In the movie Saving Private Ryan, how many of Ryan's brothers purportedly died in WW II?

In the Oscar-winning Hollywood movie, Saving Private Ryan (1998), four young American brothers enlist and go off to fight in World War II. Tragically, only one returns home to their mother. Ultimately James Francis Ryan managed to come back from battle, unlike his three brothers. They were killed in action during the war in the Normandy Invasion.

Saving Private Ryan was loosely based on the story of the four Niland brothers from New York, who served in World War II. After the reported deaths of his three siblings, Frederick Niland, was sent back to the U.S. to complete his military service. He later learned that one brother, Edward, who was missing and presumed dead, was in fact alive after being held captive in a Japanese POW camp.

The entire story of the Niland brothers, noting the three brothers who died during the Second World War, is a proud one. Each brother was willing to enlist, fight, and die for his country. The Niland brothers along with millions of other young men of their time demonstrated the strength, courage, and determination of their entire country.

The subsequent film, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Matt Damon, won huge critical acclaim because of the story line as well as five Oscars.