On Saturday, February 7, the World War 2 Guys kicked off the 2026 season with our annual Winter Muster at Omaha's Union Station, now home of the Durham Museum. This is a fun event every year as we dress up in Class A uniforms of various World War II units. In attendance this time were Will representing the 23rd Infantry of the 2nd Infantry Division, Eric representing the 355th Infantry of the 89th Infantry Division, Donnie representing the 134th Infantry of the 35th Infantry Division, Davan representing the 507th PIR of the 17th Airborne Division, and Rhys representing the 502nd PIR of the 101st Airborne Division. We held our annual meeting in the "Cornhusker Club" train car and spent some time walking around the museum. On the way to lunch, I drove right past the old Federal Building on 15th & Dodge St. which served as the headquarters of the 89th Infantry Division and the 355th Infantry Regiment from 1934 up until their mobilization in 1942. Our lunch at the Brazenhead was excellent as always and we were joined by Matt wearing an awesome B-10 Jacket with a 701st Bomb Squadron leather patch. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead in 2026 and will next be in action at Omaha's St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 14.

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 Friday, October 3, the World War 2 Guys were back in action at Omaha's Baxter Arena for Military Appreciation Night at the UNO vs. Air Force hockey game. We set up a pretty easy table display featuring items from the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Army Air Force in World War II. Davan was representing the 82nd Airborne Division, Deqlan the 1st Infantry Division, Bryson the 35th Infantry Division, Donnie the 5th Marine Division, Will the 8th Air Force, and Eric the 20th Air Force. It was a nice quick display event and we got to talk with a lot of families and kids interested in WWII. Afterwards our whole group went to Brazen Head for a nice group dinner to unwind. It sounds like this will be an annual event going forward, so hopefully we'll be back next year for more.

On Friday, July 4, the World War 2 Guys were a part of our 10th annual Field Club 4th of July Parade. It was a beautiful morning for a parade with sunny skies and a nice light breeze. This year we honored and remembered the U.S. Marine Corps and their bloody 3 months of combat on Okinawa, the final great battle of World War II. 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II so our mission to celebrate its warriors is stronger than ever.  We always enjoy getting together for community events like this and keeping the memories of the Greatest Generation alive and well in our younger generations.

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.

On Saturday, May 24, the World War 2 Guys marched in our fifth annual Memorial Weekend Parade put on by Patriotic Productions. This was a great day for a parade with overcast skies and cooler temperatures for late May. This year our entire group wore the CC2'd M42 Jump Uniforms that the 507th PIR wore for their night drop into Normandy. The troopers of our squad also all carried extra equipment that would have been utilized during the invasion such as Assault Gas Mask Bags, Hawkins Mines, extra Grenades, and the Bazooka of course! We also recently discovered that Colonel Millett made an extra effort to get as much OD7 (darker green) web gear into the hands of his 507th paratroopers as possible before the big jump. He knew the value of having darker colored gear for camouflage purposes. So we are making an effort to sprinkle in some more OD7 items into our D-Day impressions.

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!