World War Two/ Living History/ *SQUEAL!!*

A flier came in the mail about a WWII D-Day Living History Day.

We begged, we pleaded to go!

Sunday, June 5th, 2011.

The next twenty-six pictures shall bear witness to the fact that indeed,

Mom and Dad took us up to town!

It was a small affair since this is the first year they've had it.

Spread out on a green lawn, a green army tent with cots and chairs

and . . .

This awesome field radio!

There were several little boys running around in camouflage

and helmets who were so delighted

to show us how it worked!

Dawna even got to talk into it! I think that thrilled them the most!

Two man pup tents. I love homeschool boys!
They were so eager to tell us how they rolled up and carried them in packs on their back.
Two men each carried one half of the tent.
So if a buddy lost his pack they'd only have half a tent to sleep in!

Little details make my day! Gas cans from WWII.
Whoever thought such a thing would thrill me? :D


A son from one of the homeschool families up here put this all together.

They have a whole organization where they were dedicated to preserving the past with

its artifacts since not many veterans or people are around any more to tell us of their legacy.

http://www.livinghistoryadventures.org/

They even have a whole website where it tells about Father-Son Army Days they have

and Mother-Daughter Home front Days.

It was SO amazing! I had never, ever heard of it before and we've lived here awhile!



A real troop transport truck from WWII.

I have wanted to ride in one of those FOREVER!

It was so cool to see one up close and(can I say it?) . . . touch it? :D

They set up a mess tent with all the cookware.

Now that is what you call a coffee pot!

It seemed kind of strange not to see any cold,

hungry soldiers just in from the front to serve and encourage,

to tell how grateful I was for their being there.

I just wanted to find me a big ladle, lift up that lid and yell, "CHOW! Come on and get it!"

There we are! We were really there!

The whole family is there,

but we were thither and yon looking at all the different stuff!

Then they had a huge long bus FULL of uniforms, German, American, British!
I thought the German one was pretty cool! And the Mauser!

Things like this, things I didn't know about, just blew me away!

Motor Transportation, Operations, Field Manuel and Service Prayer book.

Those glasses belonged to a Chaplin, I just know they did!

Is it terrible to say that weapons and guns thrill me, too?

I love to go shooting!

Now these rifles, I'm not sure which is which, but they were:

Japanese training rifle

Last Ditch Rifle

Type 38 Rifle and Carbine

WWII Japanese

I love these old posters from WWII, but I had never seen this one.

I got teary-eyed when I knelt down and saw it.

And this my friends is a M1 Garand.

You remember that WWII TV show we like?

Well, I've wanted to hold an M1 ever since.

And guess what? I did. :)

It was HEAVY, though! I didn't expect that!

Wow.

Field Ration-K boxes!

That was pretty awesome!

The troops received different kinds of rations,

"A-Rations" being fresh, refrigerated or frozen.

So I would have been serving "A-Rations" back up there in the tent. :)

"B-Rations" were those prepared from canned or preserved food.

"C-Rations" were canned, pre-cooked food, or prepared wet when fresh food

or packaged food became impractical or just not available.

But what we have here are "K-Rations".

They came in breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Issued out when the soldiers were out on the lines for a long period of time

and couldn't get back for a hot meal.

Do eggs and ham in a can sound good to you?

Mm. I didn't think so.

"And the Star Spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

This young man was so helpful! He took us through the bus,

showing and telling Hannah and I about all the little things.

He was so happy to tell us about all the things he knew.

Like this grenade.

At first grenades were painted yellow so you could see them.

But they didn't want the Germans to see when they were thrown

so they came out with green ones.
You might never know these things unless you ask!

He showed us a bayonet and how it fit on the M1.

He was so nice! I wish I had gotten his name!

There were oodles of little boys running around about the place!

It was so charming!

On a side note, there were gorgeous, gorgeous lilacs!

You could smell them two feet away!

We left to go to lunch for a while and when I got back I just had

to get a picture of the soldier boys!

But when I raced back over to the tent some kindly man was already asking for a picture!

And they posed so nicely! Ahh!

Sweetness!

The tall man in the back there, he is the one who headed it all up!

I'm so glad he did!

Later we got to rides!

This a WWII jeep still waiting to be refinished.

But what I REALLY wanted a ride in was, yup, you guessed it!

A CCKW American transport truck.

Hannah, Ethan and Joseph came along with me.

It was bumpy, dusty, hard, loud, windy and would have been terribly cold---

I loved every minute of it!

We had a wonderful day!

I'll never forget it!

Hopefully next year we'll be able to get in on the Army and Home Front Days!

Have a day filled with lovely history dreams!