Well, I finally made it to Fort Indiantown Gap for the Battle of the Bulge weekend. Its hard to believe that, after all these years of reenacting, I hadn’t been there before, but driving long distances in snow isn’t one of my favorite things, either. Bill and Linda Donegan generously offered to let me ride with them and I happily accepted. This being a weekend of firsts, I also did a German impression for the first time. Bill and another friend, Paul Mullins, helped me put together a Luftwaffe artillery kit.
As most of you know, the schedule features a non-spectated tactical event and also spectated battles. I briefly saw part of one of the latter, but that was pretty much it for the battles. We spent much of the afternoon visiting the living history displays in the barracks of various units (all of which were very correct) and also shopping at the extensive flea market which was set up in some of the older looking barracks buildings. I was impressed by the number and variety of vendors. Indeed, in terms of quality, if not quantity, this may be better than the one at the Reading Airshow. Hard to tell, since one is inside and the other outside, which would affect one’s perception of size and number.
We enjoyed the company of a few WWII veterans, with whom we talked extensively, including Gottfried Dulias, the Luftwaffe ace and author, and also a very outgoing 82nd Airborne glider veteran, who regaled us with his adventures in Normandy on June 6, 1944 and later.
Later, that evening, I attended a meeting of my parent unit, the 193rd Rifles (Red Army) and visited with some of my friends, then enjoyed the dance at the community center with Bill and Linda. Overall the weekend was a lot of fun and hopefully, this will not be the last time that I attend.
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