The Reenactor Post

Cumberland Goes to War

November 21, 2008 - 3 Comments

by Jim Barnes

While, for various reasons, my health being foremost, I was unable to participate in this event, I did go over on Saturday November 15, 2008 and visit with the reenactors who did set up for this weekend. Partially due to the rain, there was a light turnout of reenactors for this weekend, however in talking to the guys in the 5th Rangers, there were many more reenactors on the previous weekend. Having the event spread over two weekends (10 days) was obviously a bit much and symptomatic of a first-time event. However, there were many good things about the event and hopefully, it will become an annual event.

Me with Abbott and Costello

There was one bad moment on the previous weekend, when a man who was obviously intoxicated, attacked the SS camp and tore down their flag and stomped and spit on it. This illustrates the ongoing problem with the public’s perception of what living historians are all about. We represent historic persons. This doesn’t necessarily indicate anything about our own personalities or beliefs. Furthermore, you can’t really have a realistic representation of WWII without having the SS represented. As it is, I met these reenactors at Rowlesburg and they are okay guys. It’s too bad that they had to deal with this. The Rangers, who were telling me about this, said that the Cumberland paper covered the incident and was sympathetic to the reenactors. Good for them.

Another nice feature of the program here was the steam train which runs regularly out the yard here as part of a scenic railroad attraction. It helped to give a nice 1940′s feel to the environment of the camp. Visitors even got to take a train ride with General George S. Patton. Hopefully, next year, I can participate and maybe take a train ride.

Steam Train

USAAF aircrew

Luftwaffe Officers

General Patton

5th Rangers

More Rangers

Airborne with period Civilians

Aircrew tent