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 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.

The weekend of September 2-3 was the much anticipated 9th Annual Timeline Weekend at Ft. Atkinson State Historical Park. After enjoying a few weeks of pleasant late August weather, we were finally hit with some more extreme temps throughout the weekend which might have impacted crowd attendance. Joe was once again sporting his top notch 5th Special Forces Group impression and hooch display. Steve Cox was representing the U.S. Marine Corps in the Vietnam War once again with his extensive display layout. Jeff was out on Saturday in a World War II infantryman kit. And Eric represented the U.S. Navy pilots of Task Force 77 in the Korean War. We all enjoyed a great picnic dinner for the participating reenactors on Saturday night, which was followed by a fun night of hanging out until after sunset. Sunday warmed-up quickly and visitors to the park were sadly pretty sparse. We headed out a bit earlier than expected, but it was great to be back at the fort and rekindle a lot of great friendships with fellow living historians.

A special event was held at Omaha's Memorial Park on Saturday, July 29 to remember and honor the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. The event was planned and organized by Bill Williams and Patriotic Productions which has put on some amazing events to honor our Nebraska war veterans throughout the years, most notably several big Honor Flights for our World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans. This event was actually held on the exact anniversary of the end of the Korean War on July 29, 1953. Patriotic Productions brought in a half sizes replica of the Korean War Memorial which is a traveling exhibit that goes around the country. Our small part of this special event was to set-up a camp area with tents and equipment displays right along Dodge Street. Will represented the US Army with an excellent gear layout with a shelter tent. Joe represented the United States Marine Corps with a camo Marine shelter tent and gear layout. And Eric represented the US Navy with a small Task Force 77 carrier pilot display. The public along with dozens of Korean War veterans enjoyed seeing our display and sharing their stories with us. This was truly a once in a lifetime event and one that we were particularly honored to be a part of.

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!

On Saturday, May 28, the World War 2 Guys marched in Omaha's 2nd Annual Memorial Weekend Parade through downtown Omaha. After tossing around a few other ideas, we decided to go with a timeline walk again this year. Our representative soldiers were Will for World War II, Cody for the Korean War, Eric for the Vietnam War, and Mark for Desert Storm. The crowds were huge once again and the weather was about as nice as you could get for a Saturday morning parade! We'll certainly be back again next year.

On Sunday, September 12, the World War 2 Guys were invited to celebrate the 20th Anniversary re-dedication of the Andrew Jackson Higgins Memorial in Columbus, Nebraska. Our participants for the day were Mark representing the "Big Red One" of the 1st Infantry Division on D-Day, Cody representing the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, and Eric representing the 1st Cavalry Division in the Korean War. The park and memorial in Columbus were beautiful and the public interaction was great as well. It was very rewarding to show off the uniforms, weapons and equipment of our soldiers and marines who rode Higgins Boats to the battlefield in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. 

On Friday evening, May 28, the World War 2 Guys marched in a Memorial Day kick-off parade through downtown Omaha in honor of our nation's fallen. This event was organized by Bill and Yvonne Williams of Patriotic Productions with loads of other local sponsors chipping in. In attendance for our group were Jeff honoring World War II, Eric honoring the Korean War, a new member Joe who honored the Vietnam War, and Cody honoring Operation Desert Storm. All of our guys looked great and it was really neat to see us showing the progression of the American soldier through the 20th century. The parade kicked off at 12th and Farnam St. and headed east to 10th St. and then up the hill to the Durham Museum. We have never seen crowds as big as this in downtown Omaha. It was simply spectacular and very awe-inspiring! The organizers would like this to be an annual event going forward so we will definitely be back in 2022.

On Saturday, July 4, the World War 2 Guys celebrated Independence Day back at our favorite neighborhood parade for Field Cub's reverse parade or EDARAP as they called it. The plan was for neighborhood residents and visitors to either drive or walk a pre-planned parade route to see all of the cool front yard displays and patriotic spirit throughout the historic neighborhood. For our group we had Will and Conner representing WWII, Cody representing the Marines in the Korean War, and Eric representing the Vietnam War. It was nice to be back out on the 4th of July in our hometown and nice to see so many smiling faces and waves from passers by!

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!