General Marshall reads a letter he keeps on his person, written by an A. Lincoln to a Mrs. Bixby who lost five sons during the Civil War. Noting the tragedy that no mother should lose all of her sons, Marshall looks at his officers and says "We are going to find Private Ryan, and we are going to get him the hell out of there."
Halfway through the letter, General Marshall puts the letter aside and recites the rest of it from memory. These are not idle words to him, but worth memorizing. Bringing James Ryan home isn't a decision born from cheap political games or feel-good exercises, but the honest belief that a mother needs her only remaining son.
At the end, when James Ryan looks at his wife and asks her if he had deserved this, if he had lived a good life, and if he is a good man...
Mrs. Ryan: You are.
James brought his family with him to visit Miller's grave; his many children and grandchildren, people who would never have been born if not for the sacrifices of Cpt. Miller and the others.
Before leaving the cemetery, Ryan is able to compose himself and salute Miller's grave.
When Mellish talks with Upham before the finale. It's hardly sappy, but at least someone explained FUBAR to the Naïve Newcomer. Becomes harsher when Mellish is horrifically killed during the battle because Upham doesn't go to his aid.
When Miller's team spend the night in a church. Reiben and Wade share stories about their mothers while Wade re-writes Caparzo's blood-stained letter to his father onto a clean sheet of paper. All the while, Friendly Sniper Private Jackson is curled up and snoozing nearby.
In the lead-up to the movie's end, a few of the soldiers are listening to a French record while Upham translates.
Just as Reiben's about to go AWOL on the team, he wordlessly rejoins them and helps to bury Wade.
Before that, when he and Horvath are arguing over his imminent desertion, Upham is trying to diffuse the fight before urging Miller to intervene himself, while the rest of the squad is getting ready to defend Reiben.
The one time Reiben calls Jackson "Bumpkin" will make you smile.
When the squad finally finds Ryan and tell him about his brothers and their orders, Ryan brings up everything he can think of to argue...that he is not leaving. In the end, he tells them he's not going to abandon his comrades, especially since none of them have been given the order to pull out and go home, either:
Miller: Is that what they're supposed to tell your mother? When they send her another folded American flag? [Beat.] Ryan: Tell her that when you found me, I was here. And I was with the only brothers I had left. And there was no way I was going to desert them. I think she'll understand that.
Becomes harsher when they all die except Ryan.
Jackson's last words before being blown up by a tank were to warn Parker to get down. Becomes harsher when he dies with him.
