Post by SFX on Jun 22, 2010 12:43:03 GMT -4
My Dear Sister~
I am just back from spending Memorial Day Weekend with the 20th ME. It was a small group this year honoring our fallen soldiers, but a good group with wonderful conversation and sharing of our mutual interests. Truly a shame more could not have been with us to enjoy the first weekend of the 2010 season.
When I arrived at camp, I was delighted to see that Sgt Dudley along with Pvts. Batty, Butera and Trudel had set up a tent for me. How cumbersome the larger tents are. But I had a nice place to store not only my belongings, but also the company clothesline and some cooking items for the weekend. Pvt and Mrs. Butera invited me to a wonderful lunch in "town" which I appreciated. I finally was able spend some time with Mrs. Butera. A delightful woman with whom I look forward to many more weekends with. The Buteras travel in winters to various reenactments throughout the South and have many experiences to share.
Friday evening, Sgt., T and I sat by the fire sharing tales of adventure and poor Sgt was a bit lost when T and I spoke for a while about my beloved Hawaii. Made me a bit "homesick" to return but it was warming to have someone to share the memories. After sitting and chatting a bit, I went to "town" for the music and dancing. Was a small crowd on that evening, but nice.
Saturday, as I was readying to go to "town" for some breakfast, our newest member, "K" arrived and joined me. She is a wonderful lady and ahead I see many hours sharing a civilian's life with her on our weekends.( Welcome, K!!!!) As we were returning from breakfast, we were joined once again by Pvt. Trudel as well as Pvts. Wardwell and Coltart. Shortly thereafter, while I was dashing here and there, I was surprised when Mrs. Richards came to my tent and told me QMSgt was there!!! How wonderful to have him with us.
With the clothesline in place, I was putting up the last of my collection I had brought for display when I was startled by Cpl. Henry of the 3rd ME who came all the way up from Winthrop to support our event.(thank you, Steven!) Once I regained my composure, he was sent off to report in with Sgt like everyone else.
The weekend was one of the better ones in a while. We all shared our love of history as well as touched on current issues. We had a few locals stop in and sit in on the conversations and music. We discussed the war, T's family, the 20th ME (T has a fabulous book he has compiled with all the information on the 20th you can imagine), coffee, cooking, past events, ideas for future events, BAFK, etc. Sgt and Cpl. Henry sang the afternoon away proving the fact that soldiers from the North and South did indeed peacefully join at times to share (Cpl Henry is from Alabama... as soon as he begins to speak, his accent makes you question his loyalty to the north).
After a simple supper of burgers and fries on the fire, some folks were in one area singing and others were visiting while I tried to perfect a cruller recipe. At any given point I had company at the fire and could hear the music coming from the others. After I had enough with the cruller frustrations, some of us went to "town" for the music. My dance card was full and I danced the night away. Pvts. Trudel and Henry joined in a bit while Sgt and Pvt Coltart watched from a safe distance so as not to get dragged out on the dance floor.
Some new information came to light with regard to the execution at BAFK. It seems our Cpl Tim has gone AWOL previous to this time. Seems the execution is taking on more historical accuracy! It looks good! Those involved are doing a fantastic job. If anyone else wishes to contribute or join in, please let Sgt know and he will pass it on.
Sunday morning, once I realized I was expecting my crullers to cook as my fritters do, but they are not the same, we enjoyed noshing on the crullers. T, as well as others, had graciously eaten the "mistakes" tho! Later found us giving way to tradition and attempting to lighten Cpl Henry's purse with a couple hands of cards. I fear my reticule was lightened as well. Just as Pvt. Coltart won the second hand, the wind came up and took my tent with it!
In closing, dear sister, it was a wonderful, relaxed, informative weekend. Our hosts were a bit disappointed to see so few of us there. Which really is a shame since these folks invited us back after our last time there where we had so few spectators. They felt they owed it to us to give us a bigger audience... so they paid us again to come back. They certainly did not get what they were expected to pay for. And to have no soldiers in the parade was even more disappointing. It not only looked bad for the 20th, but worse... looked bad on our local hosts as they were sponsoring us to attend it. Although I was treated well by the folks here, the fact they had to rewrite the guest speaker's speech to reflect our missing soldiers was most embarrassing. And the 20th was to act as honor guard for the second division, so there was no color guard there either. Kind of sad considering this is where the 20th ME Co B originally came from and Remembrance Day is a CW holiday.
So, dear sister, I fear this is ending on a sour note. I do so hate to do that again. With hope, it will be the last time I need to.
All my love to Mother and Father,
Christabell
I am just back from spending Memorial Day Weekend with the 20th ME. It was a small group this year honoring our fallen soldiers, but a good group with wonderful conversation and sharing of our mutual interests. Truly a shame more could not have been with us to enjoy the first weekend of the 2010 season.
When I arrived at camp, I was delighted to see that Sgt Dudley along with Pvts. Batty, Butera and Trudel had set up a tent for me. How cumbersome the larger tents are. But I had a nice place to store not only my belongings, but also the company clothesline and some cooking items for the weekend. Pvt and Mrs. Butera invited me to a wonderful lunch in "town" which I appreciated. I finally was able spend some time with Mrs. Butera. A delightful woman with whom I look forward to many more weekends with. The Buteras travel in winters to various reenactments throughout the South and have many experiences to share.
Friday evening, Sgt., T and I sat by the fire sharing tales of adventure and poor Sgt was a bit lost when T and I spoke for a while about my beloved Hawaii. Made me a bit "homesick" to return but it was warming to have someone to share the memories. After sitting and chatting a bit, I went to "town" for the music and dancing. Was a small crowd on that evening, but nice.
Saturday, as I was readying to go to "town" for some breakfast, our newest member, "K" arrived and joined me. She is a wonderful lady and ahead I see many hours sharing a civilian's life with her on our weekends.( Welcome, K!!!!) As we were returning from breakfast, we were joined once again by Pvt. Trudel as well as Pvts. Wardwell and Coltart. Shortly thereafter, while I was dashing here and there, I was surprised when Mrs. Richards came to my tent and told me QMSgt was there!!! How wonderful to have him with us.
With the clothesline in place, I was putting up the last of my collection I had brought for display when I was startled by Cpl. Henry of the 3rd ME who came all the way up from Winthrop to support our event.(thank you, Steven!) Once I regained my composure, he was sent off to report in with Sgt like everyone else.
The weekend was one of the better ones in a while. We all shared our love of history as well as touched on current issues. We had a few locals stop in and sit in on the conversations and music. We discussed the war, T's family, the 20th ME (T has a fabulous book he has compiled with all the information on the 20th you can imagine), coffee, cooking, past events, ideas for future events, BAFK, etc. Sgt and Cpl. Henry sang the afternoon away proving the fact that soldiers from the North and South did indeed peacefully join at times to share (Cpl Henry is from Alabama... as soon as he begins to speak, his accent makes you question his loyalty to the north).
After a simple supper of burgers and fries on the fire, some folks were in one area singing and others were visiting while I tried to perfect a cruller recipe. At any given point I had company at the fire and could hear the music coming from the others. After I had enough with the cruller frustrations, some of us went to "town" for the music. My dance card was full and I danced the night away. Pvts. Trudel and Henry joined in a bit while Sgt and Pvt Coltart watched from a safe distance so as not to get dragged out on the dance floor.
Some new information came to light with regard to the execution at BAFK. It seems our Cpl Tim has gone AWOL previous to this time. Seems the execution is taking on more historical accuracy! It looks good! Those involved are doing a fantastic job. If anyone else wishes to contribute or join in, please let Sgt know and he will pass it on.
Sunday morning, once I realized I was expecting my crullers to cook as my fritters do, but they are not the same, we enjoyed noshing on the crullers. T, as well as others, had graciously eaten the "mistakes" tho! Later found us giving way to tradition and attempting to lighten Cpl Henry's purse with a couple hands of cards. I fear my reticule was lightened as well. Just as Pvt. Coltart won the second hand, the wind came up and took my tent with it!
In closing, dear sister, it was a wonderful, relaxed, informative weekend. Our hosts were a bit disappointed to see so few of us there. Which really is a shame since these folks invited us back after our last time there where we had so few spectators. They felt they owed it to us to give us a bigger audience... so they paid us again to come back. They certainly did not get what they were expected to pay for. And to have no soldiers in the parade was even more disappointing. It not only looked bad for the 20th, but worse... looked bad on our local hosts as they were sponsoring us to attend it. Although I was treated well by the folks here, the fact they had to rewrite the guest speaker's speech to reflect our missing soldiers was most embarrassing. And the 20th was to act as honor guard for the second division, so there was no color guard there either. Kind of sad considering this is where the 20th ME Co B originally came from and Remembrance Day is a CW holiday.
So, dear sister, I fear this is ending on a sour note. I do so hate to do that again. With hope, it will be the last time I need to.
All my love to Mother and Father,
Christabell