On Saturday, March 8, the World War 2 Guys were participants in the 147th Annual Omaha St. Patrick's Day Parade. The parade is organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians and has been an Omaha tradition for generations. This year, to honor the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, our group once again raised the colors as the Marines of Easy Company, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division. We had Rhys as Cpl. Harlon Block, Deqlan as Cpl. Harold "Pie" Keller, Donnie as Pfc. Franklin Sousley, Don as Sgt. Mike Strank, Will as Pfc. Harold Henry Schultz, Bryson as Cpl. Ira Hayes, and Eric as Lt. Harold George Schrier. This year we were positioned at the front of the parade right behind the official U.S. Marine Corps color guard. The crowd support was excellent as always and the full sun, light winds, and temps in the 40s made for a beautiful morning! Afterwards we journeyed back to our favorite post-parade lunch spot at Brazen Head Irish Pub for a Guiness and some great Irish fare.

On Saturday, February 1, the World War 2 Guys visited the Durham Museum for a group meeting and a chance to dress up in some "classy" Class A uniforms. In attendance were Joe representing the 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division, Cody representing the 349th Infantry "Kraut Killers" of the 88th Division, Matt representing our own 507th PIR while stationed in Nebraska, Rhys representing the 101st Airborne Division, and Eric representing the 164th Infantry of the American Division that served on Guadalcanal. We had a fun unit meeting on one of the train cars nicknamed "The Cornhusker Club" and had a great conversation with one of the museum volunteers and historians named Raleigh. Unfortunately, our visit was a short one, but we will hopefully add this as a regular unit event in the years to come.

On Sunday, October 27, the World War 2 Guys got to take part in our first ever "Flight of Fright" event at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum. The fun feature of this family trick or treating experience was that volunteers like our group would get to throw candy from inside the museum's aircraft collection. So with our mission established, and bags of candy in hand, we manned our aircraft. Rhys was dressed as an Airborne trooper dropping candy from the C-47 Skytrain. Matt and Cody were assigned to the B-17 Flying Fortress. Eric and Bryson were stationed in the B-29 Super Fortress, Lucky Lady. And Jeff made it out for the day, roaming the museum hangers as an Army M.P. The only big SNAFU of the day was that there were WAY more trick or treaters than the museum was expecting!!! We ran out of our first large bags of candy within the first hour. So a resupply mission brought back additional bombloads of candy for the guys inside the planes. It was an awesome afternoon event and drew enormous crowds to the museum which was great to see. Our group's favorite aspect was just getting to spend some quality time in these legendary aircraft of World War II.

On Thursday, July 4, the World War 2 Guys were back in action at our favorite 4th of July tradition. We once again met up at the historic Field Club neighborhood of Omaha for their annual Independence Day Parade. This year, in honor of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day and Operation Overlord, we chose to represent the brave infantrymen of the 1st Infantry Division, known since World War I as "The Big Red One"! So we donned our Assault Gas Mask Bags, Gas Brassards, M-1926 Life Belts, and plastic rifle bags along with our wool uniforms and M41 Field Jackets. The weather was cooler than in years past so were comforted with a little relief from Mother Nature. It was another great turnout and our group earned 2nd Place in the Historical category. We were interviewed by John Chapman of WOWT Channel 6 News and were featured in a great little feature story. It was a great time for all of us and we hope to be back again next year!

On Thursday, June 6, the World War 2 Guys were honored to be involved with a ceremony to mark and remember the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. The event was quickly put together by Bill Williams of Patriotic Productions the week before the anniversary. Former Omaha mayor, Hal Daub, served as the MC of the early morning event. Four paratroopers jumped on Memorial Park which is always an awe-inspiring experience. World War 2 Guys unit commander, Eric Krelle, served as the keynote speaker and delivered a heart-felt speech about the ways in which D-Day has intersected with his life over the past four decades. It was a beautiful morning and all of us felt very happy to be able to remember the men who jumped from the skies and stormed the beaches 80 years ago on this date.

On Saturday, May 25, the World War 2 Guys were back in action for the 4th Annual Patriotic Productions Memorial Weekend Parade. The weather was glorious this year with full sunshine and perfect temps throughout the morning! In preparation for the parade this year, all of our members put forth a lot of extra effort working on our impressions and our historical authenticity. Four of our guys represented the infantrymen of the 1st Infantry Division "The Big Red One" who landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. The other four guys represented the paratroopers of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment who dropped behind enemy lines into Normandy on June 5, 1944. This was our largest ever group turnout for a parade and everyone looked top notch! Everyone in our group has an amazing passion for keeping alive the memories of our World War II generation and the incredible sacrifices that they made on our nation's behalf.

On Saturday, March 9, the World War 2 Guys were back in action for our second time at the St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Omaha. This was the 146th Annual parade put on by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Omaha. This year we were extremely happy to be basking in full sunlight as opposed to the freezing rain of 2023's parade. Our uniform of the day was typical of what the 507th Parachute Infantry would have been wearing through much of their training in Northern Ireland and Nottingham, England in the spring of 1944. We wore the OD Wool Uniform paired with M41 Field Jackets, Jump Helmets, Jump Boots, and standard field gear. We could only muster four troopers for the day but we had a great time! Following the parade, we journeyed back to the Brazen Head Irish Pub for some delicious food and drinks!

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 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 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.