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 Saturday, November 9, the World War 2 Guys were back in the field for a squad patrol through the dreaded Hurtgen Forest. Our Squad Leader for the day was Sergeant Krelle with Matt serving as Assistant Squad Leader.  Bryson was on the Browning Automatic Rifle with Deqlan as his Assistant B.A.R. gunner. Donnie, Davan, and Rhys filled out the squad as riflemen with their M1s. As we continued with our "year in the life" honoring the "Big Red One", we were portraying L Company of the 16th Infantry Regiment, a storied company of the 1st Infantry Division. The 16th Infantry was tasked with some hard fighting in the Hurtgen Forest in mid-November 1944 to take Hill 232 near the town of Hamich. We spent some of our time during the day reading aloud the experiences of the 16th in their bloody struggle against the German defenders. We dug a line of four squad foxholes along a hillside to defend against any German counterattacks that may come our way. We also marched up to the top of our trench outpost to get a better view of the terrain. It was a great fall day to be outdoors and always a pleasure to spend time together as a group.

On Saturday, July 20, the World War 2 Guys jumped forward in time to the year 1967. Our objective for the day was to loosely live a "day in the life" of the 1986 Oliver Stone movie, Platoon. Our squad for the day was comprised of SSgt. Barnes, Sgt. Elias, Taylor, Bunny, Rhah, Lerner, and Crawford. Our guys had been preparing for this for a few months, but it was the first Vietnam event for all of us so there were several little details that we can improve upon for future events. For our location, we chose our favorite site in the beautiful Loess Hills of western Iowa. We spent quite a bit of time clearing out and improving our hilltop outpost which we called Firebase Lightning. After a lunch of C Rations, we did a lengthy Search & Destroy patrol in the afternoon and just had a great time hanging out as a group. After our time in the hills, all seven of us ventured to the Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Memorial where we took some really great group photos which we'll post later. It was such a fun day that we're already planning on doing a follow-up event next year.

More photos and event After Action Report coming soon!

On Saturday, March 27 the World War 2 Guys got back in the field for our first event of 2021. With 2020 being such a tough year on events, we were all itching to get back out as a group. For our March event we decided to honor the men of the 1st Marines and the 1st Marine Division on Okinawa. The initial landings were on April 1, 1945 with the 1st Marine Division on the northern end of Okinawa positioned between the 6th Marine Division and the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division. With us for this event were the Sarge, Will, Matt, Conner and Mike. We have all been working on improving our USMC impressions and everyone looked great as a group. The event was held in the Loess Hills State Forest and between the hills and pine trees there were quite a few visual cues that made it feel like we might have been in Okinawa. We patrolled for most of the day looking for the elusive enemy but came up shorthanded. We took some really great photos after our patrol that were inspired by some of the most famous Marine Corps photos from the Okinawa campaign. It was a great day and a promising start to our exciting 2021 season!

On Saturday, October 10, the World War 2 Guys were back in the field representing the "Blue Devils" of the 88th Infantry Division in Italy. Our understrength squad for the event was SSgt. Krelle, Sgt. Green, Cpl. Hazard, Pfc. Williams, and Pvt. Mason. We began our day winding our way through cornfields and humping it up the Loess Hills which served as Italy for the day. The men spent time clearing out our old hilltop trench while keeping a keen eye out for any Kraut activity in our sector. We got in a few quick firefights with a small German patrol located in a grove of trees below our position. After Sgt. Green had a weapons malfunction, SSgt. Krelle quickly stepped-in and neutralized the enemy patrol with a little back-up from Pvt. Mason. After the fireworks, the squad spent the sunset hour eating some rations and some cooked Spam provided by Pfc. Williams. Everyone agreed that the hot chow was delicious!  After securing our positions for the night the men looked up in awe of the star-filled night sky above. Thankfully, there was no enemy activity during the night which remained relatively warm for an October evening. The squad was up with the sun, scrounging up some rations and some hot coffee from Sgt. Green.  We packed up and left our hilltop position, pushing to the south to keep the pressure on the Germans.  It was quite an event highlighted by some spectacular weather and some amazing fall colors.

On Saturday, October 19, the World War II Guys time travelled back to 1951 to recreate a day in the Korean War. We decided to portray a squad from the 7th Cavalry Regiment "Garry Owen" of the First Cavalry Division.  In attendance were Eric, Cody, Jon, and our newest recruit Conner. We went back to our old stomping ground up in the Loess Hills near Mondamin, Iowa. It was a beautiful fall day with lots of warm fall colors and really nice temperatures. Once our patrol reached the summit of our favorite hill we cleared out a lot of overgrowth and debris from our old trench line. We spent some time eating rations and firing our weapons from the trench. We ran a patrol to the next hill to the east which is actually a bit higher in elevation. Future plans include setting up another Observation Post (OP) on the second hill to build our network of fighting positions. We are also planning on buying a set of BC-611 Handie Talkies so we can have communication between the two OPs. Eventually we headed back down to our vehicle and headed home but it was a great way to spend a day among friends in some beautiful scenery!

On Sunday, January 20, the World War 2 Guys hit the frozen fields of eastern Nebraska in hopes of recreating some scenes from the Battle of the Bulge. The day could not have been more perfect!  Frigid temperatures combined with a biting wind, plenty of snow on the ground, and active snowfall throughout the morning made for an ideal day. We made our way over snow covered hills until we got to an intersection in a hollow where we set up an outpost. A few our our 507th troopers worked on digging a foxhole while Sergeant Green worked on building a small fire. A short while later, hot coffee was passed around the men which was much appreciated. We were able to fire the new squad Bazooka for the first time and our M1s and Thompson were chirping as well. After a satisfying morning, we finally made our way back from the front and headed home. It was definitely one of the best winter immersion events we've ever done!  BRRRRR!!!

The World War 2 Guys held our first ever Korean War reenactment on Saturday, June 24 in the Loess Hills just north of Mondamin, Iowa.  In attendance were Eric, Matt and Jon representing the Marines of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade and Will representing a soldier of the U.S. Army. For our uniform and equipment, we chose the Pusan Perimeter battles in the summer of 1950 as our time period.  We arrived on site in the late afternoon and immediately set to finding our outpost location and digging in.  The weather was actually gorgeous for late June with afternoon highs in the 70's and a nice strong breeze cooling us down.  The position we dug was a long trench about 20 feet long with a sandbagged front wall.  We were situated on one of the highest hills overlooking the entire area and the views were pretty amazing!  We stopped for an early supper and then made our way back down the hill to bring up extra supplies.  Thank God for Jiffy Mart in Mondamin!  We got back to our outpost just before sunset which was spectacular.  It was then time to collect the firewood so Will could cook our second dinner.  As with most reenactments, story time soon followed as we sat back and took it all in.  Most of us dozed off to sleep around midnight under a sky full of stars.  Temperatures dipped into the 40's by morning so Highneck Sweaters and M43 Field Jackets became a necessity.  Right around 0430, a nearby pack of coyotes made there presence known so we got the fire going again.  It felt good to warm up and Will's hot coffee is always a welcome treat.  We packed up our gear and made our way back down the hill by 0600.  It was a great event and a fitting way to honor the beginning of the Korean War which started on June 25, 1950.  Korea has often been referred to as the "Forgotten War", but 36,574 dead, 103,284 wounded, 7,926 missing in action, and 4,714 POWs is nothing to forget about.