, the inspiration for the movie Saving Private Ryan, were related to U-M basketball coach.
Already a World War II and history buff — he watched the recent movie ‘Thank You For Your Service’ on the flight over — Bredeson admitted it added new perspective to a movie he’s seen many times, and gave him even more anticipation for a Sunday day trip.
“Most of all [I want to see] Normandy, just because I love World War II stuff,” he said. “My dad is big into it, too. He’s a big [General George] Patton buff, loves Patton. I grew up watching Patton, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, all that stuff. I’ve always been following it. Normandy happened a while ago, but it’s such a magnificent event in history to have that … it’s impossible not to learn about it, really.”
He’s also seen Saving Private Ryana number of times, but Beilein’s speech added a personal touch.
“It was really cool to get like a personal feel to it,” Bredeson said. “He told the story, the back details, the family history he knew about the family, and it was really interesting to learn about. You have things you don’t see in the movie with the whole family.”
He expects it to be a humbling experience, especially since his great uncle was one of the young marines to storm the beach.
Normandy will be a return trip for defensive coordinator Don Brown. He came years back when he was in Paris for a wedding, but Beilein’s speech primed him for a return trip, as well.
“Incredible,” Brown said. “Coach [Jim Harbaugh] has been giving them some education on it. Last week Coach Beilein talked about it specifically, and it was an emotional 45 minutes for sure. You just think about all the things that happened going into that. You feel it. It was a great experience.
“So often you’re around the players and it’s always X and Os, always football related, where this is just kind of hanging out with the guys,” Brown said. “Some people call it team bonding. You’re just furthering your relationship with your players, in a non-football environment, which is unbelievable. We don’t do that enough, by the way.”
Many of the kids were their age when they stormed the beach, Bredeson noted — “and I’d have been on the older side.” Several will research a gravesite from their hometown in preparation, and they’ll visit them Sunday.
Beilein’s address was ‘mindblowing,’ Brown added.
“It kind of hits home, you know?” he said. “There’s a guy that’s right there, in essence down the hall in terms of being a coach with us and there it is, his family. He’s so tied into that whole experience.”
The Wolverines have already seen several of the sites, including the Eiffel Tower and the Arch de Triomphe, stopping on the way from the airport. They headed to their rooms at 10:14 Ann Arbor time to relax and rest up for the rest of the trip, with a big museum day on tap tomorrow.
"Our guys are fortunate because a good chunk of people may get to enjoy something like this, but a lot of people don't get that," Brown said. "I don’t think you get to do enough of these kinds of things. That’s why Coach is way out in front trying to do something like this."
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @AndrewVcourt, @Balas_Wolverine and @Qb9Adam.
• Like us on Facebook
