What is the ethnic background of George Luz, a soldier in Easy
Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne during World War II, depicted
in the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers"?

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 22 Dec 2002 12:31 PST

Nelson --

Are you seeking the ethnic background of the original George Luz -- or
the actor who plays him in the HBO series?  There may not be a readily
accessible answer to the former.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by nelson-ga on 22 Dec 2002 13:15 PST

I am seeking the background of the actual soldier, not the actor.  Thank you.

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 22 Dec 2002 13:34 PST

Nelson --

I'm going to have to give you a non-answer here: nowhere in "Band of
Brothers,"
Stephen Ambrose's book does it identify Luz's ethnic background.  At
one point it mentions that several of the members of E Company had
Polish and Czech backgrounds and that they tried their language skills
on local women, but nowhere does it indicate that Luz spoke anything
but English.

Subsequent articles about Luz on the Internet don't indicate an ethnic
background either.

Google search strategy:
"George Luz" + Army
And leafing through my copy of "Band of Brothers"

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by nelson-ga on 23 Dec 2002 04:17 PST

Thanks, omnivorous.  I'm about 2/3 of the way through Band of Brothers
the book (I finished the DVDs yesterday).  My suspicion is that Luz is
of Portuguese descent, given his name and the fact that he's from
Rhode Island.  The actor who played him seems to be Hispanic (Rick
Gomez).

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 23 Dec 2002 07:56 PST

Nelson --

You may want to check the links using the Google search strategy for
several reasons:
1.  the film was apparently very faithful to the book, actors being
chosen for their resemblance to the E Company soldiers.  Though
Stephen Ambrose died only about two months ago, an e-mail to one of
the film people may answer this question for you.
2.  the web links will show a Dr. George Luz, who's active in military
medicine.  There's no indication that he's related; but my guess is
that he'll know something about the older Luz even if he isn't. 
Again, an e-mail to him may be helpful.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by nelson-ga on 23 Dec 2002 11:27 PST

I found an e-mail address at http://currahee.hispeed.com/cmailL.html
and have sent a message to George Luz, Jr.

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Clarification of Question by nelson-ga on 27 Dec 2002 21:58 PST

George Luz, Jr., kindly responded to my e-mail.  Both of his father's
parents were born in Portugal, although he was born in Fall River,
Mass., a large Portuguese-American community.