Local re-enactors put on World War II exhibition
By LEE ANN GILL - editorial@nwherald.com
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| Dave Fornell of Elgin (left) acts as 1st Lieutenant of the German 353 Infantry during Saturday's World War II re-enactment at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union. (Nick Dentamaro - ndentamaro@nwherald.com) |
UNION – As Shawn Clark prepares to go to battle – strapping on his helmet and rifle – his wife, Cindy, stays back at camp to send any allied troops his way.
The battle, 37-year-old Shawn said, started in 15 minutes, so he had to hurry.
The Belvidere couple was among more than 100 military and living civilians who took part in a World War II re-enactment Saturday on the Illinois Railway Museum grounds.
“I think it is very important for people to not forget about World War II and our vets,” said Shawn Clark, who served three years with the 10th Mountain Division. “We actually try to put on as realistic a battle as we can to try to show the public what it was really like for them.
“It was a great generation. They stood up for what they believed, and they fought for what they believed, and the country backed them.”
The daylong event included train rides through “occupied” territory with the recreation of the Italian railway system from Anzio, Italy, to Rome. Original Pullman cars and street trolleys took guests on rides, fighter planes zoomed overhead, and men in uniform and ladies dressed in 1940s garb stood around discussing the recent events of the war.
It’s what Mike Bigalke of Marengo lives for.
“I’ve been re-enacting for 13 years and collecting for 35 years,’’ said Bigalke, with Co. A 504th Parachute Infantry and Regiment.
Between battles, he showed photos of WWII soldiers.
“You know ‘Saving Private Ryan’ – here are the brothers,” Bigalke said, pointing to pictures of the soldiers that the movie was based on.
“This was Eddie,” he said of one of the soldiers. “They thought he was shot down over the Pacific. He was actually shot down, but taken as a POW. He returned home after the war.”
The re-enactments, which use authentic and reproduction uniforms and equipment, “is an education for the public,” Bigalke said.
Although he enlisted in the Army just after WWII ended, 81-year-old Laddie Vitek of River Forest was affected by the war.
“I have a friend who was killed in the Battle of the Bulge,” said Vitek, who said he wouldn’t miss driving out to Union for the event. “If I had been one year younger, [it could have been me].”
Vietnam War veteran Jim Mertz of Algonquin said it was important to remind people of the war and what it meant.
“My wife and I brought our granddaughter today to show her,” said Mertz, who was wounded in Vietnam in 1968. “Too many people are forgetting. And I really hate to hear that and see that.”
