On Saturday, February 7, the World War 2 Guys kicked off the 2026 season with our annual Winter Muster at Omaha's Union Station, now home of the Durham Museum. This is a fun event every year as we dress up in Class A uniforms of various World War II units. In attendance this time were Will representing the 23rd Infantry of the 2nd Infantry Division, Eric representing the 355th Infantry of the 89th Infantry Division, Donnie representing the 134th Infantry of the 35th Infantry Division, Davan representing the 507th PIR of the 17th Airborne Division, and Rhys representing the 502nd PIR of the 101st Airborne Division. We held our annual meeting in the "Cornhusker Club" train car and spent some time walking around the museum. On the way to lunch, I drove right past the old Federal Building on 15th & Dodge St. which served as the headquarters of the 89th Infantry Division and the 355th Infantry Regiment from 1934 up until their mobilization in 1942. Our lunch at the Brazenhead was excellent as always and we were joined by Matt wearing an awesome B-10 Jacket with a 701st Bomb Squadron leather patch. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead in 2026 and will next be in action at Omaha's St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 14.

On Tuesday, November 11, a few of us gathered to proudly honor our nation's Korean War veterans at Omaha's annual Veterans Day ceremony. Just east of the Korea/Vietnam Memorial, we set up a small row of shelter tents and displayed uniforms, equipment and weapons from the Korean War. Eric represented the U.S. Marine Corps, Cody represented the U.S. Army, and Bryson represented the U.S. Air Force. Featured speakers at the ceremony included Omaha Mayor John Ewing, Congressman Don Bacon, and Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen. We were happy to speak with several enthusiastic JROTC students from OPS high schools, as well as some Vietnam veterans and a very lively 94 year old Korean War veteran from the 45th Infantry Division. It was a beautiful November morning and an excellent opportunity to once again give recognition to those who gave everything to our nation in a frozen land far away.

On Sunday, October 26, the World War 2 Guys helped out at the 2nd Annual "Flight of Fright" event at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum. In attendance we had Eric, Matt and Joe stationed at the B-29 Superfortress representing a Pacific Theater B-29 crew. Over at the C-47 Skytrain we had Donnie, Davan and Rhys representing the Jumping Spiders of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. We had lots of trick or treaters throughout the afternoon event and quite a few history-related conversations with visitors. We always have a great experience at the museum which holds a very special place in our hearts. At a D-Day display event at the museum in June of 2018, Deqlan, Donnie and Davan visited our display as kids and now 7 years later, they are the ones wearing the same uniforms to honor our World War II veterans. It's a great story and I'm glad we are passing along our love and appreciation of our nation's military history to a new generation!

On Friday, October 3, the World War 2 Guys were back in action at Omaha's Baxter Arena for Military Appreciation Night at the UNO vs. Air Force hockey game. We set up a pretty easy table display featuring items from the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Army Air Force in World War II. Davan was representing the 82nd Airborne Division, Deqlan the 1st Infantry Division, Bryson the 35th Infantry Division, Donnie the 5th Marine Division, Will the 8th Air Force, and Eric the 20th Air Force. It was a nice quick display event and we got to talk with a lot of families and kids interested in WWII. Afterwards our whole group went to Brazen Head for a nice group dinner to unwind. It sounds like this will be an annual event going forward, so hopefully we'll be back next year for more.

The weekend of September 6-7 Fort Atkinson Living History hosted the 11th Annual Timeline Weekend. This is a spectacular event that brings together reenactors from the Lewis & Clark era all the way up through the early 21st century. This weekend featured Will portraying a rifleman from Merrill's Marauders, Cody representing A Company of the 6th Infantry in North Africa, Bryson representing the Belgian 3rd Parachute Battalion, Rhys and Donnie portraying U.S. Marines from the Vietnam War, Eric portraying a U.S. Air Force F-105 pilot from 1965, and Deqlan and Davan representing the desert warriors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Our buddy, Steve Cox, was also with us throughout the weekend with his excellent Vietnam display. The weather this year was absolutely incredible with sunny skies and temps in the 60s and 70s all weekend. We were once again invited to the Saturday night reenactor dinner and followed it up with our traditional sunset hang out. It got cold overnight and a thick fog greeted us in the early morning hours. Saturday was pretty steady with fort visitors with Sunday's attendance being a little lighter than expected with such great weather. We are talking about doing a "Springtime" version of this event, so potentially look for us at the fort the first weekend of May 2026.

On Saturday, August 2 the World War 2 Guys attended our second annual Open House event at the Commemorative Air Force's Great Plains Wing hanger and museum. Unlike last year, it was a gorgeous, cool summer morning with low humidity and temperatures in the 70s, so everyone really enjoyed being outdoors. We were served up stacks of golden pancakes with sausages, orange juice and coffee by the famous Pancake Man. Donnie caught an impressive 5 out of 6 pancakes that were flung on his plate. We had several tables set-up as a display focused on the B-29 Superfortress crews of the Pacific Theater in World War II. I designed two boards that outlined the unique responsibilities of each member of a B-29 crew. We also had a new promotional board for the World War 2 Guys to explain a little bit about who we are and what we do. There was a lot of great interaction with the public and as always we had a really fun time spending the morning together as a team. Next month we will be back in action at the Ft. Atkinson Timeline Weekend so come on out and see all of our amazing impressions!

On Friday, July 4, the World War 2 Guys were a part of our 10th annual Field Club 4th of July Parade. It was a beautiful morning for a parade with sunny skies and a nice light breeze. This year we honored and remembered the U.S. Marine Corps and their bloody 3 months of combat on Okinawa, the final great battle of World War II. 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II so our mission to celebrate its warriors is stronger than ever.  We always enjoy getting together for community events like this and keeping the memories of the Greatest Generation alive and well in our younger generations.

On Saturday, June 7 the Boys of H Company were back in the field in remembrance of the 81st Anniversary of the D-Day invasion. As our event was on June 7 we crafted our scenario around a D+1 patrol to link up with other scattered 507th troopers at "Timmes Orchard". The 2nd Battalion commander Lt. Col. Charles Timmes was famous for leading an ever-growing group of paratroopers in defense of a small orchard north of St. Mere Elise. The orchard was utilized as a fall back position up through June 9 by different groups of paratroopers. So for our event, our leadership group plotted an ambitious plan to patrol up through the Loess Hills of western Iowa and make our way to a small orchard that we found while studying maps of the area. In theory it was a solid idea, but it proved to be too much for our group of heavily ladened troopers in the late morning heat. After reconsidering our plans for the weekend, our squad found a prime spot in an open valley to set up our defensive positions for the night. We dug several two man foxholes, or scrapes depending on how much digging each team wanted to do. Will made us a nice fire to cook rations and coffee on and we had a fun time trying out Hazard's new homemade D Bars. A six man sunset patrol was quite successful as they came back with a German flag, a Zeltbahn, and a few other odds and ends. D+1 came to an end with plenty of liberated French Calvados, cigarettes, captured German chocolate, and lots of laughs and stories!  The overnight proved to be rather uneventful but with pleasant temperatures so that no one froze in their foxholes. On D+2 we packed up early and made our way back home. It was a great overnight event and all of the guys left with plenty of fond memories of an "Orchard Too Far"!

On Monday, May 26 the World War 2 Guys were a part of a very special event at Omaha's Memorial Park to celebrate and honor our nation's fallen heroes. The event was organized and hosted by Bill Williams and Patriotic Productions and it was outstanding! Event goers were served up free pancakes and sausages by Congressman Don Bacon and Senator Pete Ricketts. The American flag was flown in by a parachute demonstration team. The highlight of the event was a ceremony to recognize local servicemen and women throughout the decades who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for America. Members of our group dressed in period correct uniforms to portray famous Omahans or individuals associated with Nebraska. For World War I, Will portrayed 1st Lt. Jarvis Offutt and Heather Hill portrayed nurse Marion Crandell. For World War II, Cody portrayed Flight Officer Martin P. Schmitt, Jr. and Matt portrayed Lt. Col. Alfred Thomsen. For the Korean War, Deqlan portrayed Pfc. Charles Vorel, Jr. and Bryson portrayed Pfc. Edward "Babe" Gomez. For the Vietnam War, Eric portrayed Major Michael Bosiljevac and Rhys portrayed Pfc. Stephen Cole. And for the War on Terror, Davan portrayed Cpl. Matthew Henderson. It was a very moving ceremony with each of us reading aloud a brief biography of each hero. We very much hope to be involved with more ceremonies like this in the coming years. Later in the day, I visited the graves of two of our honorees, Lt. Col. Thomsen and Major Bosiljevac.

On Saturday, May 24, the World War 2 Guys marched in our fifth annual Memorial Weekend Parade put on by Patriotic Productions. This was a great day for a parade with overcast skies and cooler temperatures for late May. This year our entire group wore the CC2'd M42 Jump Uniforms that the 507th PIR wore for their night drop into Normandy. The troopers of our squad also all carried extra equipment that would have been utilized during the invasion such as Assault Gas Mask Bags, Hawkins Mines, extra Grenades, and the Bazooka of course! We also recently discovered that Colonel Millett made an extra effort to get as much OD7 (darker green) web gear into the hands of his 507th paratroopers as possible before the big jump. He knew the value of having darker colored gear for camouflage purposes. So we are making an effort to sprinkle in some more OD7 items into our D-Day impressions.