June 6, 1944, the U.S. Army lands at Omaha Beach as part of the Normandy invasion, incurring major losses against the artillery and mortar fire of the entrenched German forces. Initially dazed by the chaotic battle, 2nd Ranger Battalion Captain John H. Miller takes command of a surviving group and leads a successful infiltration behind German lines to secure victory. The United States Department of War receives communication that three of four brothers have been killed in action; the last, James Ryan of the 101st Airborne Division, is listed as missing. General of the Army George C. Marshall orders that Ryan be found and sent home, to spare his family the loss of all its sons. Miller is tasked with recovering Ryan and assembles a detachment of soldiers to accompany him: Mike Horvath, Richard Reiben, Adrian Caparzo, Stanley Mellish, Daniel Jackson, Irwin Wade, and interpreter Timothy Upham, who lacks any combat experience. The group tracks Ryan to the town of Neuville-au-Plain where Caparzo is killed by a German sniper while trying to rescue a young girl. Mourning their friend, the men grow resentful at being forced to risk their lives for one man. They later find James Ryan but realize he is the wrong man with the same name. That evening, the men rest in a chapel, where Miller tells Horvath that his hands began uncontrollably shaking after he joined the war. They are directed to a rallying point where the 101st Airborne might be after landing off course. There, they find masses of wounded and displaced soldiers, one of whom recounts how his aircraft crashed, killing his crew, because of heavy reinforcements added without his knowledge to protect a single general on board. Wade admonishes Reiben, Mellish, and Jackson for callously searching through a pile of recovered dog tags in front of passing troops, hoping to find Ryan's among them and conclude their mission. Remorseful for ignoring their behavior, Miller shouts for anyone that knows Ryan; one deafened soldier tells him that Ryan was reassigned to defend a vital bridge in the town of Ramelle. On the way, Miller decides to neutralize a German gun nest they discover, against the advice of his men, and although they are successful, Wade is killed. The men decide to execute a surrendered German soldier in revenge, but Upham intervenes, arguing that they should follow the rules of war. Miller releases the soldier,