WWII event at the Eisenhower Farm

During the second weekend in September each year there is a World War II event at the Eisenhower Farm.  At least this year they were not dealing with a lot of mud like last year when all the vehicles were digging into the ground more than a foot from the wet conditions.  The first person I encountered was a young man (center of photo between two ladies) who was working the Navy Recuiting tent.  He spoke with me about enlisting and showed me a magazine from 1942 with an ad showing that I would be presented with $200 worth of new clothing if I joined up.  When you think about how hard the preceeding years of the Depression had been, $200 in new clothing was probably pretty tempting along with doing your patriotic duty to fight the Japanese and Germans.  So, I joined up, and after taking the oath of allegiance, I was presented with a signed document showing my enlistment.

And, then there were several other people I had a chance to talk with, like the Canadian soldier who talked about a specific Chaplain named Doug.  He told interesting stories about Doug, like how he would play poker with the soldiers and always seemed to win.  Then when he had their money and they wanted to go to town to probably get into trouble, he would dole out small amounts of money so the soldiers could go into town with just enough money for a few pints and a movie or some other entertainment, but never enough so that they got into serious trouble.  Doug was also known for saving several men from the battlefield, but when he was told he would be put in for a medal for meritorious conduct, he totally refused saying it was the other soldiers who deserved the metals.

Here is a lady demonstrating doing some sewing on a portable Singer.  She was making a pair of men's underdraws from a pattern.  We discussed how it can be hard to use old patterns like that since the instructions are very limited.  Back in the 1940's the pattern companies  assumed that all women knew enough about sewing that they did not need instructions included with the pattern.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          It also amazes me how young some of the re-enactors are, like this youngster.  It makes my heart feel good to see young individuals getting involved in this kind of activity

instead of constantly being involved in something like videogames or getting in with the wrong type of peers.