PriorBlog

I forgot to mention. While we were standing in line to shell out our cash at Ikea the other day I noticed that there was an older guy in the line next to us wearing a baseball cap with a blue and grey yin yang symbol that read “29th Infantry.” On the back of his hat it read “Normandie.” The guy was bent out of shape about his line moving slow, and plus, I’m a little shy, so I figured I would just google the 29th when I got home to see what role they played in the invasion.

There were a bunch of sites with information about how the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry were among the first to hit the beaches. It’s strange to think of the old man in the Ikea possibly among the first troops on shore at Normandy. The things he might have seen. One time when I was selling shoes, I had an old Jewish guy as a customer.  He lifted up his arm to grab a display shoe to show me which style he wanted to try on. As he did so, his sleeve pulled back from his wrist just enough for me to see the first few digits of a tattoo, the telltale sign of an Auschwitz survivor.

People just going along with their normal routine, years and years away from god knows what.

If monumental history seems odd in places as common as retail stores, something in me tells me it is even odder, if you will, trying to fulfill itself with recreation. Among the links I found in reading about the 29th, was one to this website, a group of British men who enjoy doing WWII re-enactments as Americans. I found the “forums” to be a real trip, seeing as how the posts are thoroughly English. There’s a sort of guys getting together on the weekend type of vibe about them. Lots of goofing off humor and loads of emoticons.

I guess it is important not just to remember the past, but remember it in the right way, whatever the hell that means.

Some of the guys involved with the re-enacting group have also launched a website to collect as much data on US Medical information from the period. Among their collection of stuff, I found an interesting soldier’s guide to how not to get vd. Check this intro out:

And you thought there was nothing good on my site! That’s priceless.

Another site, promoting a book about the 29th, which has been critically acclaimed by just about everyone, including:

Comments on Joseph Balkoski’s works:Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy:

“If you want to know what it was like, from private to general, from rifle to tank, from beginning to end, this is the book for you…The book is quite amazing.” -Charles M. Schulz, creator of Peanuts