Memorial Day means different things to people.  It’s the official (or semi-official) start to summer.  School is usually out and people take their vacations.   Many folks celebrate with a barbeque cookout and lots and lots of beer.   I decided to go to the local cemetery where they were honoring the soldiers of past wars.

First up were the revolutionary war re-enactors.  I had a bit of a chat with them, I do have an Iroquois ancestor who fought with the Americans, so I could join the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution, a snobby sort of fossilized organization) if I ever lose my mind.

There weren’t any Civil War people, but there were WWI guys.

They are not from the same time period, America did not officially enter the war until near the end, and the German is in a uniform from the beginning of the war.  I asked him if he was an ‘evil Hun’, but he denied it.   He said that he enjoys representing anyone other than the Americans, so he also has the uniforms of Brits and French soldiers.  His gear is both originals and reproductions.

WWII is more popular with re-enactors and I think the stuff is somewhat easier to find.  When I was a young girl you could find this sort of stuff in antique shops, even original Civil War caps and such like.  (My uncle loved to go to antique and junk shops to look for the flotsam of the past.)

This guy had bought an ambulance and had restored it.  The speedometer says that it could go up to 60 miles per hour, and he laughed and said that was a fantasy.  As this was a consuming hobby, I asked what his wife had got (instead of her own ambulance) and he said a Jaguar!   Seems like a fair trade to me.

And we remember those who did not make it through the wars.