From: Nigel Hay - MILWEB (Nigel@milweb.net)
Date: Sat Oct 12 2002 - 01:15:07 PDT
Not one to dress up in anything military myself, aprt from overalls when
needed, I definately think that in appropriately dressed and kitted
re-enactors crewing vehicles do far more for the positive public perception
of our hobby than people dressed in a mish mash of surplus clothing looking
like the paramilitaries we see so often on the world news.
In the UK all too often I have seen a privately owned vehicle being paraded
by a driver in high leg boots, DPM trousers with say a black bouncer jacket,
with what seems to be the (in the UK anyway) the seemingly omni present
shaven head. Add to this the giant England football flag (or the Cross of St
George as it should be) billowing from the aerial and thats how the public
percieve us.........scary and probably to be avoided - and that worries me.
On a lighter note I am reminded of the early days of The War and Peace Show
when a German re-enactor (not SS) "private" travelled by public transport
some 300 miles fully kitted up - no one in the 12hour bus and train journey
actually bothered (or was brave enough) to ask him "why?"
At the War and Peace Show the re-enactors have made a significant
contribution to the show and have made some very good news footage. Tim Page
(the world reknowned Nam copmbat cameraman) has become a great friend of our
Nam living history groups and has taken literally hundreds of pics of them,
some of which have appeared in national newspapers.
Perhaps one of the best sights in 25 years of all this military "stuff" I
ever saw was on the 60th Anniversary of the Dunkirk Evacuation. I watched
the flotilla of the surviving "little ships" return to Ramsgate harbour -an
incredible sight enjoyed by 20,000 people who applauded every veteran ship
with the same enthusiasm. Dame Vera Lynn was in attendance and many veterans
all of whom were Octegenarians at least.
One of the smaller little ships came in packed with a platoon of
dishevelled re-enactors in ripped and dirty battle dress, with grubby
bandages, unshaven and all looking exhausted. Just like our troops came back
60 years ago.
The re-enactors had marched some 30 miles in northern France retracing the
retreat of the unit they represented. So realistic and the crowds and
veterans alike were all very appreciate - that really was living history.
But these guys knew it was the veterans event and when they landed just
stood quietly watching what was going on -until a group of very old
veterans called them over and organised an impromptu photo call with the
press pack. Vera Lynn came over to meet them. On the quayside was a fully
crewed 25 pounder field gun, Quad and limber which fired some rounds to
start the fireworks.
All in all the re-enactors palyed a very positive role in this very poignant
event.
My late mother often recalled how she watched the British Expeditionary
Force march proudly and confidently off to France at the start of the war
from Dover - then in the May she like most of the townsfolk watched the
broken battered survivors return on the little ships. One of her last
outings was to watch the rescue flotilla leave Dover once more for the
60th anniversary. Evacuated from Dover soon after, the family house was a
few moths later hit by a shell fired from the German Cross Channel guns at
Wissant. My grandfather a NAAFI accountant remained based at Dover Castle
through the harrowing dark days of 1940 when the Germans came so close to
invading us. Later in the war, he played a small part in the D Day deception
"Operation Fortitude South" - he and a team of auditors used to visit dummy
army camps on their bicycles to check the ficticius books for non exisitant
NAAFI units - prior to their visits the decievers would make lots of phone
calls and public comments about "blimey the book keeprs are coming - no more
free stuff" to carry on the deception. Well, a very small part but the
whole picture fooled Herr Hitler and his cohorts into thinking the invasion
would be Nord pas de Calais.
Where were we, oh yes, re-enactors - ok done that!
Nige
----- Original Message -----
From: "HOWARD WRIGHT" <dvsww2@mindspring.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2002 12:16 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] Reenactors have no right!!! unless they were there
> Political, Non-MV??? All the reenactors are basically asking is to be
able
> to display their MV and their impressions without being harassed. I think
> Dave Ball's attitude unfortunately is held by some in the hobby. I for one
> have very little interest in the postings on M35, Mutts and HMMV's on the
> list. However I tolerate it and hit the delete key. I note in the MVM
> that more and more events are advertising reenactors and displays. I
don't
> think there is more an impressive site to see WWII MV's deployed in the
> field with good impressions. Except for the license plates, you'd think
it
> was 1944.
>
> > [Original Message]
> > From: Keith Byrd <byrdhouse@netease.net>
> > To: <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> > Date: 10/11/02 2:20:42 PM
> > Subject: Re: [MV] Reenactors have no right!!! unless they were there
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Glen Bedel <GBedel@designforum.com>
> > To: Military Vehicles Mailing List <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> > Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 11:04 AM
> > Subject: Re: [MV] Reenactors have no right!!! unless they were there
> >
> >
> > > This is not a political forum....please its a MV info mailing list,
> please
> > > take this conversation offline....
> >
> > I'm not one to start trouble, but I can't help but agree with Glen. The
> list
> > is so crowded with this political stuff the e-mail load is more than you
> can
> > read in one day. Lets please stick to the nuts and bolts of our hobby.
> >
> > I met a very nice and knowledgeable gentleman the other day by the name
of
> > Rick Bonds. Rick lives about 50 mi. from me and has several large GI
> trucks.
> > He also recently sold a M55 SP 8 in. Howitzer to the Littlefield
> collection.
> >
> > I asked him if he ever got on the list and he said he used to be a
> > subscriber until all the hoopla started over the MVPA. So he
unsubscribed
> > and hasn't been back on. We all loose when knowledgeable people get
tired
> of
> > all the controversy and leave the list. This is the greatest tool that
we
> > have to network and get information. A lot of us are too far from a
> chapter
> > of the MVPA to attend regular meetings. I've gained a wealth of
knowledge
> of
> > the list and have learned things that I'll probably never use. I'm sure
> I'll
> > probably never own any British or German vehicles, but it's neat to know
> > about them.
> >
> > The pressure is off, I've vented.
> >
> >
> >
> > ===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
> > To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
> > To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to
<mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org>
> > To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>
>
>
> --- HOWARD WRIGHT
> --- dvsww2@mindspring.com
> --- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.
>
>
>
>
> ===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
> To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org>
> To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>
>
>
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