Tickets Available now for PTO Event at Camp Atterbury

Join up HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pto-event-new-georgia-campaign-tickets-30787115090

DESCRIPTION

This event will be on the South West end of post. It is wooded and rugged and closly resembles the jungles of New Georgia. Cost for the event will be 25.00 pre registered and 35.00 Walk - on's at the event.

To Pre-registrer by Pay Pal go to your Pay Pal Acct. and use; thirdarmyhistoricalsociety@yahoo.com

Both Army and Marine units will participate. You will be in the Field and there is ample place to set your tent up. and there is rest rooms avalable at registration. So bring your Rations and plenty of ammo!!

EVENT POC; Dave Weakley, dwweakley@yahoo.com

Before 1942 hardly anybody had ever heard of New Georgia, and after 1943 few people would ever hear of it again. Nothing important had ever happened there before, and nothing important afterwards. But for an intense five-month period from June through November 1943, the New Georgia Group of islands would see fierce fighting on land, sea and in the air—and some of the worst American strategic and tactical planning of the war.

The New Georgia Group in the Central Solomons, on the west side of “The Slot,” is 125 miles long and 40 miles wide. It includes 12 large habitable islands, several dozen small ones, barrier islands, fringing coral reefs and innumerable uncharted coral heads. Like most of the other large Solomon Islands, the New Georgia group is thickly covered by some of the most difficult jungle terrain in the world. So thick is the top canopy that twilight prevails even in broad daylight. The ground beneath is covered with many steep ridges and small rivers—most of which are unseen in aerial photography. Where the terrain flattens near the coastline and the rivers deposit silt carried down from the interior highlands, mangrove swamps usually result. Just south of the equator, the islands are always hot and rainy, with high daytime temperatures often in excess of 100 degrees. Humidity runs near 100%, and as a result the usual tropical diseases, malaria and dengue fever, proliferate. Constant moisture promotes many debilitating fungal skin conditions, commonly referred to as “jungle rot.” Metal rusts seemingly overnight, and in WW II cloth and leather literally rotted off the soldiers’ equipment. In 1943 there were virtually no trails or roads in the interiors of these islands, and when they were eventually cut, the passage of even a company-sized unit turned the footing into a sea of mud. The only large low flat area on New Georgia was the former copra plantation zone around Munda airfield near the south tip of its northwest corner.

Denny Hair's Long-Awaited Book NOW AVAILABLE!

Patton Hidden in Plain Sight:

The Story of Patton and his Third Army, Hidden in Print for 75 years

 

This a book with the kind of perspective and insight only a man who lives as Patton (the author, Denny Hair, portrays Patton at living history events) could lend.  It's a long time coming, and is a great addition to any historian's library.  Available for purchase here:

https://www.createspace.com/5616230

More on the book:

This book is a result of thousands of hours of research and covers new information about General George S. Patton Jr. Many of the images have been colorized and some have never before been published and Hidden in Plain Sight since WWII. There are images from the rare and top secret Third Army After Action reports and many not seen since they were first printed in 1945. Included are rare personal accounts from General Patton's staff with insider's view of Patton's Third Army Headquarters.

You can follow General Patton, through the "Images Uncovered" from his doubts to his triumphs as he leads the famous United States Third Army across Europe. Many of the images are from General Patton's own collection, the Library of Congress and the Patton Museum at Fort Knox. Thousands of sources were researched to correct the misconceptions and separate the facts from the fiction, and the movie and his career.

The book has been meticulously researched for almost ten years and is the first of a series of books covering Patton and his Third Army in WWII. This is a stand along book and a companion book to the Patton Hidden in Plain Sight series that will be out in 2016. This book may not be suited for a young audiences due to Patton's colorful language and descriptive accounts of the Nazi concentration camps that Third Army liberated.

Denny Hair is one of the world's foremost experts on General Patton. As such, he's been a guest lecturer on the life and times of General Patton at hundreds of events, including veteran reunions, military history museums and lectures in the United States, as well as abroad. He was honored to be the guest lecturer for the United States Army to commemorate the 64th Anniversary of General Patton's death in Heidelberg Germany, the hospital where Patton died.

Mr. Hair has authored articles, newsletters and lectured on many military and police topics and has been published on several occasions in Army Motors, the Military Preservation Associations International magazine. His latest article on the General Patton M20 Armored Car was published in Military Vehicles Magazine October 2014.

Denny Hair is a retired 31 year veteran of the Houston Police Department. He served as a trained investigator, Houston Police Academy instructor, founded the Houston Police Museum and taught at the Houston Police Academy for many years. He was a crime scene investigator and commanded a Crime Scene Unit as a patrolman in the south of Houston. He received many honors and awards including Officer of the Year in 1982 "In Recognition of Outstanding Service and Performance Above and Beyond the Call of Duty."

He now resides in Texas and spends his time working on historical projects and travels nationally teaching and honoring the Greatest Generation who served in WWII.

Publication Date:

Oct 31 2015

ISBN/EAN13:

069253590X / 9780692535905

Page Count:

218

Binding Type:

US Trade Paper

Trim Size:

8.5" x 11"

Language:

English

Color:

Full Color

Related Categories:

History / Americas

Upcoming Patton Event! Shelby County Remembers: A WWII Living History Experience

Flyer image courtesy of Dave Weakly

 

 

Everyone press your shirts and tighten your ties!  General Patton is visiting Shelbyville, Indiana.  And he does not accept excuses!

Planning for this event has gone back a long way, and it's culminated in a great event with lots to offer!  Check it out:

• Dinner with General Patton
• Military and civilian fashion shows (let's face, ladies and gents- they knew how to cut a figure back in the 40's!)
• Weapons Demonstrations (Learn how the weapons that won the war, work!)
• Simulated USO area
• Military Displays
• Rosie the Riveter
• Military Encampments
• Grace Atherton's Military Tribute Quilt
• Military & Vintage Vehicle Show
• Home Front Display
• Saturday Dance

This is going to be a great event and every unit brings something unique, so we hope you can make it and we can make a great event even better!

Click Here to Register

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living (and flying!) History at Dayton

Photos courtesy of Wayne Coulter

Third Army living historian Wayne Coulter visited Dayton, Ohio for the yearly air show, bringing with him a full display of weapons, equipment, and other delicious goodies.

The Dayton Air Show always draws a huge crowd, and the displays- in the air and on the ground- are spectacular.  The air show includes demonstrations and displays from civilian and military worlds, both past and present.  Wayne was there to make sure the past was represented properly, and if I know Wayne, he did it with style (read: aviator sunglasses).

Pictured: Wayne bringing style to the Rockford display

 



The weekend went well, and the display was in good hands.  Which is good, because Wayne's display is a cut above.  Wayne has always been known for adding those extra items that bring something different to the table- as we all try to do. 

And as always, one of the greatest pleasures of WWII living history is meeting veterans, which is always an honor.

All in all, it was a successful event for this particular MP and for 3rd Army.

Catch you next time, G.I.

Camp Atterbury: Rain Can't Stop the Action

The Spring National Event at Camp Atterbury recently ended, and boy was it on a high note.

The rain came a-pourin' but nobody seemed to mind- least of all the trucks and tanks.  Units were mobilized via, among other vehicles, a wonderfully-restored, award-winning 1942 Studebaker.  Many of you probably know the vehicle and owner well, and wouldn't be surprised to hear that he had no qualms with muddying up the otherwise-pristine truck running G.I.s to and from the field. 

 No one will be surprised that the tanks advanced unhindered by the weather, though the Panzerschrecks the Axis units deployed were another story.

 

Man and machine were likewise muddy and wet, but it all came together for a very unique experience.  In the registration building, I remember some of the guys speaking rather enthusiastically about a particular action in a small creek bed near a bridge.

Allied units met heavy resistance from Axis men in the nearby treeline as they crossed the creek bed.  The Axis units were known to be in possession of anti-tank weapons, but the Stuarts pressed on anyway, rolling right into the creek bed.  From this position, they continued to support the G.I. units, firing into the treeline as the Allies pushed the Axis units back.

"I've never seen something like that anywhere else" recalled one attendant.

Everyone came back from the field with a grin and a good story- Axis and Allied.  I'm sure I'm not alone in looking forward to the next even at Camp Atterbury.

Photos courtesy of Dave Weakly

Who We Are & What We Do

We are group of historians who bring history alive by our 1st person impression of General George S. Patton Jr. and his Third Army Headquarters. There is no better way to learn history and spice up an event than meeting General Patton and reliving history though the displays and living history exhibits of third army and it's headquarters. We have painstakingly recreated the immediate field headquarters that surrounded General Patton in Europe as he "toured Europe with an Army" from July of 1944 till Wars end in 1945.

Lucky Forward was Patton's own name for his famous Third Army Headquarters and from July of 1944 through the end of the War, there was no better example America's leadership or fighting ability than that exhibited through the fighting spirit of the brave men that comprised the United States Third Army.