Let's Make a T-Shirt!

So at our unit meeting last Sunday we started talking about t-shirts and the fact that our group needs an official unit shirt. We decided long ago that we would come up with a design featuring a 2nd Division photo on the front and a listing of all the cities and towns that the 2nd liberated or went through during World War II on the back. Think of it as a rock group tour shirt except for the army. Then I brought up the idea that we should do something that would be authentic for the World War II soldier to wear as well, to be worn under our uniforms when training or in the field. A lot of you may have seen a famous t-shirt design that the Airborne troops wore during the war featuring an open parachute and the words "U.S. Paratroops - Ft.Benning, Ga." Well, I commented that maybe we could do something with Camp McCoy, Wisconsin seeing as how the 2nd did a lot of their training there. Will Green google searched it to see if anything would come up and "BAM" there it was! This is a photo of Ray Nosaka at Camp McCoy sometime in 1942 with the verbage and design we were looking for.

Being a graphic designer, I said I could pretty much replicate the design and we could make a batch of them for our unit. So here it is folks! I may have to tweak a few minor things, but I think the finished product should look pretty similar to this. The first photo here is the artwork that I developed and the second photo shows what the design should look like on a plain white 1940's style t-shirt. This particular shirt is sold by At The Front for $15. You can check them out here:

http://www.atthefront.com/us/uniforms/underwear.html

March 27th Unit Meeting

The men of the 2nd I.D. LHA gathered at Brewsky's Bar & Grill on Sunday, March 27 to refine our plans for the next few months' events. The primary goal of the meeting was to decide what our course of action would be for the upcoming Doolittle Tokyo Raiders 69th Anniversary Reunion running from April 14-17. We will be focusing our efforts on doing a large static display at the Strategic Air & Space Museum on Saturday night and Sunday morning in conjunction with the reunion's other events. Our unit members will be dressed in authentic uniforms representing the navy, army infantry, engineers, mechanics and other 1942-themed impressions. I am really looking forward to this events and to hopefully meeting the five surviving Doolittle Raiders. As is the case with so many of the events we participate in, this will truly be a once in a lifetime experience!

March Rolls In Like A Lion

On Sunday, March 6, the men of "Item" Company gathered at Ft. Atkinson State Historical Park for some outdoor field training and close order drill. The scenario for the day was to envision that we were indeed training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin in March of 1943 before the 2nd Division headed overseas. And while we were well prepared for our training, we were all quite unprepared for the extremely cold temperatures and blustery winds. I've been to some pretty cold events throughout my years as a reenactor, but this had to be one of the most miserable days I've been through. We were all dressed for slightly warmer weather and while the M1941 Field Jacket may be quite stylish, it's nowhere near sufficient as a cold weather coat. Brrrrrr!!! This first photo is Jeff, Kevin and Matt preparing for our first drill exercises. Looks like Mr. Hazard has been in the field for two weeks with all that scruff!

Here's a pretty cool photo of our six M-1 Garand rifles and our helmets. We'll have to work on stacking arms again once the weather gets a little nicer.

A very dapper Mr. Scott Rowe models the 5 Button Highneck Sweater and the Wool Knit Jeep Cap. Both items were well loved by the G.I.s back in 1944.
After an hour and a half of close order drill, we spent some time scouting out the area and practicing squad formations and movement. Here's a shot of Jeff and Dave pushing forward after getting the "all clear" sign from our scouts.
Ahhh, a close-up shot of yours truly. Note the world-famous "Indianhead" insignia of the 2nd Division painted on my steel pot. Looks like the cold has put me into a rather grouchy mood - either that our I'm just trying to play the part of the mean, old drill sergeant.
Kevin acted as our squad leader for the field training portion of the day. Here he discusses with Jeff the proper procedures for scouts to enter a wooded area. Our two scouts, Matt and Scott, had deserted us by this point and were nowhere to be seen.
Oh there they are! Turns out that Matt and Scott were working for the Germans and started blasting away at us as soon as we came upon their hiding places. Very tricky those two - the smirks say it all. We'll see if they ever get to be scouts again!
Pvt. Matt Hazard, or is it Jeremiah Johnson...??? Either way, he performed well in the field and we're glad he made it out for the day.
After a quick refresher course on unit hand signals we decided to pack it up and head back to the fort. That wind just blew right through us out in those woods.
We held a little admin meeting as we cracked open some K-ration canned meat and crackers. Hazard brought a six pack of bottled Coke so we all had one of those as well. It was fun to see everyone again and get in a little training, but it's safe to say that we're all ready for spring. And hopefully March will go out like a lamb and not like a lion.