more weirdness in Texas

[Guest]

With no disrespect to the actual event and its participants, this is one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. I know there are civil war battles reenacted, and even the crucifixion at easter time, but I wonder why I hear of no happier events reenacted, e.g., great sex scandals, love affairs, orgies, the invention of ice cream, etc. - Perdita

Iwo Jima re-enactment held in Texas

Feb. 20, 2005 | DOSS, Texas (AP) -- As the sound of artillery filled the air, about 200 performers carrying M1 carbines climbed a muddy hill on a central Texas ranch marking the nation's largest 60th-anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The historic scene recreated Saturday on some 30 acres represented the rugged speck of Japanese land in the Pacific Ocean where about 28,000 died during a grueling month of fighting in early 1945 -- a battle immortalized in an Associated Press photo of a group of U.S. fighting men raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi.

"I'm seeing a lot of visions," said 81-year-old Hershel Williams, who earned a Medal of Honor in the battle. He was a 21-year-old corporal at the time.

Members of the War Dog Training Patrol of Lackland Air Force Base portrayed Marines in Saturday's flag raising ceremony at the National Museum of the Pacific War in nearby Fredericksburg. The re-enactment was put together by staffers at the museum, which has held a series of 60th-anniversary commemorations beginning with that of Pearl Harbor in 2001.

Almost 7,000 Americans were killed and about twice that many were wounded in the 36-day assault that began Feb. 19, 1945. The battle on the eight-square-mile volcanic island was the bloodiest ever for the Marine Corps. Fewer than 1,000 of the island's Japanese 22,000 defenders survived. The Americans wanted Iwo Jima's airstrips for use in conducting long-range bombing raids against Tokyo.

Spectators on Saturday got a taste of what both sides in the battle had to endure. It took re-enactors about an hour to scale the steep hill. The mock battle involved people portraying Japanese troops defending the site. Half of the defenders were veteran re-enactors from Japan who traveled to Texas for the event.

Many of the former Marines at Saturday's event, however, said they came to see old friends, not to relive the fighting. "I don't watch war movies," said Williams, of Ona, W.Va. "It gets to me, and I just can't do that. I don't sleep for a few nights afterwards."

Doss is 100 miles west of Austin.

 

[Op_Cit]

Wow, the first thing that passed through my mind when I saw the title was that old Monty Python bit about the Women's group's (what was the name?) reinactment of Pearl Harbor.

Well, I don't really care if I offend: It is just about as silly.

(Now, if they'd done it in Vermont, I could see the relevance...)

 

[DrFreud]

I wonder why I hear of no happier events reenacted, e.g., great sex scandals, love affairs, orgies, the invention of ice cream, etc. - Perdita

I would love to know how you'd go about re-enacting the invention of ice cream.
Put my name down though for the orgy stuff

DrF

 

[BBWetKitty]

Speaking as a blue stuck in the red state of Texas, I see weirdness everyday. Since I moved here two years ago from Washington state, Ive seen more Amber alerts, pedophile stuff, kids left in and then cooked in cars, arms getting chopped off kids, than any other place Ive been. No one talks about politics, there are no protests and road rage is the #1 health issue here.

Why do I stay? I love my job. I love the weather. I love to fish. These simple things keep me happy.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Seems obvious to me that they are not spending enough time remembering The Alamo.

 

[haldir]

It's a bit like the news innit? All we ever hear are the really bad things (apart from the vomit provoking "Let's send them away with a smile" item).

I agree, we should be at the forefront of a movement dedicated to re-enacting great happy events. My vote woudl be to start with one of the great orgies from the reign of Caligula (minus any killing of course). Anyone got a fish I could borrow?

 

[Lisa Denton]

Gosh Mum Perdita, don't you know history? This was the re-enactment of the fight for Iwo Jima Texas, of course it was held in Texas. Durin the fierce and bloody battles where the yankee Author Hangout peoples attacked us poor defenseless lil texans and got thier butt kicked.

There is a good reason why texas is called the Lone Star State, I could tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya.

We do things own own way here, grow our own chewin tobacco and slop our own hogs, heck, I still go to the outhouse in my back yard sometimes just to re-live fond memories of the good old days.

Texas is the only state in the union which joined on the proviso that we could break away any time we want to. But we like them taters they grow in Idaho so we stick around.

Yehaw See ya Mum.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

They re-enact a war. A war where thousands of people were killed.

Is this to get people's mind off today's REALLY depressing politics?

 

[oggbashan]

Dover, Kent, UK is different...

They celebrate anything they can connected to Dover, so in 2002 I and Francis I of France re-enacted The Field of the Cloth of Gold where we swore eternal amity (and broke it a few years later). It took about 10 minutes to re-enact then the pageant moved on to Elizabeth I.

Other things celebrated were hop-picking, the Coronation of Elizabeth II, King Arthur pulling a sword from a stone (never mind that he was a myth who never came near Dover even in a mythical state), smuggling - still a current activity, etc. The then current Miss Dover was Queen Guinevere, Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II - economy of personnel but even so there were 300 participants.

World War II was represented by General Montgomery inspecting the Army Cadets. Nelson had inspected the Sea Cadets a hundred or so years (or 20 minutes) earlier.

The Dover Pageant Society

Dover Castle has a continual re-enactment of the day BEFORE King Henry VIII visited - rather like Groundhog Day, Henry NEVER arrives because it is always the day before.

I don't do Henry VIII at the Castle. They PAY a professional for that.

Og

 

[TxRad]

Seems obvious to me that they are not spending enough time remembering The Alamo.

If we did that, with as many Mexicans as there are up here now, We'd have another real battle not a reenactment.....

As for them holding the reenactment of Iwo Jima in Fredricksburg... you have to understand that it's in the middle of the hill country and the largest body of water around wouldn't float any kind of naval vessal, but there is one of the largest naval Museums in the world there... Can't remember the Admiral that it's named for....

Texans like to rememeber past battles, God knows, we have enough battle grounds down here.... One more here or there doesn't make much difference.... And we like to visit with the old vets....

Anyway, there was a tree hugger convention on Iwo Jima That weekend and we didn't want to make a lot of noise and scare any trees.....

 

[Guest]

If we did that, with as many Mexicans as there are up here now, We'd have another real battle not a reenactment.....

You betcha. Muchas gracias,

Perdita

 

[Vincent E]

They re-enact a war. A war where thousands of people were killed.

It's living history. Here in the City of Champions (I never get tired of that line) we reenact everything from the Battle of Lexington and Concord to the first time Ted Kennedy tied on one and groped a waitress only to have the family spin machine cover it up. You can even throw a bale of fake tea into the harbor from a reenactment of the Brig Beaver II, but with all the pollution in the water no one would notice it.

The value of reenacting is to give a more three dimensional feel to history. It is one thing to simply read about a battle or a war in a history book, but if all of your information about such things comes from reading you are a lsave to the author's ability to recreate history in your mind's eye. The value of reenactment societies is to give a more realistic feel to history from the layout of the battle field and the sound of the muskets down to the buttons on the wool coats that the soliders of yesteryear won.

It is not about glorifying war or violence. Reenactments can just as easily convey the horrors of war as they can the military strategy employed by generals.

One note about he Iwo Jima reenactment: it is important to remember that the famous picture of the marines rasing the flag on Mount Suribachi actually commemorates the replacement flag that was lpaced on top of the peak. The first flag raising was much less dramatic, and it is not remembered by a famous photo and statue in Arlington, Virginia.

Historically
-Vincent

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

. . . with as many Mexicans as there are . . . We'd have another real battle not a reenactment . . .

You mean Mexican's don't like ice cream with their apple pie

 

[Guest]

You mean Mexican's don't like ice cream with their apple pie

Mexicans don't eat apples, silly chiquita. It's mango on a stick sprinkled with lime and chile powder for me. Yummocito.

Perdita

 

[SlickTony]

With no disrespect to the actual event and its participants, this is one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. I know there are civil war battles reenacted, and even the crucifixion at easter time, but I wonder why I hear of no happier events reenacted, e.g., great sex scandals, love affairs, orgies, the invention of ice cream, etc. - Perdita

Iwo Jima re-enactment held in Texas

Feb. 20, 2005 | DOSS, Texas (AP) -- As the sound of artillery filled the air, about 200 performers carrying M1 carbines climbed a muddy hill on a central Texas ranch marking the nation's largest 60th-anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The historic scene recreated Saturday on some 30 acres represented the rugged speck of Japanese land in the Pacific Ocean where about 28,000 died during a grueling month of fighting in early 1945 -- a battle immortalized in an Associated Press photo of a group of U.S. fighting men raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi.

"I'm seeing a lot of visions," said 81-year-old Hershel Williams, who earned a Medal of Honor in the battle. He was a 21-year-old corporal at the time.

Members of the War Dog Training Patrol of Lackland Air Force Base portrayed Marines in Saturday's flag raising ceremony at the National Museum of the Pacific War in nearby Fredericksburg. The re-enactment was put together by staffers at the museum, which has held a series of 60th-anniversary commemorations beginning with that of Pearl Harbor in 2001.

Almost 7,000 Americans were killed and about twice that many were wounded in the 36-day assault that began Feb. 19, 1945. The battle on the eight-square-mile volcanic island was the bloodiest ever for the Marine Corps. Fewer than 1,000 of the island's Japanese 22,000 defenders survived. The Americans wanted Iwo Jima's airstrips for use in conducting long-range bombing raids against Tokyo.

Spectators on Saturday got a taste of what both sides in the battle had to endure. It took re-enactors about an hour to scale the steep hill. The mock battle involved people portraying Japanese troops defending the site. Half of the defenders were veteran re-enactors from Japan who traveled to Texas for the event.

Many of the former Marines at Saturday's event, however, said they came to see old friends, not to relive the fighting. "I don't watch war movies," said Williams, of Ona, W.Va. "It gets to me, and I just can't do that. I don't sleep for a few nights afterwards."

Doss is 100 miles west of Austin.

Eh--I came up in Texas and it doesn't seem any weirder than any of the other stuff that's gone down there. What seems strange to me is that the battle was re-enacted somewhere far, far away from a beach.

Which reminds me of something amusing I saw several years ago. The cover of a New Yorker featured a small group of people raising a large beach umbrella on a beach in exactly the same pose as the picture of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, and a bunch of people who were old enough to have been alive at during the time of the actual event wrote to crab about it. To me it didn't seem that much different from a Far Side cartoon featuring George Washington crossing a street--striding across a striped crosswalk with his entourage in the same heroic pose as the famous painting of him crossing the Delaware in an open boat. I suppose that if the Far Side cartoon had been published in his time there would have been people to crab about that too.

Hey, I used to live in the same town where the movie Urban Cowboy was set and filmed--I even went to Gilley's and applied for a job, which I didn't get--just as well, as small neighborhood bars are better to work in than a human stockyards sort of place such as Gilley's was. Gilley's doesn't exist any more, and I think the guy who owned it filed for Chapter 7 or 11--I forget which.

Here's something about
the history of ice cream.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Dita,

You don't understand the love of history most reenactors have. Most civil war reenactors I know spend an inordinate amount on thier kit, incluiding buying their ownmuskets. Many even have two kits, one union, the other confederate, so they can participate in more reenactments and because, depending on whre you are, you can always get a spot as the "bad" guy, since most locals want to be the good guys.

World war II, is just now getting far enough into the past, that people are begining to want to do reenactments of its principal battles. I did think it was kind of strange to do an Iwo Jima reenactment in Texas, considering the topography, but the battles in the central pacific, were primarily Naval affairs. It's not so strange that a large Naval Museum would want to do reenactments. Reenactments bring history to life, and foster an enthusiasm in kids & adults, that no amount of clever displays can achieve.

 

[Lisa Denton]

Reenactments have to be done where you have the space, add in accessability and nearby accomodations and all kinds of stuff. Texas doesn't have a lot of empty beach areas for a pacific ocean type thing. The naval museum, and weather in texas this time of year, mild, and the area I am sure all played a part. I hear about civil war reenactments done everywhere.

If this stuff brings back memories, for vets, and lets them know others care, and helps keep history seem more alive and interesting for children and others, I'd say lets have more.

It's not morbid to remember what our world has had to go through, good or bad, lets try to remember, move on but never forget.

And yes, Texas has some strange things going on, pick any state, you will find some strange things.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

They re-enact a war. A war where thousands of people were killed.

This reminds me of the old saying: "America is the only country that went from barbarianism to decadence without having civilization inbetween."

 

[SlickTony]

This reminds me of the old saying: "America is the only country that went from barbarianism to decadence without having civilization inbetween."

You're saying then, that they have no battle re-enactments in Europe? No, I'm not being sarcastic; it's an honest question.

 

[Belegon]

Mexicans don't eat apples, silly chiquita. It's mango on a stick sprinkled with lime and chile powder for me. Yummocito.

Perdita

She's right. It is damn good.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

You're saying then, that they have no battle re-enactments in Europe? No, I'm not being sarcastic; it's an honest question.

GOD I hope not. Then again, us Swedes are such sluts for anything American, we adopt anything that has a US flag on it. Gang violence, guns in school, R & B...

 

[oggbashan]

You're saying then, that they have no battle re-enactments in Europe? No, I'm not being sarcastic; it's an honest question.

We certainly do in England. Locally in 2004 we had the Vikings invading (again - they do it every year); a riot in a wood that was a failed tax revolt; smugglers landing brandy (why they re-enact smuggling I don't know. Locally we've never stopped smuggling and it is an even more popular local employment than it used to be in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries) and the Romans repelling pirates.

Within a twenty mile radius we have had re-enactments of the Romans, the Vikings, the English Civil War, The Charge of the Light Brigade from the Crimean War, The Boer War, World War I and II especially the evacuation of Dunkirk with the surviving original boats that took part etc. and I'm sure I've missed some. We even had a re-enactment of the Mods versus Rockers battles of the 1960s a couple of years ago.

Broadstairs and Rochester have Dickens Festivals every year. Local carnivals include re-enactment floats and people dressed in various historic costumes.

It is a popular and increasing activity and those involved are deadly serious and fanatical about historical accuracy even if the Charge of the Light Brigade was only six horses

Og