D-Day: Airborne in Normandy

The morning sun rises over Normandy revealing two armed and ready troopers of the Five O' Deuce.

Will, Casey and I jumped (from a truck) into Normandy (Ft. Calhoun, Nebraska) to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of D-Day on the night of Saturday, June 7.  We geared up for the event to portray paratroopers from F Company, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.  For our first objective, Will and I were dropped in the middle of field at 2300 hours and told to go find a concrete bunker and destroy it.  The half moon and clear skies provided us with enough light to make our way through snarled woods, along grassy tree lines and over winding muddy fields.  We met up with Casey a short while later with the help of our little brass crickets - an item issued to the 101st Airborne for the invasion.  Remember: one click is to be answered by two clicks!  The three of us finally found the German bunker and then pushed to the southeast throughout the night and finally made it to our second objective, Causeway #2, a little after 0200.  We held the ground around the causeway with the deep sounds of bullfrogs and crickets lulling us into a light sleep.  The combination of the cold ground and our wet clothing made the night rather uncomfortable with temperatures dipping below 55 degrees. We gathered up our gear by 0430 and then pushed on further to the south.  The sun finally rose to greet us just before 0600 as we ate some rations and finished our 7 hour mission.  It was a memorable event and one that I have been wanting to do for about 15 years.  This was my first experience reenacting as an Airborne unit in the field and I found it to be really enjoyable.  I'll have to make a few minor tweaks to my uniform and gear for future events but everyone had a great night!

We used a TL-122B Flashlight to check the map we had of the area.  That concrete bunker is somewhere around here...

Will adjusts a Wrist Compass as we make our way to our first objective.  Note the heavy scrim on his helmet netting.

Here's one tired little Trooper catching a few winks before we move out again.

Casey is one of the most authentic Airborne reenactors you'll ever find.  He did all the planning for this event.

Casey and Will prepare to move out just before sunrise.

A lot of the terrain we went through looked a great deal like the fields and hedgerow country of Normandy.

You can see a Gas Brassard on Will's right sleeve and an M7 Rubberized Assault Gas Mask Bag on his left hip.

This was my first experience with my new M1A1 Folding Stock Carbine.  It's a lot lighter than an M1 Garand!