The weekend of August 21-22, the Virginia Museum of Military Vehicles (http://www.vmmv.org) and the Americans in Wartime Museum ( http://www.nmaw.org), held their annual open house. The weekend offered a little bit of everything. In addition to the usual array of military vehicles and reenactors, there was a diorama of the invasion of peleliu made entirely from Legos (!), and a travelling exhibit from the World Trade Center 9/11 memorial.
My wife, Linda and I attended as members of the 193rd Rifle Division. In addition to the 193rd, the other WWII era Soviets in attendance were the 33rd Guards and the Red Guard (formerly the 13th Guards). There were contingents of British, American, including Philippene Scouts, Japanese and German reenactors from the same time period. There were also encampments for GI in the Vietnam era, French Foreign Legion and East German from the Cold War era and most recently, Russian Federation troops from the Chechen Wars.
The annual event is designed to raise awareness of the Museum which is slated to move to a new facility near Dale City, VA. Saturday saw beautiful weather and a large turnout of reenactors and spectators. The Soviets got to ride on one of the two T-34s owned by the museum and the other groups had opportunities to ride the appropriate vehicles for their impressions.
This is always a great living history event with a lot to see and do and this year was no exception. The museum always treats the reenactors well, supplying free food and drinks, including beer on Saturday evening. Again, Reenactor Coordinator Bruce Oppenhagen and the other museum staff deserve a hardy pat on the back for their efforts.
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