normally this time of year feels like crunch time. i owe the world [or at least the literate portion that can access these scraps of gilded lines] my yearly review of crap no one cares about, much like everyone else does. and its still coming! instead i need to go back a few steps and get my mind started on some other things i'd been meaning to talk about but just never had the time to do so.


first of which; was my experience in Rockford in octemberish with the "living history" event. which is such a farse. it implies that things are done in accordance with how it SHOULD have been done. for the most part, while in view, things proceeded well. i am talking about a grand display of world war II things... all things... military, civic, and horse like. yes. periodically nerds who are interested in polishing the reputation of the greatest generation, gather, dress in their clothes, and amuse themselves by firing blanks. its a hoot. anyhow. why me? well thats a tough question. ive slowly sunk to that nerd level. but my excuse is a pure historical vantage of the subject. some personal history is included. while it has been fashionable to talk or handle or film anything from that period for the last few years, ive continued to dig deeper into la la land myself. i am that guy, ive learned. no one doubts this. so. more history, more reading. my collection is now a shelf, which is a point of pride. the next fascination was seeing some artifacts, which i dont have.

see for most people, they have a relative who served in the war that left things behind, if they themselves arent around to testify. i really dont. one grandfather was ineligible for service [he was missing a leg since childhood --- a long story!], and the other? well he died years before i was even born. making my interactions with history, quite slim. what we do have are some things that just whetted my appetite for more. really, in the last 3 years or so, with this whole mess of my grandmother moving and such, we've unearthed a lot of things that we didnt know we had. she, like many of her generation, clung to some things [mainly memories and odd sentimental things], but disposed of copious amounts of tangible things that two generations post, would have delighted in seeing. case in point, grandpa ralph's uniform, service ribbons and the like were tossed. he kept them. she wanted no part in it. the real complication of all of it though, was him. granpa ralph, as my mom tells me, would have greatly enjoyed someone like me to tell all about the war. she reminds me how similar in attitude i must have been to him at that point in his life. we would be close to the same age, which would be fairly old for front line service, but a detriment to those near us due to maturity and skills. that is, presuiming i have any.

any way: the story goes that he took tons of pictures, wrote letters, documented things, and managed to learn some french as he went around the towns in an armored unit. [this parallels my fathers side; where my uncle Barlo met his wife Flora in the service. remember, his side is the mexican side, native speaking, and when they were in spain, litteraly walking in formation, he heard people speaking spanish... which he tells us, was the only one in his unit, and he started talking to the civillians. eventually he married Flora, the mans daughter whom he struck up that random conversation with... merely because spanish was something he hadnt heard since leaving the US]. grandpa ralph though, enjoyed his time from what im told. to me, the information would have been a gold mine. to people that lived through the war, even on the homefront, it wasnt worth talking about, let alone bragging about. so. what we have come across are some limited medical records, discharge papers, and pictures of servicemen we dont know. all fascinating to me, giving me some historical perspective to really learn about the conflict in detail.

enter Rockford. the closest, largest, event in this part of the country. it was a hell of an opportunity to see things more closely. plus a chance to take some pictures. to put it mildly, it was a small slice of heaven for me. my biggest regret is not going back for a second day [ but lets face it, it would be a repeat]. even though my co workers laugh at me for, ive added some ww2 fashion to my closet as well, due to the vendors on hand. without a lot of detail, different groups do their best to re enact life in these units. sure, the famous ones are present, like airborne units; but even some less sexy units are recruited... representing WAC, nursing corps, navy units, and mounted cavalry units. both US and German units, with a few other groups as well... Polish, Brittish, Italian and Russian. all complete in uniforms, gear and weapons. weapons..... including tanks and other mechanized units. i couldnt stress how much it made me feel like a kid. to me, it was the immediate equivilent of sitting on grandpa's knee and living the stories in my mind; but with real cloth, steel and horse shit. any how. some of my pictures from it:

but just as one stark memory, which has stuck in my mind. the entire even is laid around a fictitional town, with a pretty good size area all told, and the units dig in and camp in the wooded areas around it. [which in its self, is fascinating, considering the degree of detail to the trenches some units dug... by hand... just for this event] but walking from the town to the camps through small wooded runs, they have set out mock battle objectives for people to see. after being stopped by the first battle for the main street [the pictures are showing most of that, complete with casulties], i emerged into the woods. where i could smell the gun powder. i felt nervous. i was walking and listening. i could hear the sounds of running.... the jingling, the scuffles, branches rattling. then i heard german. german comands then german rifles. people in front of me, in typical plaid shorts and knee high sock tourist outfits, stopped and covered their ears, kids cried. but to me. it was as close as i can ever come to being in the middle of it. by sound i could tell they were german rifles. i could tell how far they were spaced out. it was amazing. the crowd stopped and gawked. more rifles. i then noticed id ducked down, for no reason than instinct i suppose, and started running towards the gun fire. then i heard US small arms fire. thats why i was running. to see it. to join in. to be there. it was surreal though. running into gunfire. smelling it. hearing it. feeling it. knowing it. to me, it made the entire experience worth more than money.