I'm curious as to what you guys would think about this impression for a WW2 living history, you as individuals who enjoy history not a common spectator as a common spectator can get offended by anything under the sun. What would you think of a group doing an accurate Graves Registration Company impression. It's one of those grim realities of war, and can be done in a tasteful manner but as history lovers yourself would you find this impression too touchy?
I look at reenacting in an askance manner- just an opinion and a general impression. It strikes me as somewhat ridiculous. I'm not sure how you're going to reenacting collecting dead bodies and body parts. Digging them up again and relocating them to permanent cemeteries; collecting the personal effects and sending them to the relatives.
I suspect that some might be offended, and some might think that it's a great idea. Very difficult to say.
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Obviously one wouldn't dig up the dead bodies nor have dead bodies or parts on display, everything would be done in a respectful manner. The personal effects would honestly be a great touch (not sending them obviously) but it gives those viewing the display a personal touch that the guys we represent really lived and died and were just ordinary people. I think a lot of spectators forget at a reenactment or living history that war isn't an entertainment that it was a gruesome thing.Originally Posted by Chas
Your post sounded a little condescending like it was something I intended to make a spectacle out of for a chance to gross people out. Do a little research on the Quartermaster Graves Registration Companies, they have a very fascinating history and they played an important part in honoring our servicemen killed by giving them a proper burial and making sure they wouldn't be left behind on some distant battlefield. Their story is just as important as the elite soldiers story is.
And an impression of WWII History of the guys who handled soap, towels, new underwear etc for the GIs.
And while we are at it - an impression of the guys who arranged all the hookers and brothels in Italy, France, The Netherlands etc.
:-)
No, seriously: I think everybody is aware of all the less flattering and heroic things about war. We all know that war has it's other side too. So why?
"There I stood at the bar, wearing a Mae West, no jacket, and beginning to leak blood from my torn boot. None of the golfers took any notice of me - after all, I wasn't a member!'
Perhaps you helped answer your own question. I read Chas' reply without any condescension noticed. He was just stating the obvious. People dealing with death generally don't like obvious. What you want to do is indeed a touchy subject. If you decide to to it at all, I would suggest proceeding with the utmost caution and care.
'There is a fine line between art and fondling.'
- J.H.P.
IMO it is no different than the docs and nurses in the medical corp I see at Reading. Their tent even went to have the blood and gore from an "operation". They had wounded etc. As long as it was in the best interest of the event, I would say have at it, but be ready for the tears.
John
"It is better to be down here, wishing you were up there, than up here wishing you were down there."
Unfortunately, I don't think they are. All too often, even in vintage circles, I see the war celebrated (and I use that word deliberately) as some great team sport.... Don't get me wrong, I love my Irvin, my B3 and I respect the guys who went and did a very dirty job none of them probably wanted to do, but let's not forget what was on the receiving end of that too in Dresden or whatever.... I've long been interested in history, and I hate to see a sanitised, 2authorised",comfortable version thereof peddled. Maybe I'm just over-sensitive to that, given that I grew up in a place where two very different histories are told, each with a very specific bias. My mother's experience of being threatened with a stabbing (and visited by paramilitaries) at times for trying to teach an objective version doesn't help.
If in doubt - overdress.
Vivienne Westwood
I'm not much into reenacting myself, but I have been to a few civil war reenactments. It was always a bit odd to me that they end with a bunch of "dead bodies" on the field. And then those dead/wounded get up and walk off and have a nice lemonade when the battle is done.
One that I attended had a surgeon's tent, complete with buckets of "amputated" arms and legs. Some of the people walking thru thought it was intended to be humorous, and when the "doctor" corrected them, they became upset. It seems that they came to only see the "good and romantic" portions.
I agree that we too often view WWII as a great romantic time, when in fact it was not. My grandfather was in the Pacific and never said a word about what he did or saw there. My wife's grandfather landed on the beach on D-Day and was involved in the battle of the bulge, and towards the end of his life told me about some of the things he saw and did. It is quite sobering, and shouldn't be forgotten.
Hi
A friend's Dad (recently passed away) was with Graves Registration in Normandy. Jon said that his Dad burned all of his pictures from the war back in the 1970's and never discussed WW2 at all. My Dad (passed away the same week) was in the South Pacific and I have loads of pictures and he was FAMOUS as a high school teacher for his WW2 stories.
If you want an off the wall reenacting gig, try a mess tent, you'll be WILDLY popular, especially if you don't fully reenact the Spam.
Later
Mike
Groucho Marx said it best:
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying all the wrong remedies.”
Well, a graves registration impression can easily be done respectfully and without even the hint of a dead body and still be a fully accurate impression and drive the point home to the public. If you look at the history of graves registration during ww2 there were many different jobs to it. I am doing this impression at a living history in November, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Mike
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