Headscratchers / Saving Private Ryan

• Is it really Miller's grave that Ryan visits at the opening of the film? He falls to his knees by a grave, sobbing, and his family comes rushing up to him. When we return to him at the end of the film he is standing by Miller's grave alone and his family come walking up from a distance. It appears to be two entirely different moments at two different graves, even though they take place on the same day. It could be that the grave in the opening of the film was that of one of his brothers. Not only would you expect him to visit his brothers' graves but their deaths are what led to Miller and his squad being sent to find Ryan.
  • The two graves are definitely on different locations, so you may be onto something.

• When the rescue team decided they needed to take out an isolated enemy bunker, they chose to employ a head-on assault, rather than employ their sniper to at least damage the weapon, if not kill or suppress the crew. This sniper even accompanies the assault team, presumably to no effect. Said assault even included putting their unarmed medic directly in the line of fire resulting in his death. Really makes you think.
  • It was Captain Miller who decided on it, overruling his guys in the process. Probably a sign that he was starting to lose it too.

• At Ramelle, why didn't the soldiers there, knowing full well that they couldn't take on the German units coming their way, just destroy the bridge anyways? They had enough explosives to "blow it twice". The bridge itself isn't that big and it would be easy for the Army Corps of Engineers to rig up a new one if it was needed. The reason this bridge is so important is because Rommel was bringing his tanks forward to attempt a flanking attack on allied forces and needed to cross the Merderet River to do so—all the more reason to blow it up.
  • Because the orders were to hold the bridge until the main forces could secure it. The allies needed the bridge as badly as the germans did, so blowing it up was a last resort measure.
  • Captain Winters actually said he would've just blown it up and left, but was told that wasn't dramatic enough. In-universe, I'd chalk it up to either the soldiers being unwilling to abandon an order no matter how insane, or Captain Miller failing to use his rank to make them see sense. Or a mix of both.

• Why is Captain Miller's squad in a higgins boat at omaha. Higgins boats carried the 1st infantry division not the 29th.
  • They did carry 29th and 1st infantry Division's but they didn't take the 2nd Ranger Battalion ( Miller's Charlie Company) but the reason they're used in the movie is because either the boats they actually used (LCAs) no longer exist (only 2,000 were built) so they used the more common (if you can say that) LCVP, Higgins Boat for the movie.

• Marshall's aide is a Colonel, but he seems to have two downward-pointing chevrons near the end of his sleeve. Why is he wearing what looks like a Corporal's rank insignia, and why is it facing the wrong way and in the wrong location?
  • They are World War One Overseas Service stripes. Each chevron represents 6 months.