Watching World War II Reinactors at Jefferson Barracks

Yesterday morning, I drove out to Jefferson Barracks County Park (https://stlouisco.com/Parks-and-Recreation/Park-Pages/Jefferson-Barracks) in Lemay for their annual World War II Weekend. This is an event featuring military reinactors who camp out in the park like soldiers in World War II. Participants are reinacting United States, Canadian, British, Soviet, German, and Italian troops. They wear authentic uniforms, use authentic equipment--down to reproductions of grooming kit--and operate weapons and vehicles of the period.

This event is organized by the U.S. 2nd Ranger Infantry Battalion of St. Louis, Inc. (https://www.facebook.com/2ndRangersSTL/), one of the reinactor groups taking part. Other groups come from around the Midwest for the weekend, which began Friday night and ended late Sunday afternoon.

I arrived on the site just after it opened for the day at 9:00 am. It was overcast and there was some slight rain overnight. I walked around the encampments, photographing the tents, equipment, weapons, and troops. A building hosted vendors selling gear for reinactors, and a display by the Military Vehicle Modeling Association (https://www.militarymodel.org/#!) (https://www.facebook.com/groups/514075095676962/).

Then, I walked about 0.25 mile (0.4 km) to a field, where a battle took place. The reinactors either marched or rode in vehicles to the field for a mock skirmish. It rained slightly during this time. Firing blank ammunition, they simulated small unit infantry combat as done during World War II. The firefight--the first of three that weekend--lasted about 25 minutes and the crowd applauded the participants for their performance.

After the battle, I walked back to the encampment for some more viewing and taking more photographs. However, during my walking, the sole on one of my boots came off, so I had to cut short my stay and headed back home. Before going to my car, I did chat with an acquaintance who was one of the German reinactors this weekend. Still, I had a fine time at this living history event.

Later.