|
PRELUDE TO D-DAY -
A VILLAGE AT WAR
May 2007
Each year
the Association is involved in running its own event and for
the second year has run the Prelude to D-Day living history
event at the Chiltern Open Air Museum.
This event
is unique to the group and to living history in the UK in
general as it is purely “first person living history”, where
all the groups and individuals taking part help to turn the
rural life museum in Buckinghamshire back in time to
England, May 1944. The site is one of the largest rural
life museums in the UK, with friendly and helpful staff who
allow us to use all parts of the site for the event.
The show,
which is of course a public event, attracts some of the
finest allied living history groups in the country,
especially those experienced in “first person” events. This
event is also unique in setting standards and scenario aims
prior to the event, with the scenario changing each year.
The first year it ran, the scenario was based around British
and American Airborne units in training prior to D-Day.
This year,
it changed from Airborne to seaborne, with the
emphasis on the units who made beach landings in Normandy.
Again, the scenario timeline was the weeks leading up to the
landings.
For this
event the groups elected to represent Headquarters 5th
Engineer Special Brigade and elements of 6th
Naval Beach Battalion, with some of the event organising
staff from the group representing Military Police and
Assault Training Centre Staff of 1st US Army.
The event
takes about a year to organise, with the most challenging
part being getting the right mix of groups, both British and
American, as well as Home Front. It is harder than it seems
as very high standards are required and we aim for a limited
number of different units.
In the
build up to the event a pre-event meeting is held at the
Chiltern Open air Museum (COAM) several months prior to the
show. At this meeting, groups new to the event get to meet
up with the other groups and undertake their ground
reconnaissance of the site. It is usually at this stage
that we know who the main players will be.
This years
event was to be somewhat different than the last one, with
the added challenge of it being run over a 4 day period, the
first day of which was to be a Schools visit on the Friday,
and the other 3 being a Bank Holiday weekend.
The
Schools day was run a little different than the remaining 3
days and was designed to cater for several large, organised
school trips. This event was a tremendous success, with
many of the children returning with their parents over the
weekend.
Of course,
not all Allied groups were available for this part of the
event but those that were provided a fantastic, educational
day for the kids and allowed many of the groups to get
established in the village early.
For the
First Allied Airborne Association the preparations started
many weeks prior to the event with several trips to other
local events to promote the Prelude to D-Day show and
providing information stands at COAM on other special event
weekends. Our own group's preparations started for real the
weekend prior to the show, when an advance party established
the Engineer Special Brigade tented camp in the Assault
Training Centre. Much of the entrance to the American zone
in the village was also established then, including the
Assault Training Centre main gate entrance and the Military
Police post.
Like most
of the events this year, we had more than our fair share of
rain over the weekend. However, we were lucky to have a
couple of dry days, with the Friday School visit and the
best part of Saturday being the better days. Thereafter we
had the worst rain for years. This, along with storm force
winds, certainly gave the pre D-Day scenario authenticity –
so much so that we were unable to duplicate Ike’s decision
and it was certainly not a "go” on the Monday. With most of
the tented camp flattened on the Sunday night, it was
decided that the show could not go on and "End Ex" was called
and the Museum closed to the public.
Although
this was a great pity, it has to be said that all
participants worked fantastically well to make the event one
of the most enjoyable and above all realistic events this
season, despite the weather. All credit to those groups,
both British and American, who carried on regardless through
the heavy rain on the Sunday and hats off to those members
of the public who still came out to visit – I don’t think
they went away disappointed.
This event
was supported by the vast majority of First Allied Airborne
Association’s membership and gave us a great opportunity to
represent the Engineer Special Brigade and 1st US
Army.
Prelude to
D-Day will again take place in 2008 and will see the First
Allied Airborne Association taking on another challenging
impression and scenario.
Lee Bowden
First Sergeant and Group
Co-ordinator
FAAA
|
