Anyone without knowledge of local events who happened to be strolling around Conneaut, Ohio, recently would have been excused for thinking themselves caught in a time warp and hurled back to somewhere in the mid-1940s.
People in 1940s-style clothing and men and women in military uniforms of that time dominated the scene all around, as the largest reenactment of World War Two in the world took place in mid-August on the shores of Lake Erie.
A festival atmosphere permeated the air as residents and visitors soaked up the many historically accurate depictions, such as the staging of the Amphibious Landing of Normandy.
Visitors saw just what life was like for Army personnel back then: how they slept and what they ate, and how they used their weapons. Visitors also had the chance to meet some of the men who used those weapons, as more than 100 veterans of the war were honored as part of the ceremonies.
It was the 19th time the reenactments occurred at Conneaut Township Park, marking the 75th anniversary of D Day. Food vendors were set up alongside weapons displays; 1940s music played while guns were fired and tanks roared.
If it all sounds like a cacophony of opposites, it was a glorious one. Folks who took part as reenactors, more than 1,500 of them, gathered to entertain and inform and to make the event a marvelous spectacle.
Two participants enthused about the event were David Miller and Sheila Gladfelter, who brought their horses, Stormy and Skydancer, respectively, to join in the demonstration called German War Troops. They agreed that many people don’t realize that horses were an integral part of the German Army’s ranks later in the war.
Both are from Winchester, Ohio, and represented the German Army’s 13th Calvary Regiment. Although both had joined the reenactment before, this was the first time they brought their horses.
“The German Army was very ‘horse heavy’,” Gladfelter explained. “This isn’t shown in the movies, but in 1943, the Germans ran out of men, so they sent the men who worked with horses to the front and got women from the riding academy to train the horses.” Gladfelter stood in to represent those female trainers.
Another aspect of the event was music. A United Services Organization (USO) show was staged to demonstrate how the fighting men were entertained to keep their spirits high.
Alicia Williams told the News-Herald that she particularly enjoyed this aspect of the event. As a college student studying music, the show was relevant to her and she’s written several papers on the USO for school.
The event’s locale is ideal, because it mirrors almost perfectly those of Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. Its beach and surrounding terrain allow the reenactment to be staged to fully reflect what conditions were like, both for the Allies and the enemy.
For those unable to make it to the event, there is now a permanent museum in Conneaut, tasked with helping visitors learn, all year round, just what soldiers went through during those perilous times. But the reenactment each year lets people experience it in a living, breathing way: through song, celebrations, and displays that demonstrate the sadness and true cost of war.
It is one thing to look at a photograph in a textbook or study the history in a classroom. It is entirely another to meet men who fought, see the guns that were fired, or get in a boat that was actually at Normandy.
Read another story from us – Manassas Civil War Weekend Abandons “Civil War”
This may be the best tool of education around – the anniversary of D-Day hosted in Conneaut – that teaches us about the war in live, emotional, and touching ways.