Why the fuss over reinacting?

[WWII TRUCK]

I get amused when the guys that dress up and think they look like our heroes of the past get bent out of shape when someone else is not dressed just like them. It takes more than draping some surplus cloth over round shoulders and pudgy bellies to portray a hero. Real soldiers stood tall and added character to the uniform of their service as only a real soldier could. There are a few serious reinactors that understand what it was all about, but they are in the minority. I doubt that many hardened WWII Vets can stomach the sight and BS of a bunch of wannabes trying to play real soldier. Cut the crap and go find some mud puddles to play in.

[pfarber]

And that is why you fail.

Its not about 'dressing up' or playing army.

If that all you think it is then you will never understand.

Its only within the last 100 or so years that we have been able to keep such a complete history of the past. To recreate events and learn from the images that shaped our world is a powerful thing. To allow inaccuracies that would distort or alter the past when the correct items are available is not what historians should allow. If that means discussing the type, placement, color, fabrication and spelling on an item as simple as a button, then so be it. As you delve into that single button, you can learn more about the uniform, the men and the nation that designed it, fabricated it, and wore it.

If all it is to you is a button or a bolt, then thats all it will ever be. It may not ever mean anymore than that to YOU.

But tell me, as you sit in what you call a correctly restored whatever, can you honestly not wonder what it WAS like. With any luck we will never have to find out what total and complete war is like in our lifetime.

I was in the Navy. Served on submarines and did the whole boot camp thing. Not a lot of mud on a sub. Lots of amine, cigarette tar and missiles... but no, no mud. Went fast and deep, did the 'silent running' and shadowed some surface contacts... but not depth charged... not that I know of.

As to weather or not WWII veterans approve or disapprove of reenacting in a few short years it will, sadly, not matter.

I have never met a vet that disapproved. Granted they were at an event, so they already have chosen to support the historians/hobby. Many, many are more than happy to tell of their part in changing the world. My girlfriends bosses father was a ball turret gunner in a B-17. I talk to him often.. I never beat him up for war stories, but often they will come up between fishing stories. He's seen me in uniform and ridden in my jeep... smiles... thats all he had. Smiles and a few good stories about running the jeep into town to get a pint, and how they would use the back road/horse paths to get back on base without going through the front gate.