you guys ever think about it.... maybe cry?

i know that it may be something hard to admit to, yes crying, but have you ever just stopped, and actually put thought, and feeling into what those guys went through during the war to ensure our freedom? what it was like to be jumping out of a plane onto the enemy, rushing up the beaches under a hale of fire from MG 42's and MG 34's... seeing you're buddies die, men left and right dying. i can tell you right now, that ive been brought to tears by it. all those guys endured and sacraficed, just for our freedom. and now a days people are ungreatful and dont realize what they had to go through, a good precentage of people dont even believe that the Holocaust happend... how can things like this happen? how can people just push aside the deaths of thousands of men because "it's history and doesn't need to be brought up", well maybe we should drop them on Omaha beach in higgins boats, under a baptism of machine gun fire, make them fight for every inch of that beach.

reactions?? anyone? i know it sounds mean, and some of you might shun me but just think about it...

 

No one would (or should) shun you here for saying that Duce, it is a damn good point well made. I don't see how anyone can stand at the menin gate listening to the last post or atop the landing beaches or on Pegasus Bridge or in the grounds of a concentration camp and not feel something twisting inside them. Whenever I go to a war cemetry I feel totally bereft at the sight of what one bunch of men can do to another.

Even as a re-enactor things like that can happen, I remember after one scrap sitting at the bottom of a ditch catching my breath, I was knackered after a night sleeping in the open with just my greatcoat and a zeltbahn, I began to think of home, girlfriend, bed and a good meal, then it struck me that the way I felt must be less than a millionth of what men must feel after a real combat. It was a strange few minutes, very strange, sometimes I wonder how willing re-enactors really are to find out what people went through, the more I think about it the less willing I get in many ways.

 

Indeed 5-0-Duce!

Personally I have during my service time ( for one year 96-97) wondered several times after some hours in the cold winter night
that just managing to survive in the forest was quite a job, not to mention having to fight as well...

Just makes you salute all those guys that did the fighting!

 

It is the waiting around that causes you to think. when the S*** hits the fan, your body goes into autopilot and the training kicks in. This is where your buddies come in and teamwork ensures success. Too busy to think. It is the training that keeps you from panicing.

 

The two most distinct feelings I get from reenacting are fear and brotherhood. The fear comes from my first reenactment. I didn't know what was going on around me. I was lying in a ditch with a panzershreck. I hadn't seen any allies and just heard shots geting closer and closer. I felt frightened at what was going on around me. The fear of something coming closer and closer while the only thing I could see was the person in the ditch next to me. Because of being new to the hobby everything in the fighting seemed so alien to me. I still can word the way I'd like to, but I was so scared about what the fighting that was coming.
Well I'm out of time at the moment to finish the rest of this. I'll try to post later today.

 

Yeah my heart definetly goes when I watch something like SPR or visit a memorial of vets. It's hard to see that men actually did stuff like that and dies fighting for ground we're standing on today and the language we speak today. It's sad to think people want to forget the past and "put it behind them", well, it's part of what today is and has shaped what today has become. People don't appreciate and stop and look behind them for the sacrifices that were given, just what they have and how to get on in front of them. I for one love to look back on the great battles of D-Day, Iwo Jima, Stalingrad, and all the rest, too numerous to list here and see how I can properly respect those living and dead who served.

 

ok im really glad that you guys agree with me, i wasnt sure if someone wouldnt like my view or not, but yea i remember my first reenactment, it was Rockford, Ill.. i love that battle... but anywho, i got seperated from my unit and i ended up with a mixed group of guys from my unit, 30th ID, and other 101, next thing i know the crotch of my pants tore out, and the lifter arm in the M1 Garand i was using came off so suddenly my gun stopped working, thank God i turned around and saw a familiar face, it was one of the guys from my unit, so we fell back out of the village (for those of you that have never been to Rockford there is a village that has been preserved from God knows when, that we're allowed to reenact in and the Germans over run it and we have to push them out) but he fixed my rifle, and we went back into battle. the next day i almost had my face removed by a bazooka...and i slipped in some apples on the ground (DAMN PARATROOPER BOOTS!) bloody things have no traction, its like jackboots on ice but yea i really loved that battle and i love reenacting, and i will be attending the Lowell event coming up. i heard its pretty good so im going to meet up with a friend from MI who reenacts.

 

Very true, there is nothing that will get me barracking some of my army cadets like wearing a beret wrong or throwing it around. Disrespect to ones regimental head dress is disrespect to the men who fought and died to build the reputation and honour that goes with it, people should remember that.

[ 26. March 2004, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: Stefan ]

 

History can do things like that to you, you know?

It hink watching Black Hawk Down did it for me. Shugart / Gordon and their ordeal is often enough to make my emotions stir.

But to be honest, the period of history that makes me swell the most is the Napoleonic wars - there is something about the stories of the men of that conflict that makes me want to cry. I don't know why - but I would probably begin to look around the definition of the word "Honor". Not that this is a dead concept and perhaps it has been glorified and expanded over the years, but it is still enough for me to stop and think.

 

For me it was Mel Gibson's "We were soldiers" that does it. Great movie.

 

SPR is still my absolute favorite movie ever, just... those guys running up that beach, and when it goes into slow-mo and he's kneeling on the beach, and you see the guy with the flamethrower get hit, and burst into flames... and just the guys blowing up, being torn apart by artillery...

 

Split the crotch of your pants at Rockford, eh? I did the same thing there back in 02. I wasn't too happy.

 

yea that sucked, thankfully my grandma is one hell of a seamstress patched em up good, and reenforced em too!

 

Fellows
I'm new here to this forum and I LIKE WHAT I SEE HERE ! My dads dad was in the 32nd infantry Division, moms dad was 82nd Airborne. My dads dad thought that a man did not cry in front of his friends, or more importantly, in front of his family. I myself only saw him cry once in my 21 years on this earth, and he was speaking of his buddies. He was an orphan and he lived with an abusive aunt and uncle who in thier eyes, was only a farmhand and worker. So when he was able, he left and joined the Army. He said that until he married my grandmother and had his family, that his buddies WERE HIS FAMILY. He never spoke much about them, but when he did, you could see his eyes watering and hear his voice almost breaking. I thank God for him and his buddies everyday.

Austin Sherron

 

I have to agree, well said.

I haven't done any re-enactments, but I can expand on that from the point of view as a professional actor. To portray a character properly you have to understand and empathise with their thoughts and feelings. In order to do that you have to get under their skin. Thats the easy bit for a trained actor. But the downside, when it's a difficult and emotive subject, is it can get to you in a big way and sometimes be impossible to put away when shooting ends or the show is over. Despite all this, you still know it's nothing compared to how it really felt!

Being a woman I can't really comment on men's emotions, 'cept to say you were given tear ducts for a reason chaps! And though us girlies have a better handle on crying, I'm not usually found crying in public if I can help it.
But I think you only have to be human to easily cry at our history. I've lost count at the amount of films and books I have been privvy to. But as well as deep sadness, I've also felt raging anger at, for example, what so called human beings did to people in death camps.
Sometimes looking into stuff like this can cause a roller coaster of emotions. Or is that just me being a typical woman?

 

It´s also astonishing to see how those people in the front line forced themselves to do their duty often in terrible conditions and when there seemed to be no ending to the horrors and killing.

Just a while ago saw a document on Finnish women that helped at the front, called "Lottas". They were not soldiers , but helped with the wounded etc all they could, and were of huge help as we were a nation of only 4 million strong back then so we could get some 650,000 men in the arms maximum.

Anyway, in the document the old lady said that after getting to the front in WW2 they were so shocked that they cried for a week while doing their duty and then one of them said " I won´t cry anymore" and the others forced themselves as well to find the strength to fight the fear. Quite touching!!!

 

As horrific as it is, I guess some people would rather have to face it and be doing something to help rather than turn their backs. Strange how the horror is easier to live with than any potential guilt isn't it? What these women did is a wonderful example of human strength and courage, what amazing people they are.

 

Maybe it is also to do with mindset, my grandfather was a lieutenant commanding a platoon (later a company) in Italy during the war, his last words before he died in 1998 were 'did I get them back, did I bring the men back?' That is why people will endure things we can't imagine, that kind of mindset which puts staying with your comrades before your own comfort and safety. Well, thats my theory anyhow.