At 07:50 AM 8/15/00 EDT, WreckerFC@aol.com wrote:
>Just trying to get a little perspective on this issue - buy the way Robin, I
>totally agree!
>
>Is there anything in the 'Rules' of either the MVCG or MVPA about wearing of
>uniforms, proper atire, dress code etc? Personally I'm not a member, as I
>don't own a Jeep.
>
>All I have heard about are various show rules re restrictions on 'Enemy'
>regalia, which is a little hypocritical, firstly as it's not the 'Military
>Badge, Belt and Buckle Ass'n" and secondly, history is history so if the
>appropriate uniform is ok with all the 'General's Jeeps and Command car's,
>why not Desert Rat's kit with a German whatever???.
Don't remember the chapter-and-verse (and am too lazy to look it up), but
from what I recall, members can wear period uniforms appropriate to
their displayed vehicle, and only in the immediate area of their displayed
vehicle.
Current pattern BDU's are discouraged due to the proximity of large military
installations near many of the convention host cities, and uniforms of
countries
opposed to the Allies shall not be worn whatsoever.
Flags of nations opposed to the Allies must not be flown, and, if
displayed, must
be laid out flat on the table.
Curiously, down at the convention in CA last year, one of our fellow
collectors
was indeed running about in a very well-done Wehrmacht uniform (dispatch
rider,
I think), and received a number of compliments within earshot despite the
standing policy specifically prohibiting such things.
In Europe, I believe the regulations involving Axis equipment and uniforms
extends even to vehicles participating in MVPA events - the example
springing to mind being the 50'th D-Day event where German vehicles
were to be displayed only as captured vehicles serving with the F.F.I.
>Don't get me wrong, I do not condone the Jack booted thugs 'getting of' on
>wearing SS uniforms because they are prejudiced wanna be's, or that I'm not
>patriotic (which ever side of the atlantic I choose to wear my heart) but
for
>the sake of getting things right, as I assume the idea of preserving
vehicles
>is to perpetuate memories or display authenticity, with or without uniforms.
Perhaps in another fifty years when the Second World War joins the ranks
of the Boer War, the Crimean War and the Peninsular Wars of the distant past,
the wearing of Axis uniforms and accoutrements will bear no more stigma
than say, oh, the wearing of the uniform of the French at Waterloo.
However, WWII is still very much a living memory for a significant
percentage of the population, and a source of recurring nightmares
for a like percentage. I think it may yet be awhile.
Andy Hill
Vancouver, B.C.
MVPA #9211
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