Blast from the past!

[Croix de Guerre]

I found this in an old box of photos today! Lookit that hair! Me at New Market, Virginia, May 1986! (God that seems like a 1000 years ago!) YEHAWW!!!

[101CH47]

About 25 years ago when I could still fit into original uniforms. I think this was taken at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in the mid 80's.

[Justin]

Can't wait for this thread to start rolling!, I would have posted my USMC impression Vietnam. But I can't find the pictures. Maybe I will it later.

[willysmb44]

I'll have to dig it up, but I have a photo of me as a 1770s civilian at the age of 5, and photos of me as a CSA artillery crewman from the age of about 6 or 7. Kind of farby by modern standards but not bad at the time. I was always getting my Mom to make uniforms for other time periods, just found a photo of me wearing one of those "skipper" type nautical caps that Dad modified to look like a U-boat CO's cap, with complete insignia. I'd forgotten all about it until I saw that photo recently. My first WW2 impressions when I got serious all were pretty good as for GI stuff, you only could get original stuff at that time. Only jump suits and boots were being made, the rest was original or you went without then.

[General Apathy]

 

Hi Croix de Guerre, and other guys, Croix I don't think your hair looks out of place in that photograph, possibly fairly period looking.

 

However there's not much excuse for all the moustaches in the 1980 photograph that I have posted. We spent two weeks out in the Ardennes woods around Bastogne, we slept in the open and foxholes and rode around in open Jeeps. ( I think everyone who could grow a moustache had them in the late 70s and early 80s )

 

The temperature was down around minus 20 at night, bottles of cheap wine froze, also oranges, all the food snapped when you tried to eat it. The batteries on the Jeeps would not turn over the engines, we had to hand crank them a number of times first to free the engine up and stir the oil. The temperature didn't get a whole lot better in the daytime due to the short length of time the sun shone in the valleys.

 

I am on the left of the photograph with combat camera, I figured as I had a moustache I would play that part and not a combat infantryman. It was good to see what sleeping out in snow was like for the guys in 1944, glad we didn't have to survive the rest of the crap they had.

 

The photograph was taken on top of the American monument at Bastogne, 1980.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[X_redcatcher]

Well,,if you were at New Market in 86 in gray, I was there also but in blue with the 140th NYVI. good times.

[mpguy80/08]

I am embarassed to say that my first "impression" was completely FARB... I was eighteen and I had helped a friend refurbish an M-20 GReyhound armored car and he decided to invite me along to the grand reopening of the Cincinnati Union Terminal train station. The event was themed 1940's and the M-20 fit right in. I wore the cotton OD fatigues that were issued before the permanent press OG 507s, black jump boots, and a 1960's CVC (combat vehicle crewman's helmet).

 

On the upside, I got to meet a lot of the upper crust of Cincy, and actually got to meet Edmund Fitzgerald, the gentleman the ship was named after (remember the Gordon Lightfoot song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald?).

 

Believe me, I will never EVER do FARB again now that I know the right uniforms to wear.

 

Wayne

[Prof]

Ah, we always remember the First Time...

 

For me, it was 1983, somewhere near Birmingham , UK.

 

I had NO WWII US equipment, but that wasn't to stop me doing a WWII GI. Well, it doesn't, does it?

 

I arrived complete with 1970's M1 helmet, Dutch high leg 'Para' boots (all the rage then), current issue British Army lightweight green trousers, (with the creases sewn in), and, La piece de resistance, a Chinese copy of an M65 jacket, with 1950's 101st patch, and Sgt's stripes sewn on, upside down (ie, the British way).

 

Time mercifully draws a veil over the rest (though, TBH, it wasn't much below average for the period).

 

I hope to have improved a little since then,

 

No photo's. Thank God.

 

Prof

[Croix de Guerre]

Ah, we always remember the First Time...

 

For me, it was 1983, somewhere near Birmingham , UK.

 

I had NO WWII US equipment, but that wasn't to stop me doing a WWII GI. Well, it doesn't, does it?

 

I arrived complete with 1970's M1 helmet, Dutch high leg 'Para' boots (all the rage then), current issue British Army lightweight green trousers, (with the creases sewn in), and, La piece de resistance, a Chinese copy of an M65 jacket, with 1950's 101st patch, and Sgt's stripes sewn on, upside down (ie, the British way).

 

Time mercifully draws a veil over the rest (though, TBH, it wasn't much below average for the period).

 

I hope to have improved a little since then,

 

No photo's. Thank God.

 

Prof

 

 

LOL Well, let's see a photo of your current impression! Oh by the way, living in France do you know any one that reenacts Napoleonic? After watching "The Duelist" for about 1000 times I have always wanted to do a Hussar impression!

[twhigham]

Let's get farb!

 

Notice the mix of carbine pouches sideways on suspenders with the cartridge belt and non-period glasses. And the asymmetrical job on hooking the suspenders to the belt. Also notice the dog-ear style tuck job on the chin strap. Like the way the helmet rides high because that's the way it came! This was the Liri Valley tactical in January, 2008, so I've removed my leg knife, musette, grenades, and first aid pouches since they served no useful purpose in a tactical.

 

 

Living History event on Vet's Day weekend in Sarasota, November 2008.

 

 

Replaced the belt, added chamois to the chinstrap, added new gloves, parachute scarf, bandoleer, watch, cricket, and grenades. Moved the tie-down first aid to the suspenders, history-correct, and fixed how they were hooked. Too lazy to put the M3 knife on, though. Adjusted the helmet so it rides lower. No glasses, either. The downside is I'm 10 pounds heavier because I'm spending my weekends reenacting instead of training for sports.