24 April, 2008
At approximately 18:30 my brother Sean and I departed from our home in Des Moines. Our destination was Charles City, Iowa to attend the 8th Annual Charles City Military History Days. Weather forecast was predicting strong thunderstorms across the area and upon checking NWS radar imagery at a rest stop just north of Ames, we saw we were about to drive through some of the worst of it. The closer we got to Mason City the darker the skies got. About an hour away from Mason City, we saw the leading edge of what looked like a super cell thunderstorm. There appeared to be a shelf cloud forming, but the strong winds associated with such a formation were not felt. In hindsight, it was most-likely just tight banding of clouds around the center of the storm. We encountered periodic heavy rain and visibilities of only a few hundred feet up to and a little past Mason City. The stretch to Charles City was a bit calmer with moderate to heavy rainfall.
We arrived to the southern outskirts of town around 20:00 to find the bridge into town was out. Fortunately the map we had was of good enough detail that we were able to find an alternate route from the north. Turns out the northern route brought us directly to the camp site. The rain was still coming down at a pretty good rate, but luckily not a downpour. We were able to pitch the tent in about five minutes. Wasn't perfect, but was good enough to keep us dry for the night.
25 April, 2008
The rain finally ended for the most part early in the morning. Sean and I ventured out of the tent around 06:30. The Civil War and Vietnam reenactors seemed to be the only camps to be fully set up. Many of the other camps were there, but opted to sleep in their vehicles for the night and were starting to set up. In the WWII section, there was only one other person portraying GI the rest were German and Russian. While the other camps were setting up we set out to unpack our gear from my truck and get our display ready. Later I wandered over to the German camp and met a couple of reenactors that I have done some events with before.
Friday was to be 'Student Day' with 40 or so schools from around the area scheduled to attend. Severe weather still threatened the area, causing most to cancel their plans. Approximately nine attended. The weather and some other factors prevented us from doing our presentation exactly as planned, however, the fact that we were representing the 34th Infantry Division was an apparent hit.
In between presentations, we were able to start a camp fire. This was handy as the wind began to pick up and along with it, the temperature began to drop. Friday also revealed that our GI neighbor was to become more of a pest than anything.
During a demonstration of a M1 Garand, this 'reenactor' accidentally ejected a blank round into the camp fire. Sean and I both thought he was able to remove it, but most unfortunately later as I was warming myself next to the fire, the round exploded sending hot coals everywhere. Later I discovered that one of these coals landed on one of my field jackets that I had on display and burnt a small hole through the front of it. Livid might not have been quite an accurate description of my state of mind at the time. The unfortunate thing about it is that though everyone knew this individual was responsible for the damage, there was no real way of proving it so I'm stuck with a holy jacket. Fortunately it was only a repro. I hate to think what would have happened had that been an original. Upon discussing what had happened with other reenactors, I learned that this sort of thing happens whenever this guy shows up to events. Needless to say he will NEVER be invited to participate in any activities conducted by my group.
Despite that unfortunate event, the highlight of the day was meeting a 34th veteran that served in the kitchen company of 2nd Battalion, 133rd infantry. It was very much a thrill to be able to get answers to questions I had related to some research I'm doing on the division. Unfortunately the other 'reenactor' was there and kept butting in with bone-headed questions like "what was d-day like?" (The 34th Infantry Division fought exclusively in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations and was not at all part of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Even the most 'green' reenactor knows that. Further proof that this guy had no business being there.)
Sean later met another vet who was a medic. This guy had earned two Silver Stars and three Bronze Stars.
With all of the day's activities over with, Sean and I broke out the cold weather gear and prepared for a very cold and windy night.
26 April, 2008
Neither of us got much sleep. The gusty winds kept blowing open the tent flap or pulling out tent pegs and letting in extremely cold air inside. We got the fire going ASAP and were soon ready for the general public to come through the camps. Two new people joined us for the day. Both were interested in getting into WWII reenacting and wanted to see what it was like. In combination with another reenactor, we were able to sufficiently outfit both of them in period gear.
The afternoon brought public demonstrations/battles from each period represented. The WWII camps were small in number but we managed to perform a public battle scenario. The general nature of combat in WWII does not make it ideal for public demonstrations, but the crowd seemed to like it.
Dinner was provided by the event organizers as thanks to all that volunteered. After dinner for fun, there was an all-era 'battle' with all of the periods duking it out with each other. There's nothing funnier than seeing a bunch of medieval women beating a WWII German with a brooms.
We broke down our camp and loaded up the truck. Before we left, we joined a couple of the German and Russian reenactors in visiting the other camps with a Vodka-powered 'time machine'. Had a bunch a laughs and said our goodbyes.
The drive home was mostly uneventful. Trying not to doze off was the biggest hurdle. We arrived back in Des Moines around 03:00 Sunday morning. I slept wonderfully most of the day in my nice WARM bed. :)
Despite some of the unfortunate things that happened, I would say overall that it was a good event. I would encourage anyone that an interest in history or just want to have a fun activity with the family to attend this event. You can bet the 34th will be there, and hopefully in greater numbers next year.
