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2AD Belgium&Holland Tour 2009


Johan Willaert
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General Apathy
So Lewis what was for Grub? Not stew was it.Or what did they call it in WWI Chum?. :lol: Robert

 

Hi Robert, I will dig out the trips menu and come back to you on that, I can tell you that every meal was different, and fresh meat was used in all the meals, the three meals loved so much by the men were Chicken chasseur, Beef chilli, and Morrocan lamb. There was no stew, we also had pancakes with Maple or Cherry syrup, and French toast with spicy tomato sauce beans and sausage.

 

I think the only thing we didn't provide was ice cream.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

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I think most from the Dutch contingent were glad the number of times that porridge was served was kept to a minimum, what with the 2006 trip in mind.

This trip's cooking was top-notch, Ken.

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General Apathy
Here you are:

 

cimg2526.jpg

 

Hi Richard, thanks for the photo of C-22 :thumbsup: , that's the deputy mayor of Maastricht that was riding up top with me, we poured him into a pair of loaned green HBT coveralls and a tank helmet.

 

Wish I had darkened down that brand new pair of cav gloves :lol: , used for semaphore signals in modern traffic though.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

 

Thanks again for the photo I can send it onto my daughter to see, I took my brother and sister to see Le Mon St Michel today and as we were enetering two 15th Cav vets came out, saw their patches on their chests couldn't catch their names on their i.d. cards.

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General Apathy
I think most from the Dutch contingent were glad the number of times that porridge was served was kept to a minimum, what with the 2006 trip in mind.

This trip's cooking was top-notch, Ken.

 

Hiya flibble, dibble and scotch, thanks for the compliment, weird lot those Dutch most of them turned down the lovely Scotch breakfast porridge with jam, or with dried fruits and asked for re-heated curry instead :crying: :blink: Danke-U-Well :lol:

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

 

The porridge appeared to go better with the Dutch once I started calling it ' Gloop ' sounded more Dutch I expect. :think: ;)

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Some more links from members of the public

Nice video, even though it was downright laughable when the Germans fell back to a spot right among the video camera tripods! It was funny to see that charging across open fields with no cover (or casualties) at spectator events isn't limited to this side of the pond.

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Kevlar is sold world-wide you know ;)

At least the local news crews were happy

 

The news feature from 'Het Algemeen Dagblad', in Dutch:

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1423/bizar/video/de...ijding-na.dhtml

 

 

Some more pictures from the parade in Maastricht:

http://www.limburger.nl/apps/pbcs.dll/misc...rams=Id=1686656

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General Apathy
Nice video, even though it was downright laughable when the Germans fell back to a spot right among the video camera tripods! It was funny to see that charging across open fields with no cover (or casualties) at spectator events isn't limited to this side of the pond.

 

Hi Lee, this little battle was not organised or part of our 2nd armored trip, it was sprung on us by the television people when we reached that area :unsure: , they love all this stuff it's more dramatic for their news reports. Whilst it was going on, the greater parts of the convoy were all sat in cafe's back up the road having hot chocolate or beers.

 

Alway's found that tv crews don't care how stupid they make things look. :crying:

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

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At least I got some good shots from before and after the battle.

 

Some more scanned pictures uploaded:

 

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audacia cum prudentia

Thanks for putting the photos up on here and for all the links to others, I have looked in vain for any on the British militaria/re-enacting web sites to date

 

Got to say it was an outstanding event, those that missed it truly did miss out - we did miss you Bowers old buddy ! - but it was really nice to see so many replacements who had made such an outstanding effort appearance, equipment, vehicle and attitude wise to fit in.

 

There were some amazing co-incidental moments, like when Jono took us on that wild cross country route across fields and down tracks so narrow that the M8s were knocking trees over to get through it and as we were charging across that plowed field with a mile long tactically spread column, those 9 Belgian Air Force mustang look alike trainers flew over at 1000 feet in one v formation of 5 and another formation of 4 what are the chances of that !

 

Then, when we had reached the Dragon's teeth of the Siegfried Line at long last, again cross country, by pure co-incidence , on the parallell road, up came the coaches with the Second Armoreed and 30th Infantry vets who promptly did a U turn and de-bussed to see us !!

 

The Dutch girls showed that a GI uniform truly can be a passport to almost anything once more and the Dutch And Belgian people in general showed what high regard the US Army of WW2 is still held in.

 

Many of you have said you'd like to come to such an event in Europe and there is nothing quite like doing the right unit, in the right place, in the right way, at the right time and on a major anniversary.

 

I think the leap of faith that all those who came took in 1999 has been fully vindicated over the years.

 

But if you don't stop thinking and start coming then you'll never get the chance to try it for yourself !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

In May 2010 it is the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Czechoslovakia, the LAST MAJOR ANNIVERSARY LIBERATION EVENT YOU WILL GET THE CHANCE TO ATTEND UNTIL 2015 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. The vets will all be gone by then and we will have been legislated off the roads !!

 

We will be taking a cavalry Recon Company, possibly with M18 TD and armored infantry support to the Czech Republic for 10 days representing firstly the 4th Armored Division and when we reach Pilsen as the 16th Armored Division.

 

You are welcome to attend providing you meet the personal and uniform requirements we set. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE, to thunder down the roads and fields and woods of the historically unchanged Czech Republic, where they made the film "Bridge at Remargen" as a properly constituted and accurate WW2 U.S. unit, to take part as the star attraction in a massive liberation parade and pass in review in a major European city, to dismount from your armored car at the very easternmost point reached by the US Army in WW2

 

When you see the pictures of it and think " Damn I wish I'd gone " it will be too late, there will not be another chance like there has been in the past.

 

send your names to our email address :

 

[email protected]

 

to express your interest and maybe we'll see you there in 43 jacket, wool pants and buckle boots, in an armored car surrounded by eager czech blondes and pilsner beer !!

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Can't wait till next year and The Czech Liberation event. My Dad was with the 16th AD as a Medic in the battle to liberate Pilzen. I've been there and probably traveled the roads you guys will travel. Looking foward to it. Robert

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Hi Lee, this little battle was not organised or part of our 2nd armored trip, it was sprung on us by the television people when we reached that area :unsure: , they love all this stuff it's more dramatic for their news reports. Whilst it was going on, the greater parts of the convoy were all sat in cafe's back up the road having hot chocolate or beers.

Alway's found that tv crews don't care how stupid they make things look. :crying:

I completely understand that, Ken. I think every re-enactor has done what we colonists refer to as “The Battle of the Baseball Diamond” at least once. You know the drill, two small groups fighting over a flat piece of land in a park somewhere, utterly devoid of cover of any kind (the kind of terrain no sane soldier would even walk across, much less attack through). Nobody takes a hit until the very last moments and nobody wants to give ground at all. I’d bet the other chaps in the pubs and restaurants probably laughed at the rest of those poor men once they found out what had happened there.
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The 'ambush' was planned in advance through the Dutch contingent, with all permits in order before it was allowed to go ahead.

 

To me it was all kind of pointless. Burning blanks just isn't my thing. I did get some interesting photos from amongst the film crews.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Last non-digital batch of pictures. I'm not very pleased with this batch of film (expired lucky 100 ISO BW film)

but the film grain does add to the level of authenticity.

 

 

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audacia cum prudentia

Once again, all are welcome on one of our trips, all you have to do is meet the personal appearance and uniform requirements for that particular event and come along being prepared to stick with the programme and accept that we push on to Berlin, whatever breakdowns, accidents and weather put obstacles in our way.

 

10% of the people you see in these photos are American re-enactors who have travelled from tethe CONUS just for this event. Only you can make the descision to give it it a try, we help you do the rest !

 

email us at:

 

[email protected]

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It really does sound tempting, i SOOOOO badly want to do it, and have been wanting a euro trip for ages, only problem is i don't have an Armoured kit/impression yet, and it's alot of extra cash to get one going. Fingers crossed i may float into some extra cash. When is the cutoff date, that you have to register by?

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audacia cum prudentia
It really does sound tempting, i SOOOOO badly want to do it, and have been wanting a euro trip for ages, only problem is i don't have an Armoured kit/impression yet, and it's alot of extra cash to get one going. Fingers crossed i may float into some extra cash. When is the cutoff date, that you have to register by?

 

 

The uniform is late war, M43 jacket, a couple of pairs of wool trousers a couple of wool shirts and buckle boots and steel helmet, obviously you need the usuals like wool sweater and raincoat/poncho/overcoat and then just the accecories to go with being an M8 crewman or a jeep jockey or an armored infantryman. The only other thing required is an Ike jacket so most people will have the majority of the kit, you don't need a tankers helmet r 14s and goggles, sparingly seen by this date and we discourage the use of too many

 

We usually get 20 - 50 Americans travelling over from the CONUS and most of them tend to buddy up and travel in groups or meet up to join the trip when they arrive. For this event the plan is to fly into Prague from the USA and then bus you all to the German border where the trip begins All the help you need will be given, we are vets at this now !!

 

The cost and cut off points have not yet been decided, we have a few meetings this month but info will be out by the end of October, after than its 7 months away. I will say again, this is your LAST chance to do a really major anniversary liberation event and to do is as part of a properly consitituted and authentic WW2 US armored unit portraying the right units in the right place at the right time and to travel several hundred miles both on road and off road doing so.

 

YOU WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY LIKE THIS IN THE USA !!

 

It's no use looking at the photos afterwards and thinking " damn, wish I'd been there ". There will be no second chance. It's a couple of weeks and some money out of your life and I'm pretty sure it will be the ultimate experience of your re-enactment career

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Corpsmancollector

Nice photos guys! Looks like an incredible trip, to echo everyone's comments. Do you know Loz? Medical guy, believe he was on the trip too. He's an old friend.

 

Will

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Hey mate, i'm over the seas further in Australia, but would still have to do the Prague meet obviously. Definately getting more interested, hanging out for the info release :)

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