Since 2011 I have been a member of a CA-based WWII reenactment group for the 506th. We specialized in teaching the general public about the ways and means of the 101st and how they helped to win the war. We would visit schools and hobby shops to put on demonstrations, as well as walk in the 4th of July parades and participate in air shows. We even went to the Air Raid events at Fort Macarthur, and afterwards headed out to the Queen Mary in Long Beach dressed in our dress blues for some dancing and schmoozing.
A major part of our group was the actual reenactments themselves. We would all head out to Camp Roberts in San Luis Obispo, CA where we would skirmish with other groups such as the 2nd armored, 4th ID, 10th Mountain and of course numerous German regiments. These events would see 100s of people and dozens of vehicles battling it out with real WWII weapons and real WWII tactics.
So anyway I thought some of you might get a kick out of some of these photos I've taken over the years. Enjoy.
This is me with Ed Pepping, a surviving member of Easy Company 506th, our mascot. He was a medic and participated in the jump over Normandy. As he came out of the plane, the wind was so powerful that it whipped his head back and the back of his helmet smacked in to his neck. When he landed, he was separated from his unit and just tried to help people who were injured. It was later he felt a pain in his neck and discovered he had broken some of his vertebrae during his jump. He was out for most of the war.
One of our displays.
My brother and I on the Queen Mary.
Me during Chino airshow (disregard the budget truck in the background!).
The unit before a big battle.
Some of the opposing force.
Sherman to the rescue.
Foot patrols.
Even the Russians got in to the fight.
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