AAAH, but the look, fellas, THE LOOK!...
I, as well as my Military Harley riding pals, wholeheartedly
agree with the listers who frown upon the abuse of decorations,
rank insignia and all sorts of un-earned adornments that one see
sported my many of us middle-aged and weight-challenged Mil-Veh
collectors... I know that in France it is strongly discouraged,
if not illegal. As for the waist-line comments, well..I'll plead
the 5th for that, being the shortest, pudgiest one in the
group...NOT 300 lbs though!
Our group of riders, however is keen on keeping "the look"
together as we tool around the country roads of Normandy or
marshal the parades or whatever we do for riding fun. We have
come up with our own uniform which is a sort of compilation of
period-correct uniform items which satisfies "the look", and the
need for riding comfort and (relative) safety. It certainly does
not offend
any of the veterans whom we meet in these celebrations, with
whom
we share a drink and stories, and whom we help translating to
French
when they meet French people who helped them 56 years ago.
It goes like this: Bomber or A-2 leather jacket (repro of
course) worn
over a mustard wool shirt and a white parachute silk scarf to
relieve the chafing at the neck. Mustard riding breeches and
Patton 3-buckle boots or (preferred!) Corcoran Jump boots and
HBT trousers. Headgear is the typical US WWII Tankers Helmet, to
which we have added small range comms devices to talk between
ourselves when we ride in a pack (Maxons 49Mhz work great for
that and they are dirt-cheap: you just weave the antenna around
the holes and the straps of the helmet and it is invisible, save
for the boom mike). Final touches are the yellow deerskin riding
gloves and Polaroid goggles...
When dismounted, we trade the Tanker Helmet for a blue baseball
cap marked "HLB".. WE never wear any rank insignia or
decoration, just occasionally the MP armband and whistle if we
are asked to do convoy duty.
Our "eccentricities" are tolerated, as we all are founders of
the French MVCG, when we were just a chapter of Peter Gray's
UK-Based Group...We don't look too out-of place period-wise, and
we do have the LOOK when the six of us ride together
two-abreast...
and sporting "the look" is half the fun!
Check the HLB pictures at:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=991451&a=7588481
leave me feedback if you wish on the Guestbook there or
offlist to antoine@usa.net
Antoine
http://www.freehomepages.com/antoine
http://www.powow.com/harley42xa (Web site for the XA List)
http://www.egroups.com/group/HarleyDav42XA (To subscribe to the
"XA List")
Harley-Davidson 42WLA (in Normandy)
Harley-Davidson 42XA1474 (in Normandy)
Harley-Davidson 42XA1998 (in California)
Harley-Davidson 42XA1403 (project, in California)
MVPA #14803, MVCG France
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 02 2000 - 09:32:28 PDT