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| Military Through the Ages 2008 ~ Jamestown, Virginia | |
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| Click each thumbnail to view full image.
Top (L to R): PFC Holloway Fieldstrips his M1 rifle; T/4
"Doc" Henry waiting for chow call; Sgt. Peeling washes up
using his helmet shell as a makeshift sink; Sgt. Peeling drying off; A
weary Sgt. Peeling gathers his gear for the move; PFC Holloway. Bottom:
PFC Holloway poses for the cover of "Stars and Stripes"; Doc
Henry dubs his boots.
At this event we were portraying the 505th PIR coming off the line after fighting in the Hurtgen Forest, February 1945. Sgt. Peeling, T/4 Henry, and PFC Holloway were in attendance for the display. We performed a judged demonstration on how to make coffee "GI style" using the waxed inner box of a K-Ration container. We also ate blood sausage and flax bread, "foraged" from a "local German farmhouse". Our display's purpose was to show weary soldiers waiting for trucks to pick them up. We spoke with a number of interested visitors, including a WWII veteran of the 1945 Ruhr pocket fighting who graciously complimented us on our authenticity. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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| Night on the Siegfried Line ~ 2007 Tactical | |
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| Click each thumbnail to view full image. (L to R):
PFC Holloway and a wounded Sgt. Peeling return from the line; T/4
"Doc" Henry tends to casualties after a disastrous patrol;
Sgt. Peeling and T/4 "Doc" Henry Raceive instructions from
brass before the big push against the German positions; Pvt. Zelesnikar
relaxes with a Lucky Strike after a harrowing assault. Members of our unit attended this event at the invitation of the 8th ID. This yearly tactical is a hardcore immersion event that involves a lot of "hurry-up-and-wait", freezing conditions, deadly patrols, and fast-moving assaults. Attending the event, but not pictured, were Pvts. Pasko, Wahl, and Heft. Doc had a couple of "real" casualties to tend to, including frostnipped feet and a severely twisted ankle that involved a field splint and an evacuation by jeep. After several probing actions against the German lines, an all out assault was made against mixed elements of Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. The objective was to knock out filed artillery and a fearsome, impenetrable pillbox. Our forces had two .30-cals and a mortar team for fire support. After an hour of pitched battle, the objectives were taken at high cost. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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| Soldiers Without Guns 2007 ~ Yorktown, VA | |
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Top (L to R): T/4 Henry, surgical technician, mans his aid station,
roughly a mile behind the lines; Cpl. Clements prepares to return to the
bocages after receiving treatment for minor injuries; T/5
"Doc" Peeling (325 GIR), tends to a parachutist casualty, Pvt.
"Mick" O'Brien; T/5 Peeling administers plasma to Pvt.
O'Brien; Medical team and aid station (T/4 Henry and T/5 Peeling). Bottom:
Malingering parachutists Cpl. Clements and PFC Holloway chat with
"glider rider" T/5 Peeling under cover of the makeshift aid
station; T/5 Peeling brings in a casualty without a litter, using a
standard one-man carry technique; T/5 Peeling has clearly seen his share
of wounded soldiers; T/4 Henry distributes sulfa packets and medical
supplies to T/5 Peeling while casualties relax (Cpl. Clements and PFC
Holloway). "Soldiers Without Guns" was a one-off timeline event hosted by the Virginia War Museum that focused on American military medicine through the Revolutionary War to Modern Day. It took place at Endview Plantation in Yorktown. The 505th attended, setting up an aid station display to approximate conditions during the June 1944 Normandy invasion. Our fictionl location was somewhere on the road to Ste. Mere-Eglise and Carentan. T/4 Henry, acting as a Surgical Technician, manned the aid station. Sgt. Peeling patched down and put on the uniform of a T/5 aid man from the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment (who, historically, landed after the Paratroopers on the evening of June 6th as part of Operation Hackensack). With Cpl. Clements, PFC Holloway, and misdropped Pvt. "Mick" O'Brien (29th ID, East Yorks) as casualties, we spoke to a number of large tour groups, presenting three organized talks on innovations in military medicine during WWII. Our aid station was constructed using T/4 Henry's splint hatchet to chop down some local foliage, and a crude cover was fashioned from some pilfered glider riders' shelter halves. This was an excellent event, and very educational for visitors to Endview. Our display, in particular, was mentioned in the local newspaper editorial section as a highlight of the event. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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