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.