The Reenactor Post » About Reenacting

Gap – 2012

Jim Barnes — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:35:15 +0000

FIG - GIs

Another January, another Gap. It is always one of the few things to look forward to during the deep winter… not that this has been much of a winter. Friday, I ran into a little falling snow on the way, but that quickly dissipated. The skies on Saturday were mostly clear and while walking around in a wool overcoat, I began to get a bit warm by mid-afternoon.

Do to my work schedule, I only went for the Saturday activities this year. Shopping at the various vendors took up about half of that time and visiting took up most of the rest. The British kit that I have put together features a lot of pockets. Very helpful for stuffing your purchases away so you don’t have to carry them everywhere while you cruise through the vendors. Since my time was limited, I didn’t get to visit with many of the folks that I normally would have. For those I missed, sorry - no snub intended.

The big change this year, of course, was the move to area 13 and the newer barracks. I was concerned about wearing hobnailed Ammo boots into the new barracks, so I put duct tape over them, but that wore through after about a hundred yards, so I didn’t try to go into any barracks. I did drop into the German hospital which was in an old building by itself and ended up as a wounded POW. This afforded a good opportunity to take a load off my feet and recieve attention from lovely nurses!

Saturday evening, I met up with my comrades from the 193rd Rifle Division for our annual winter meeting at the Community Building, which was well-attended and productive. Afterward, several of us retired to the ballroom to observe the dancing and other festivities going on there.

Overall, it was a good weekend and even though I was there for a short visit, I enjoyed the Gap, as always.

Events for the New Year

Jim Barnes — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:46:09 +0000

As we enter a new year, let’s take a look at some of the upcoming events for the next couple of months:

January 2012

WWII – Battle of the Bulge Reenactment, January 25 – 29. Ft. Indiantown Gap PA. Contact: http://www.wwiifederation.org/index.html

February 2012

WWII - Elbe River Event, February 25, 2012, Old Bedford Village, Bedford, PA. regardless of the weather as usual. They still
have several buildings available and are currently accepting pre-registrations. As we speak, we have a few more in attendance this year

than last at this time. Just as a reminder, please bring PLENTY of ammo. Attached is the link for registrations and such.. www.freewebs.com/elbe1945 For any questions, call: Roger Bombard at: 703-431-6843.

March 2012

WWII - February 1943 Tactical event. March 9 and 10. Newville GWA site. Sponsored by 193rd Rifle Division and Fusilier Regiment Nr. 90 re-enacting units. Contact John Niemiec at : ostfrontjohn@verizon.net Download waiver

Timeline – Military Through the Ages, March 17 and 18 at Jamestown Settlement, Jamestown, VA. http://www.historyisfun.org/calendar.htm

Reading Airshow 2010

Jim Barnes — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:33:16 +0000

Another June, another Reading! For any readers who don’t know, Reading Airshow is the largest gathering of WWII reenactors and enthusiasts on the east coast, with the possible exception of the Gap. There is no other gathering of this many WWII aircraft in one place, of which I am aware. The 193rd Rifle Division has been for some time the only RKKA unit which attends this show, although we frequently invite some other units to join us in our camp. This year we had the assistance of the 25th Ukrainian Mounted Rifle Regiment and a comrade from the 3rd Rifles. (Thanks comrades!)

This year, John Niemiec coordinated the event for us (Good job, John!) and when I arrived at the site on Thursday afternoon, he already had his tent set up and was ready to assist others. Only about half of our complement were able to get off work and make it for Friday’s show, so we had a fairly small camp, but the others began rolling in by the middle of the night and we had completely enclosed our perimeter by the time the public started coming in on Saturday. Much thanks to the Momots and Kernans for providing us with a sizable medical impression.

Weather-wise, Reading always seems to provide some kind of challenge, but this year was, comparatively speaking, not that bad. Friday was hot and we experienced rain overnight, but Saturday was breezy and John and I wore our Naval Infantry impressions all day, pea coats and all, and were not that uncomfortable.

There is usually a bit of complaining among the reenactors about the way we are treated at the airshow, and I think that more times than not, the criticism is justified. There is a general feeling that reenactors are regarded as second-class citizens by the volunteers who staff the show. However, this year our group seemed to escape with few issues. In fact some of the guys even got some of the gate guards to be reasonable at times. I have not heard much from other groups to see how they faired. If anyone has anecdotes or info about this issue, please comment.

While most of the usual groups and displays were back this year, many of them improved, there were a couple of new additions which I particularly liked. One was a rationing board office set up in the home front section which was nicely detailed. The second was the first appearance of the 8th Shidan, an imperial Japanese Army unit. These guys were set up just across the tarmac from us and we got to interact with them a good bit. They are a fairly new unit, but they are doing a good job and have a tremendous attitude toward the hobby. We even got to crush them in an August 1945 skirmish scenario. Needless to say, this has been a severely lacking impression for any WWII living history show. Good show, gentlemen!

Sunday morning arrived innoculously enough and we had a normal Sunday, church-time crowd. However, by lunch, the weather began to turn on us. As it became stormy looking and we experienced some sprinkles, word trickled in of storm, heavy rain and even killer tornadoes to the west of us. Eventually, the wind picked up and we were notified to take down our tent flys or at least secure them so they wouldn’t fall on anyone. As the stiuation deteriorated and the rain started in earnest, we ended up packing the displays in early. Safety should always take first priority and that is the assumption we worked on. We were finally hit with a major downpour which soaked anyone who was outside. Oddly enough, once that small front passed through, the weather cleared and we were stuck with our packed up gear for the last couple of hours until the gates opened. Reading weather had to take one good shot at us before we left!

Despite this, we had a good weekend. The crowds were good and we had a good unit turnout and a good camp. As always, it was great to enjoy the comradeship of our fellow reenactors, whether in our group or others. We have a good group of folks and everyone pitches in to assist to get the job done. Thanks to all. Urahhhh!

Despite the drawbacks, I always enjoy this event and plan to continue to attend. Afterall, the vendor shopping is worth the trip alone!

Reenacting Podcasts – Something New

Jim Barnes — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:15:05 +0000

We received this today from Alena and Stephen Shumway and thought it might be of general interest to our readers:

If you would not mind posting this, we'd appreciate it.

Living History, the podcast for the reenacting community is looking
for feedback.

We started producing a podcast (otherwise known as an internet radio
show) for reenactors back in December, and have produced a new episode
every Wednesday on topics like starting a new group, historical
clothing, recreating historical skills and more. We've also got some
interviews up there of Living Historians from many different
backgrounds and interests. We are trying to open up our listening
audience and at the same time include more of your experiences in
upcoming episodes.

To that end we've got some questions for those of you in the community:
- What would induce you to listen to a podcast on the topic of reenacting?
- What sorts of things would you like to hear about living history and
reenacting?
- If you could tell your fellow reenactors something about your
experience with Living History, what would you tell them?

We hope you will share your answers over at: http://livinghistorypodcast.com/

Thanks,

Alena and Stephen
Tackling topics of interest to those on the front lines of history

Reb and Yank Go to Court – Sue-val War?

Jim Barnes — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:49:07 +0000

Apparently a couple of Virginia reenactors at last year’s reenactment of the Battle of Stannardsville took things just a bit too far and ended up in court. According to AccessAtlanta:

“The men were playing cavalry officers in a re-enactment of the Battle of Stanardsville. The Confederate re-enactor claims his Union counterpart knocked his hat off.

The Confederate was accused of responding by firing a blank round from his revolver. There was no bullet, but the powder charge injured the Union re-enactor.”

The judge could not find that either was guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt,” and declined to find either at fault. This type of thing really makes the hobby look goofy in the media (which already tries to make it look goofy anyway.) Nice job guys! Way to promote reenacting!

To read the whole sordid story, go to:

http://www.accessatlanta.com/celebrities-tv/va-civil-war-dispute-269493.html

Reenactor Cannon Stolen

Jim Barnes — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:19:20 +0000

Here is a recent post off the Red Army list:

Please keep your eyes, and ears open!

Slightly off topic but a reenacting unit’s canon and all its equipment was stolen recently in Michigan. If everyone in the reenacting “community” could keep their eye out, it might be helpful. Spread the word to members of your units also. Maybe with more eyes out there we can get their gear back.

Jason Unwin
Ordnance Sergeant
5th Texas Artillery

Gentlemen,

I post this on behalf of a friend:

My Cannon, limber and covered 18ft Car hauler was stolen from my
lot at 4218 Pelham, Dearborn Heights , MI 48125 . Batty B 1st Michigan
Light Artillery’s entire gear was enclosed in the well locked up
trailer. My trailer has distinctive bullet hole decals running up
both sides and a giant cannonball splat on the back door. I want to
get this information out as quick as I can. The more eyes we have
looking the better!

U.S. 1841 6pdr cannon mark C.A.&CO 1845 on trunnions 298 over W.V on Muzzle

No. 5. Limber U.S. 6 pdr.

Trailer is a 2000 Haulmark 18ft covered car hauler charcoal gray

VIN 16HGB1834YH065667.

Please forward to any and all your C.W. reenactors and reenacting websites.

Police Contact is: Dearborn Hgts. Police
313 277-6770
Officer Beaudree
Case # 2010-84

Reward!
Thanks
Dr. Bill Vecchioni
313 277-1100
313-274-5412

Here is a link to the local news story:

http://www.wxyz. com/news/ local/story/ Search-For- Thieves-in- Cannon-Heist/ YMvQejZCoUKXNZZa vhyFGw.cspx

Thanks,

Mike Robertson

Happy New Year!

Jim Barnes — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:13:05 +0000

Thanks to our readers for all your comments and contributions over the past year. 2009 was an up and down year for history enthusiasts. The country’s economic woes hit the reenacting community and made it difficult for quite a few to take part in the hobby to the extent they would like. We won a victory at Old Bedford Village, but still have a dicy situation in Mercersburg, PA. Still there were quite a few quality events of all types and more are on the drawing boards. Here’s hoping that 2010 will be a better year than last for reenactors/living historians of all stripes and time periods.

We hope to keep trying to keep improve this little journalistic endeavor as well and would like to include more time periods than just our usual WWII and Civil War coverage. If you know of an interesting event and would like to invite us to it, or write about it yourself, drop us a line. There’s no pay, but you do get your 15 seconds of fame!

May you all have a safe and happy New Year!

The Editors.

A Reenactor’s Christmas List – Cyber Monday Deals

Sarah Barnes — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:59:50 +0000

If you are looking for something to buy a reenactor or you’re wanting to offer suggestions to people who may be buying for you, we thought we’d point you to some deals we’ve seen online for Cyber Monday.

Civil War

Civil War Reenactors and enthusiasts might enjoys these deals from Amazon:

The Civil War – A Film by Ken Burns
Amazon has Ken Burns’ The Civil War for $50.99. Normally it’s $99.99. This is a great film that I would daresay redefined the documentary style of film-making.

Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition)
If you were holding out for a great deal on 1993′s “reenactor classic” Gettysburg is available for on $5.49 and in Widescreen!

World War II

The War – A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
Another great Ken Burns film is The War – A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Amazon also has it for $50.99. It’s regular price is $129.99, so this is an even better deal!

Sergeant York (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The 1941 Gary Cooper classic is on sale for a mere $8.99. Normally it is $26.

Empire of the Sun (Snap Case)
One of my personal favorite movies, Empire of the Sun, featuring a very young Christian Bale is on sale for half-price at $6.99.

The Wild West

Deadwood: The Complete Series
If you’re like me and can’t get enough of Al Swearengen swearin’ up a storm, you definitely need to snap up this great deal on the complete Deadwood series. It’s $97.49 where it’ll normally set you c**ks**kers back $179.00.

Blu-Ray Movies

If you have a Blu-Ray player, there are also some really great deals. Here is a link to the Blu-Ray discs that might be of interest to reenactors: Amazon.com Blu-Ray Cyber Monday Deals

I noticed they had The Searchers [$7.99] (which probably looks AMAZING in Blu-Ray), Valkyrie [$14.99], The Last Samurai [$10.99], Alexander, Revisited – The Final Cut [$7.99], Wyatt Earp [$7.99], 10,000 B.C. [$14.99], Gettysburg: The Battle and the Address [$6.49], How the West Was Won (Blu-ray Book) [$20.49], Lonesome Dove (2-Disc Collector’s Edition) [$11.99]

These are only deals I found for Cyber Monday, but I am sure there are lots of other great gift ideas for reenactors. What do you want for Christmas?

Victory at Old Bedford Village – Report from the Front Lines

Jim Barnes — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:18:32 +0000

The following is an email that we received from Roger Kirwin, the director of Old Bedford Village regarding the efforts to save the Village over the past few months.The Reenactor Post is proud to be a supporter of OBV and we salute them on their success in keeping the doors open!

Dear Jim,

Good to see you and all the lads this past weekend, I know you’re always looking for some snow for a more authentic feel to a Russian winter, but I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the sunshine!

It’s been a real year of turmoil and doubt here at OBV. Along with the economic recession, it was one of the wettest seasons I’ve ever seen in PA ( I thought I was back in Blighty this Summer with all the rain) we saw numbers of visitors dwindle, often quite substantially.

The big joke in the office was that there was no need to consult the ‘Farmer’s Almanac’ this year to see what the weather was going to do on any given weekend - just get the OBV special events list for 2009 and that would be a guarantee that it would rain that weekend!

Of course, the big one was the property tax issue.

The local newspaper, the Bedford Gazette had been carrying a local interest story for some time about a pending property tax reassessment in the county. Somewhat remarkably, the last property tax reassessment Bedford County PA had been subject to was back in 1957! No doubt about it, a review was due and it was interesting to note that several ‘generations’ of county commissioners had decided not to grab that bull by the horns and implement reassessment… until the Bedford County School Board threatened to take legal action against them late last year.

And so, the reassessment commenced. It’s hard to convey the outrage that the rank and file of Bedford voiced when their properties were reassessed in one fell swoop from 1957 values to 2009 values. All the time, I was hearing about folks getting property tax increases of thousands of percent and the understandable distress it was causing them, when their annual property tax threatened their homes and farms (it should be noted that Bedford County PA is a rural county of 50,000 people, currently lying 3rd from top out of 67 counties in the state unemployment tables). Just a few weeks ago, the county’s citizens also learned that the county had debts totalling $49.7 million, considered by many to be excessive for a county this size and with a poor economy.

The problem started for OBV in February this year. Feb 6th to be exact. Opening the mail at my desk one morning, I was surprised to see a property tax bill. As OBV is and always has been a 501(c)(3) ‘Not for profit educational Museum’, I immediately assumed that the bill had been sent in error.

So, I decide to call the chief assessor to clear the problem up and get back to working on the forthcoming season’s programming at the Village. At this point, I want you to consider what it’s like to live in a small rural county, where everyone knows everyone, when you go downtown, you leave the keys in the ignition, we never lock our doors at night etc. so to be told by the chief assessor’s assistant that the chief assessor was too busy to talk to me and would not be able to return my call for ” 2 Months”, call it a hunch, but I knew something wasn’t right!

I immediately called the county commissioner’s office to find out what was happening – OBV, a registered non profit, on the IRS website as tax exempt, never previously paid property tax in it’s entire 33 year existence, recognized by the state of PA as an educational museum - what was going on?

The commissioner I talked to said that he didn’t know anything about it! Wow!. Talk about the tail wagging the dog!

I pressed on deeper into the local political circles to get answers. It became very interesting. Of course blissfully ignorant at the time that the county was in such debt, I couldn’t figure out why OBV was being taxed.

It didn’t take too long, in fact a call to our accountants, before I began to put a picture together. You see, just because the Federal Government and the State of Pennsylvania says you’re tax exempt, that doesn’t mean that the county that the non profit resides is in, will exempt them. According to our accountants (a big firm who handle accounting for local counties and are consequently well read when it comes to these kind of things) they said that under PA Act 55, Bedford County was within it’s rights to tax OBV for it’s property! The conversation ended with the accountant saying that he was completely unaware of any other county in PA applying a property tax to a 501(c)(3) but the law was evidently one the side of the county. It was his closing statement which really brought it home to me. If this $18,000 per year property tax goes through – which of course it had, even though the first we knew about it was when I opened the mail that fateful day, then due to the current financial position of OBV, we should consider a plan for CLOSURE.

Gulp!

A bit of background here, which a lot of people are not really aware of, even in the local community. OBV was started in 1976 to mark the bicentennial. ’76 was a time in the county when unemployment raged at 20%, so the idea of using grants from the Feds to create a log cabin ‘colonial’ Village was a great idea to reduce unemployment and create tourism in a county which needed all the help it could get.

All was well in the Village during those formative years. Grant money coming in, jobs for all etc. but when the money dried up in the early 80s and the place had to stand on it’s own 2 feet, reality set in and so did accumulating debt. You can only go to the well (bank) so many times before the well is dry – and that’s what happened at OBV and oh so many other historical sites. Gradually, the debt is such that it takes all the working capital being generated just to support the debt. It’s a downward spiral, and that’s the story here. I call it living with the “sins of the father.”

Beginning to get the idea of how a ‘paltry’ $18k each year could tip the apple cart? Heavy debt means monthly repayments to the bank. Stop those repayments and it’s close the creaking door for good. That’s business. Throw in an extra payment and that fine line between success and failure becomes life or death for a business, museum, county , country etc. etc.

So having been on the sharp end of a ‘revival’ at OBV for the past 8 years, paying the bankers their ‘pound of flesh’ each month, beginning to introduce new programs, new faces, attracting more visitors, building up a strong board of directors etc. we were not exactly on a roll, but we were making steady, cautious progress.

Back to the propert tax issue, what followed was in essence a campaign of public awareness.

I harnessed any, and every media and told them of our plight. From Pittsburgh, to Harrisburg to Philadelphia, press releases went out and the media honed in on this quaint little village with all the living history, education programs and the threat of closure.

We started number crunching to try to determine just what OBV contributed to the local community and economy. That was a tough one. it really needed people out there with clip boards conducting interviews, but we didn’t have either time nor money to conduct such surveys. Instead, using PA state archives for demographics of visitors to state historic sites, we determined that visitors to OBV spent an estimated $2million in the local economy in restaurants, gas, hotels, local retailers etc. There really wasn’t anything else in the county which would make people pull off the PA turnpike of I-99 for touristic purposes, so as the chief attraction in Bedford County, we felt content with that figure.

And so the media circus began to roll… press releases, radio interviews, newspaper articles, TV news, the plight of OBV went regional. The county commissioners split themselves between those for taxing OBV and to hell with the consequences, and those quietly supporting OBV. Some of the remarks made by the commissioners were nothing short of comical. I think some of those comments made by one of them in particular, secured much grass roots support for us.

Finally, we got a date for appeal, by which time we’d secured the assistance of an out of town law firm. It was a tough job trying to find a lawyer who didn’t say “What?? never heard of that” when we told them of the situation, such was the rarity of the case in question, i.e. that of taxing a non profit. Our lawyers billed us as the only museum in the state of Pennsylvania being subject to such a tax.

On the day the appeal was to be heard (10.29.09) in front of the three county commissioners, the OBV board of directors, supporters and lawyers filed into the Bedford Count courthouse and took their seats. We waited for the commissioners to show up, which 2 of them did. We all waited for the third…. no show. So with only 2 commissioners present (no chance of a vote here) our legal council presented the case and I read out my prepared statement outlining OBV’s presence in the community, it’s educational programs and it’s slender financial situation.

The meeting really couldn’t go any further, so we disbursed and were promptly scooped up by the media waiting outside.

When a reporter from Channel 6 asked me to comment on a statement made a few minutes previously by one of the commissioners, out of my earshot, namely that OBV was taxed because it could not provide evidence to the county that it was tax exempt, I was initially stunned that someone would make such a false accusation, but then I ‘clicked’ that if this was the best defense they could offer, then we were beginning to win. Shifting the blame was the name of the game.

More media blitz followed and we began to drive the issue home. Word went out to the living history community (a very strong pressure group for historical matters) and in a timed response, the commissioners were flooded with letters. Yet more letters of support appeared in the ‘letters to the editor’ pages of the Bedford Gazette and Altoona Mirror. The campaign was in full swing and the commissioners had to make a decision to either uphold the tax or rescind it.

I’d started to attend the Tuesday morning commissioners meetings to see how local government worked. For the most part, the meetings revolved around the alleged injustices associated with the property tax reassessment, the newly formed Bedford County Taxpayers Association (no political affiliations) doing sterling work in representing many of the people affected by the sharp increases in property tax assessment. No doubt about it, OBV was becoming the second front. We were not going to take this unfair tax lying down and this fact was becoming very apparent to everyone.

Then, unexpectedly ,one Tuesday morning at the 11.10.09 weekly commissioners meeting, a motion was proposed by one of the commissioners who had previously been so apparently anti OBV, that the property tax on the Village should be dropped. To my relief, a second commissioner seconded the motion and the tax was rescinded at around 10.15am that morning!

Relief all around. Now it was time to send in the cavalry (Lawyers) for the pursuit, for what guarantee do we have that this could not be resurrected at a later date? And that, as of today, 11.19.09, is where the story rests. The abhorrent tax had been rescinded, OBV takes in a sharp intake of breath and we lick our wounds, financial and otherwise. Good legal representation comes at a goodly price.

It’s been a roller coaster ride over the past few months. I really don’t think people know just how close OBV came to disaster in this case. There’s a lot of people to thank for their support which brought about this happy conclusion to what has been a miserable affair. On behalf of the OBV board of Directors, I would like to thank them all for the letters, e mails and ‘phone calls.

In truth, I had the time of my life fighting this one. It was such a shame the stakes were so high, and I really didn’t want to go down with the ship.

One thing’s for sure, as living historians, we cannot afford to leave the preservation of history in the political arena and assume it will be well cared for.

Roger.

http://www.oldbedfordvillage.com

Restaurant Review By Bill Donegan

Jim Barnes — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:47:06 +0000

Volkssturman

I had a wonderful time at “The Alpen Hof German Restaurant” on Saturday night June 6, 2009. The Alpen Hof is located on Morgantown Road in Reading, Pa. It is only three miles from the Mid Atlantic Air Museum.

The occasion for my being there was that our German reenacting unit “The Kaiserlautern Volks Sturm” was having a dinner party to celebrate two promotions. Mine to Sgt. Gruppenfuhrer (group leader), and Jim Barnes to Lt. Zugfuhrer der 2.Ko.15/1 Kaiserlautern Volks Sturm.

The Volkssturm was initated on October 18, 1944 so, at that late stage of the war, supplies were limited. Therefore, part of our table were dressed in proper German military uniforms, other were in captured Russian uniforms or a mix of civilian and military fashions. See the attached group photograph.

We noticed a sign posted on the outside wall of the restaurant “come see World War II period soldiers dressed in uniforms this week end”.

Once seated at our table we were serenaded by a Bavarian (in period Bavarian trachten kleid) playing the accordion. He had just finished his presentation when I asked him to play “Lilli Marleen”, which he did as I sang the words in German: Vor der Kaserne, vor dem grossen Tor, stand eine Laterne und steht sie noch davor, so wollen wir uns da wiedersehen bei der Laterne wollen wir steh’n wie einst Lilli Marleen, wie Einst Lilli Marleen.

Someone asked him to play something else, which he did. The poor man eventually skipped his break and played one song after the other as we wore him out singing. He actually out did us in the “accordion” vs “singing the words” face-off challenge as he knew more Bavarian songs than we did.

Finally, following a long wait, the food began arriving at the table. To some of our dismays, some of the ordered food items were not available as the restaurant ran out of food. The orders were then renegotiated and some people started getting their food. Our end of the table received our meals first. As we were politely waiting for the other end of the table to be served, someone still waiting for their food said, “Go ahead and eat we can wait for ours”. I dug into my food with typical Teutonic Genuss. After I was stuffed and said that I could not eat another bite, Mike Momot sitting next to me said, “Bill, you should clean your plate because there are people sitting at the other end of this table who are starving”. This started a raucous of laughter at our end of the table while the other end was somberly waiting to be served.

As all this was going on, patrons of the restaurant were coming by snapping photographs of the men and women in period dress and uniforms.

One humorous quip from one of our drivers was this: “I will only have one beer because I am driving”. His one beer turned into three because of the long wait. And each succeeding beer was larger than the one preceding it.

Over all the experience was a pleasant one, but not if you are accustomed to fast food. We sang, danced, laughed, drank and ate during all the fun. This was the typical scenario that one would experience in France, Spain, Germany England, but this was here in the good old USA.

I give this restaurant my hearty approval.

Bill Donegan