From: chance wolf (chance_wolf@shaw.ca)
Date: Sat May 07 2005 - 17:17:00 PDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron" <rojoha@adelphia.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2005 2:31 PM
Subject: [MV] NOW Impressionators WAS Re: [MV] Aberdeen- Convoy-for sale
stuff and shopping list
> Got a flash for ya sport. IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN! These Guys are just
> THRILLED that anyone NOW even recognizes what they did THEN! How many M35
> owners have had WWII vets come up and say to their 50 or 60 year old son,"
> This is the TYPE of truck we used to ride in during the war." I sure as
> hell am not gonna correct him!
I've had that happen quite a bit in 20 years of displaying at airshows and
stuff (nevermind things like Safeway parking-lots while out fun/utility
driving), and yup, it's best to nod and just let the fellow and his
grandsons et al enjoy the "army vehicles" on that level, and let the carport
curators enjoy them on the other level. That sort of policy hurts no one,
and keeps it fun for all concerned.
> I've been asked to take part in the LST 325 visit to Boston at the USS
> Constitution next month. To drive one of several driverless WWII vehicles
> down and back. We've been asked to wear period correct uniforms by the
NPS,
> if possible, or as close as possible. But because of the lack of
"authentic"
> uniform items at a reasonable price, and the anal retentives you run into
at
> these events, I'll probably just wear jeans or a mustard colored set of
> Dickies work clothes.
Since your adopt-a-vehicle is likely going to be in unit markings you'll not
know of beforehand, just pick the standard USGI combat ensemble and sew on
appropriate rank and flashes for one of the familiar WWII units. All NPS is
trying to do (same with some of the Canadian events we attend a heavy
commemorative or historical slant) is to prevent people showing up with
Woodland M65 parkas or Flectar suits w/South African webbing, so any effort
on your part to come up with a WWII-era uniform of whatever type will
doubtless be greatly appreciated by organizers and public alike. The Public
is the key appetite to satisfy here - not the carport curators or those who
feel the need to walk around with a pocketful of period material swatches
just to see if your M1941 jacket dye is up to snuff. In some venues that
might be important, but if those venues are North, I'll be the guy heading
South in a cloud of dust which would put the Road Runner to shame. Most
MVPA chapters I know have people who would line up to help you out with a
uniform for such an event, and even the dyed-in-the-wool re-enactors always
start somewhere, and are always working on their impressions from
event-to-event as they learn things they didn't know before. It's the same
in the Vehicle hobby as well.
> Best to not even try, because of the FARBEs out there, just can't wait
> to crap in a fellow HMV collector's rice bowl, showing they ARE superior
to
> you, eh?
Suffered lots of those over the years, and learned that at the end of the
day they'll never matter as much to anyone else as themselves. Being
fastidious, exact, and scholarly as you solder your little 'F's on to your
head bolts and measure the angle of your grease fittings is a fine thing if
you have the budget and temperament for that sort of thing, but not all of
us do, and it's no basis to lord it over the Combat Class collectors which
tend to make up the vast majority of airshow attendees and club drive
participants anyhow.
> Ever notice the re enactors either don't, or can't, own an HMV for one
> reason or another? We all compliment each others hobbies....
I know some who do both, actually. One fellow does 1st Can Para in our
local mob, and another does Brit para. We also have some combined events
which unite the Vehicle and Re-enactor end of things, one of which is coming
up in a couple of weeks in the form of the "Fort Rodd Hill Living History
Encampment", which typically draws Civil War re-enactors, Boer War
re-enactors, Royal Engineers types, and the WWI/WWII/Korea folks our
vehicles complement quite nicely. It's an amazing thing to see all
stretched out there in the National Park (a coastal gun battery), and the
couple-three times I've been there, I've not heard a single condescending
remark about any fellow participant during either time. I know that's not
universal though.
Anyway, next time Wing Commander Haughty and friends start picking apart the
thread-count on your reproduction Dennison smock, see if it's intended as
informative or pejorative, and offer him a beer and note the info for future
reference in the case of the former, or walk away shaking your ahead if the
latter. The Public's happy you're there anyway - and the Wing Commander
probably hasn't been happy since 1937. <shrug>
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