WWII Living History Weekend

I love history. I am not a huge buff or anything, but sometimes I find myself wanting to know more about a certain time or event. I read lots, whenever I can, until the desire is satiated. I live in an area that is rich in Civil War history. I find myself rather fascinated by it all. One thing that I never fully understood though, was re-enactments and such. I always thought it kind of funny.

This past weekend, our town hosted a WWII Living History weekend. I was asked to go on down and take some photos.




I got WAY more than I bargained for. It was AWESOME. There were no re-enactments to speak of (not that I witnessed anyway), but these people were dressed in clothes from the time period. They had tents and Jeeps and guns and other goods from the time period. They had small fires burning and they answered any questions we had.




What I found fascinating, were the stories behind the loot. Some of the weapons and artifacts that these people had were of a very personal nature, as they had been passed down from their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. A lot of the stuff was found on eBay, or in a back shed in someone's yard, long forgotten.




We talked to this one man for a very long time. His name escapes me now, but his story was fascinating. He has been a long time history buff, traveling far and wide to see sites of past battles. He is a huge collector of anything to do with WWI and WWII. As we looked at his guns, T asked him about a particular one. It looked a bit different from all of the others.




This gun was found in the shed behind the New Jersey house belonging to his nephew's girlfriend. It had been sitting in a corner for almost 60 years. The girl was a bit of an anti-gun freak and told her boyfriend that it had to go. He called his uncle, and shipped it to him. It had belonged to the girl's grandfather. He had shot and killed a Japanese soldier and then had taken his gun.

There are blood stains all over the gun. You can actually see where the soldier had been holding on to the gun. It was a somber moment. After he pointed that out to us, T and I got really quiet for a moment. The guy just said, "Yeah.....", as he let the reality of it settle in to our heads.

We talked to another man who was a Desert Storm vet. He had dual citizenship in Australia and had served in their armed forces as well. The guy was fascinating. He had his son with him, who seemed to be really enjoying himself.

There were 'German' soldiers there, as well as a tent with 'Russian' soldiers (some of them female) and they were all extremely friendly and informative. There were a lot of vets walking around. We only got to talk to one or two of them. We thanked them for their service and sacrifice, but asked few questions. I find that I just do not know what to ask them some times. *sigh*

I am SO glad that I had the opportunity to talk with these people. T and I really enjoyed it and I look forward to the next time they come around!