On Tuesday, June 6, Eric was invited to set-up a D-Day themed display at the Omaha Golden K Kiwanis Club weekly meeting. First Sergeant Dan Falcon, who is a big deal in the local Airborne community and a strong supporter of our group, invited me to be a part of his presentation. Dan has been an 82nd Airborne paratrooper since the 1970s and is a tremendous leader both with JROTC and with Airborne veterans. The morning provided another great chance to show off some of the uniforms, equipment, and weapons that the brave men of the 82nd and 101st Airborne took into battle 79 years ago in Normandy.

On Sunday, June 4, the World War 2 Guys were happy to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Omaha's Memorial Park dedication. On hand for the day were Will representing a Bombardier of the 20th Air Force, Eric was a U.S. Marine on Iwo Jima, Deqlan was a 507th trooper from Alliance Army Air Base, Jacob was a 101st Airborne trooper in Normandy, and Joe was a 101st trooper in the Vietnam War. We had our WWII Small Wall Tent, a WWII Shelter Tent, and a Vietnam War poncho hooch all set up for our display layouts. We had lots of visitors throughout the day and some thunder and heavy rain as well. It was a fun chance to interact with the public in one of Omaha's greatest settings.

On Saturday, April 29, the World War 2 Guys gathered for our annual Spring Training event. We held our event at historic Fort Atkinson which stood in for Alliance Army Air Base in far western Nebraska. The time period for the weekend was the spring of 1943 wearing HBT Coveralls with Jump Boots, M-1941 Field Jackets, and typical web gear. We had seven enthusiastic troopers in attendance making this one of our larger training events. Leading quite a bit of the training was our top-notch Sergeant Patzke, who did an excellent job keeping us educated, on schedule, and out of trouble. Some of the afternoon highlights were a uniform and equipment class led by Corporal Green, rifle drill and marching on the parade ground, and even a little recreational baseball time. For supper, Sarge cooked us up a delicious meal of beef stew with bread, tea, and apple pie for dessert. Following dining room clean-up, we did a spirited unit field march and practiced our hand signals and squad field formations. We even took out a pesky sniper hidden in the Powder Magazine! This was followed by a nighttime showing of the 1949 Van Johnson film "Battleground" right on the west wall of the fort. This was a really neat activity out under the starry sky, imagining what it must have been like in the Army long ago. Our overnight stay in the fort's barracks was fairly comfortable in our 1820's era bunks. In the morning there were donuts and coffee as well as some light unit calisthenics. As the weekend came to a close, we all realized that this was quite possibly the best training event we've ever done as a unit. We're already tossing around some ideas for 2024 and ways to make this event even better!

On Saturday, March 11, the World War 2 Guys kicked off their 2023 season at the 144th Annual Omaha St. Patrick's Day Parade organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Our line-up for the day included Jerrimy, Will, Eric, Matt, Cody, and Jacob who was joining us for the first time. The story of the day was the weather which was typically nasty for March in Nebraska. Temps were hovering in the low 30s with continuous rain for the whole parade. Thanks to Uncle Sam, our M1943 uniforms incorporating the layering principle kept us pretty warm, however our toes and fingers still got a little numb. Our uniform for the day was focused on the 17th Airborne Division at Operation Varsity in late March 1945. Two of the notable features of this uniform are the American Flag worn on the right sleeve and the Parachute First Aid Packet tied to the front of the helmet net. The parade itself was quick and enjoyable with hundreds of enthusiastic spectators braving the cold, wet morning to support a favorite Omaha tradition. Afterwards our group tried to get into the Dubliner for a pint, but they were overcrowded so we had to find another venue. So the boys from H Company headed west and snuggled into a nice Party Room table at The Brazenhead. With Guinness all around, some Reubens, and some cold Bangers and Mash our squad spent an enjoyable lunch hour together talkin' Army stuff and events to come.

On Saturday, April 9, the boys of H Company gathered for our annual Spring Training event at Fort Atkinson. In attendance were Eric, Will, Matt, Mike, Joe, and Jerrimy. The day started off with rifle drill and some basic marching on the parade ground. Jerrimy did an excellent job guiding us through this phase of our training!  Next up was some familiarization time with the 17th Airborne uniform, equipment, and weapons used in Operation Varsity. That was followed by everyone's favorite time of day - chow time!  Jerrimy showed off his new 5 in 1 Rations project that he's diligently been working on. Everyone was impressed with the quality and attention to detail that he's been putting into his WWII rations research. We did some refresher course work on our hand signals and field formations work from last month followed by a little field march. We got some great photos of a few troopers doing a mock house clearing which was fun. The day ended with some good old fashioned baseball time with a few of the guys getting some nice hits. Hazard's head almost got taken off by a line drive but he survived!  It was a great day and another top notch event for the World War 2 Guys!

On Saturday, February 26, the boys of H Company, 507th PIR kicked off our exciting 2022 season with a winter training event at the Loess Hills State Forest. This was the first of two training events leading up to our Operation Varsity event in May. In attendance were Privates Mason, Quinn, Patzke and Yurgil along with Pfc. Williams, Sgt. Hazard and SSgt. Krelle. The morning started with a vigorous field march up and down the picturesque hills of our training site. Sgt. Hazard led the way in an action that sets our unit apart from many others in the field. We then began some classroom training led by SSgt. Krelle who covered squad hand signals, squad structure, and movement in the field. The whole squad enjoyed a test run of new C-Rations created by Pvt. Patzke which tasted excellent and looked extremely authentic as well. Our unit now has a reliable source of period correct rations for future events. We then spent time as a squad moving in the field using various formations such as open and closed squad columns, skirmish lines, a wedge formation, and the diamond formation. As a final exercise, we assaulted a group of unsuspecting German armored vehicles using a base of fire and maneuver team with much success. We ended our day discussing our 2022 events schedule and plans for the year ahead. It was a great first event and a pleasure to see our group together in action once again! 

On Saturday, November 13, the World War 2 Guys were back in action for an event we called the "Push to Luxembourg." Our scenario for the day was set in January 1945 when the 17th Airborne Division was pushing from Belgium into Luxembourg. Joining up for the day were Matt, Will, Mike, Eric and Joe, doing his first ever World War II field event. We used our Loess Hill site for this event and had to deal with a pretty cold and windy day, but with some nice sun early on. We made our way through open fields and up to our hilltop trench where we removed quite a bit of brush and re-fortified our line. We spent quite a bit of time just cleaning up the trench line and extending it a little more to the east. There was hot coffee and some hot chow thanks to Will and Joe and their small fires. Later in the day, Matt, Eric and Joe patrolled another hilltop and some wooded areas which we plan on using in 2022 for another immersion event. With rain starting to spit down on us, we called it a day and made our way back to the vehicles. But it was a great little outing and some fun time with friends in the field!

The weekend of September 4-5, the World War 2 Guys were back in action for our 7th annual Ft. Atkinson Timeline Weekend. The weather was outstanding for this year's event with sunny skies and more moderate temperatures. Eric and Joe were at the fort Saturday night and were treated to a picnic dinner for all of the participating reenactors. Joe stayed overnight in the west barracks wall of the fort and Eric slept overnight in his shelter just outside the west wall. A gorgeous sunrise greeted all of the early rising reenactors on Sunday morning and some much appreciated coffee made for some happy guys! For the day, Eric portrayed a Staff Sergeant from H Company of the 507th PIR, Joe portrayed an Airborne trooper of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam 1965, Conner showed off his newly acquired Russian infantry impression, and Will portrayed an early Vietnam advisor in his duck hunter camo utilities. Public attendance for the weekend was at an all-time high with lots of enthusiastic visitors taking in our displays. The traditional whiskey call at 3:00pm was met with much excitement and some sour faces after that first swig. It was another great weekend at the fort and a great time to show off some excellent military impressions!

On Saturday, May 29 the fellas were back in action at a monuments re-dedication ceremony at Omaha's beautiful Memorial Park. It was a gorgeous, sunny day with Eric and Cody representing H/507, Will representing F/502 and Joe representing the 101st Airborne in Vietnam. There were parachute jumpers and a nice presentation by various speakers including our 2nd District Representative Don Bacon. Afterwards we had lots of photos taken at the Airborne Memorial which was one of the monuments being formally re-dedicated after it's move from Heartland of America Park. It was a great chance to remember and honor all of our Airborne veterans throughout our nation's history.

On Saturday, June 6, the World War 2 Guys held a field immersion exercise in recognition of the 76th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion. This time we visited the Loess Hills State Forest near Little Sioux, Iowa which served as our Normandy for the day. Our patrol consisted of Eric, Matt, Cody, Conner, and our newest member Mike. We encountered some really neat sunken roads that in places closely resembled the ancient hedgerows of Normandy. We also marched through wooded hills and valleys taking in some breathtaking scenery along the way. We stopped off for some rations and a unit admin meeting and then continued our advance back to our starting point. The very end of our march got pretty hot and our water supply was running low so we called it a day. It was excellent to see Mike out in the field with us for the first time and it was very special to all get together on D-Day. Until next month...