George is super extra about flirting. It’s part of how he expresses affection in general and something he genuinely enjoys: he’ll flirt with the bagger at the grocery store who has the world’s most obvious crush on Joe, the old ladies who always sit at the bench he walks by on the way to work, with his friends. He’s naturally quite handsy with people and he has fun coming up with ‘clever’ lines and unusual compliments, making people blush is a challenge he can barely resist. But Joe is his absolutely favourite person to flirt with. Joe had kind of assumed that getting together with George would be the end of the flirting because it wasn’t necessary for George to hit on him anymore, but instead,
now he doesn’t even have to worry about Joe getting the wrong impression, George takes it as a free pass to flirt with Joe as much as he likes.
3. how did the relationship start?
For a long time they had friends in common but through various circumstances didn’t really know each other. George was the guy that made the funny videos Joe’s friends all seemed to like and Joe thought he was some sort of minor internet celebrity not somebody they actually knew; meanwhile Joe was just the hot guy that sometimes appeared in Bill’s instagram posts and George kept joking that Bill should do George a favour and hook them up but never really expected anything to come of it.
Then one day they just happen to walk into the same coffee shop and have a mutual moment of “Oh hey! You’re that guy!” which is enough to get them talking and the sparks are pretty much immediate and things just sort of flow from there. and they aren’t keeping it a secret on purpose, it’s just that they don’t quite remember to tell their friends and then one day Joe wanders out of the shower and into one of George’s videos and kisses him before wandering out of shot, except it turns out it was a live-stream not a recording he could edit and somewhere across the city Bill flips out in surprise and throws his phone across the room and then has to borrow Fran’s so he can call them and bitch them out because what the fuck when did they even meet.
9. do they act different in public and at home?
Joe is a lot more willing to indulge George’s ridiculousness when they’re at home. In public he will shut down the more extreme of George’s antics (George tries to do the thing where he leaps and expects Joe to catch him, Joe stands there with his arms folded and says he hopes George learned a lesson when George looks up at him in disappointment from the ground) because there is a time and a place for being loud and bouncing all over the place and it isn’t the goddamn grocery store. At home, however, he will play along and even initiate from time to time. Similarly, George is actually often a lot more mellow at home, perfectly at ease for them to sack out and watch the game on TV for a few hours whereas when he’s out or in a bigger group he’s clamouring to do something.
I love George Luz so much. I love his sweet little mouth and his small nose and his big dark eyes and his fluffy black hair. I love that he’s always the first one to make a joke, that he’s always the first one to try and lift the spirits of others when they need it. I love his impressions and his charisma and to be real, I would let him talk over a movie I hadn’t seen any day. I love how small and capable he is. I love how loyal he is to his company, and I love how he turns into a frustrated mother hen when it’s his job to be distributing supplies to the men. I love that he always kept his smile. I love how much everyone else loved him, too. I love George Luz.
Luz, everyone’s favorite jokester, gets a special post just for him. In the words of one member of Easy Company “Every unit needs a George Luz.”
Here’s the real George Luz:
George Luz was born on June 17, 1921 in Fall River, Massachusetts. Fall River was a large Portuguese-American community. Both of his parents, Jose and Maria were Portuguese. His father married twice after his first wife died in 1915. Both of Jose’s wives were named Maria and both Portuguese.
George was the second to last of 8 children (including him-7 siblings). His sisters were Victoria and Dorothy. His half-siblings were Victoria (who died 2 days after she was born), Manuel (who died 14 days after his birth), Maria (who died 2 months after she was born), Jose, and Mary. The family had moved to Rhode Island sometime after George’s birth.
Luz dropped out of high school in his junior year to help support his family during the Great Depression. His military record listed him as having varying jobs. He enlisted on August 25, 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island.
He served with the 101st Airborne while it was under Sobel’s command. Luz was known for getting into trouble. Joe Toye and Luz went to a party together after calling up a bunch of girls. They got home around 4:45 AM and went back to training and patrols around 5:30 AM.
Luz was famous for his imitations. Luz was prompted to trick Sobel with his talent and since Luz loved pranks, he went along with it. He mimicked the voice of Major Horton and yelled out to Sobel to cut the barbed wire fences they had run into while training. Sobel, thinking it was Horton, did as ordered. Only for him to be given a lecture and when asked who gave the order, realized Horton was on leave in London at that time. Sobel was given hell for his actions but he never learned it was Luz. Luz received no punishments for his prank and was never caught.
Luz jumped in Welsh’s plane during D-Day. He was a last minute addition to the plane. Along with his regular equipment, he was also carrying a radio and batteries. He was only put on the plane when Air Corps people shoved him in. He switched places with Cobb once in the plane. Their plane was hit with German anti-aircraft artillery fire. Cobb was struck in the leg and couldn’t make the jump. If they hadn’t moved, Luz would’ve been forced to miss the jump.
Welsh’s plane lights for the jumpers were hit and Welsh yelled out for them to go, without knowing if it was the right time or not. Luz kicked out his leg bag, which contained his radio and batteries, first and then jumped off the plane.
George Luz made it to Easy Company the next day.
Luz was part of the Privates that slowly worked themselves into the backbone of Easy Company. Luz was a private when he joined and became a Technician 4th Grade before the fall of 1944. He, Guarnere, Muck, Toye, Malarkey, Lipton, Talbert, and Perconte made up the N.C.Os, most of which were together from day one.
While Band of Brothers has a scene between Buck Compton and Luz gambling for two packs of smokes from the replacements, this wasn’t accurate. Buck never drank, never went to a bar, never played darts with Luz, and he smoke a pipe. But he did admit that Luz was one of his favorite people. He wrote in Call of Duty: My Life After Band of Brothers that George could keep a whole crowd laughing and could mimic people.
In fact, most people mentioning Luz’s ability to mimic others. Malarkey writes that he’s their “Portuguese jokester and master of imitation”. Webster writes that Luz was the Company comedian. Luz even mimicked a British accent to a British transfer from the British airborne, who flushed and Luz pranced off, happy with himself.
Luz was known for his sense of humor. He was said to be able to keep a crowd laughing. He was always making jokes, whether in combat or during breaks in the action. Babe Heffron writes in his book, “I found the most like guy in our platoon was George Luz…he was the company comedian. He could imitate people and was always telling jokes. Good jokes, not like Bill Guarnere’s jokes! Luz was actually funny….He was a great soldier, all-around 100 percent great American. Serious when he had to be, but he kidded with everyone he liked. He knew who could take a joke and who couldn’t.”
In Holland, George was given a German gun, a Luger possibly, by Heffron. They sold in London and Luz used the money he earned from it eagerly. Babe and Luz spent a great deal of time together in London on a pass.
January 3, 1945 Guarnere and Toye lost their right legs due to an artillery shell exploding above them and the shrapnel cutting through their legs. Buck Compton was best friend with the men. According to Winters. Luz had tried to stop Compton from walking off the line but it was no use.
Luz was known for keeping the morale up with his imitations of Dike and other men. But even he had a breaking point.
Luz, Muck, and Penkala had a foxhole together. When the artillery shell on January 6, killed Muck and Penkala, Luz was the one to go running for their foxhole. He had been outside the foxhole during the artillery strike and when they called out to him to join him, he continued to run on to another foxhole. Roe claims he was crawling through the snow when he witnessed the shell hit Muck and Penkala, but it not likely this was true because several other sources, like Winters, Ambrose, Shifty, claimed Luz came running back to find Muck and Penkala. Luz dug through their foxhole, only to find a corner of a sleeping bag and parts of his friends.
Around February -April 1945, Luz became a platoon runner instead of a radio man.
In Germany, George practically adopted a small child Muchik, whose parents had died in the labor camps. Luz couldn’t resist his bright eyes and energetic energy. Luz replaced his tattered clothes and bought him his own uniform. He then took him around their “tour” of Germany and taught the child all the Airborne’s favorite profanity. Luz not only had a big heart for this child but he also went to visit other Easy men when they were in the hospital.
When the war ended, Luz was riding with Webster and O’Keefe in Luz’s Volkswagen to Goering’s wine cellar. They were late to the party. Webster wrote that they had been drawn to a bar full of French soldiers. The soldiers were drinking, firing rounds, and screaming “La guerra est finis!” After exchanging pats on the back, cigarettes, and drinks, the American boys had had enough so they ran home where they had a part of no equal together. After the Germans had surrendered and they were waiting to be sent home, Luz took a ride on a motorcycle and injured his arm within the first month.
Luz returned home to Rhode Island where he became a handyman. Things didn’t work well in that business so Luz became a part of the federal government. He married Delvina and they had a nice family together. He had a son who he named George Luz Jr.
Luz was one of the first people to attend a reunion. He was part of a core group that always attended. Luz died October 15, 1998 when a clothes dryer fell on him during an industrial accident. “It’s been a wonderful life,” he wrote to Winters in one of his last letters. Over 1,600 people attended Luz’s funeral. His family did not know George had won the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart until he was in the funeral home and the pastor commented on it. Winters claimed that Luz was “tough as nails, had a wonderful sense of humor, and possessed a fierce loyalty to Company E that was second to none.”
AN: warning under the cut for description of a bombed out house/child death. the image doesn’t get graphic, but it’s there.
His shoulders tremble with the force of sobs too big for his frame to contain.
That’s not saying much, considering George is far from the biggest guy to begin with. The way he’s crying, he’s surprised he hasn’t snapped himself in two already. The despair feels like it’s tearing him apart from the inside out; he can’t help the way his body shakes with it. These tears would be enough to rattle Bull, who’s built like a tractor trailer, or Joe Toye, who could deadlift cars with those muscles. Right now, George has never felt smaller. Fragility leaves every breath feeling like this will be the one that breaks him, and it’s the pressing dread that scares him more than anything else.
lookashiny 