On Tuesday, July 4, the World War 2 Guys were back in action at our favorite Independence Day Parade in the historic Field Club Neighborhood. Our unit impression was open this year so in attendance we had Joe as a 2nd Armored Division infantryman, Jacob as a 101st Airborne paratrooper, Eric as a B-29 Superfortress pilot in the Pacific, and Will as a street sweepin' US Army soldier in his denim work fatigues. The weather was perfect for the 4th of July and we had a great time being together as always!

On Saturday, May 27, the World War 2 Guys participated in the 3rd Annual Memorial Weekend Parade which is an event put on by Patriotic Productions. This year the parade was bigger and better than ever with more entries and a longer parade route which ran west on Jackson, east on Howard, and then back up Farnam ending at the newly renovated Gene Leahy Mall. The historical segments of the parade were broken into decades with banners marching in front of each group. For World War II we had Will representing early war US Army and Jacob representing the 101st Airborne in Normandy. For the Korean War we had Cody representing the US Army and Eric the US Marine Corps. Joe was our Vietnam War representative and Mark was our Desert Storm guy. It was a great parade with huge crowds and excellent weather so everyone had a great time!

The World War 2 Guys met up at Ft. Atkinson on Sunday, April 29 for our annual Spring Training and baseball game.  We had a lighter attendance for this event with Casey, Jon, Matt, and Eric taking part.  We started the morning with some much appreciated donuts and coffee supplied by Casey followed by some rifle drill and marching on the parade ground.  We held a short administrative meeting covering upcoming events and other important unit topics.  The four of us then geared-up and made our way down to the lower river plain for some patrol time.  Casey led us on a somewhat lengthy patrol through the trees and grasses on this beautiful sunny morning.  We stopped off for a breather and to shoot a few rounds through Staff Sergeant Krelle's new Thompson.  Then it was back to the parade ground for some good old fashioned baseball!  We knocked-off the rust by warming up our arms first with a few spirited games of catch.  Then it was home run derby time with each trooper taking several turns at bat.  Corporal Hazard had the longest shot of the day, but the true headline moment was when SSgt. Krelle actually hit the leather cover off a baseball!  Seems that he's a regular Roy Hobbs at the plate!  It was a really fun event which we will hold again next year for certain.

On the evening of Saturday, January 6, the World War 2 Guys got together for a nice winter dinner and unit meeting. This was our largest gathering to date with Cody, Jeff, Jon, Matt, Luke, Will, Eric and Casey in attendance. We chose Gerda's German Restaurant & Bakery, a local Omaha favorite and pretty much the only place in town serving authentic German food. Once we had all arrived, an unexpected highlight of the night was an actual Battle of the Bulge veteran briefly stopping by our table to say hello and admire our uniforms. You hardly ever see World War II veterans anymore so just seeing this gentleman was a special moment for all of us. We started off the night with some yummy Oktoberfest and Wheat Beers followed by platefuls of Schnitzels, Sauerbraten, Red Cabbage, Potato Salad, Spaetzle and Goulash. Our unit discussion was focused on upcoming winter and spring events with lots of laughs in between. Eric, Jeff and Cody dressed in 507th uniforms with Will, Matt and Jon dressing in some fancy 1940s attire.  It was a fun night with great friends and just another example of why we're such an amazing group!

1940's fashion and Class A uniforms united for a 1945 Homecoming photo shoot at the Durham Museum on Sunday, February 22.  The World War 2 Guys and some of our favorite gals got all glammed-up to recreate a bygone era at the old Union Station.  In attendance were Will, Matt, Jeff, Eric, Eli, Casey, Dan, Dawn, Alisa, Anna, Heather, Jeff, Richard, Lizzy and Brie.  Our photographer for the day was the talented Scott Rowe who is also a member of our unit.  We were granted early access to the train station two hours before the public showed up.  We went right to work taking some amazing photos and short videos throughout the main train depot and then on several train cars and a street trolley on the lower level.  Everyone had a blast!  It was so much fun to dress up and be with a big group of people who all share a similar passion for the 1940's time period.  We got a lot of strange looks and a lot of compliments once the public started showing up at the museum.  It was so much fun that we all instantly started plotting another event like this in the summertime.  Thanks to everyone who was involved.  I will post a lot more photos from the event as soon as I can.