Welcome to the At the Front Blog. Despite over 20 years of being on the internet, this is our first official “blog”. Personally, I rarely read anyone else’s blogs, and have procrastinated about setting this thing up for several years. So here we go…
The topics will generally be related to WWII uniforms & gear, WWII reenacting, plus a few random, unrelated things that strike me as worthy of writing about at a given moment. The primary goal will be to provide accurate information about the actual wartime uniforms & equipment, as well as the reproductions and what it sometimes takes to make them. To me, a “correct” product is one that is as close to the actual period item as possible.
As with many other hobbies, there are as many opinions as there are enthusiasts. When recreating items from the past, what people demand, or assume to be “correct” is often wrong. My standards are based on historical realities, not modern misconceptions or video game screen shots. Field jackets were not actually khaki, M1 bayonets do not fit on M1 Carbines, and shirts and trousers rarely match in color.
Just about everything we offer, we create ourselves or have made specifically for us. The process is, on the surface, quite simple. I obtain one or more original examples of “it” and set about having “it” duplicated. After nearly 40 years of owning, wearing, handling, and sometimes disassembling authentic items, I may not know it all, but I have a pretty good idea of what’s right and wrong when it comes to WWII stuff.
I call it as I see it and that’s that. No matter how much lipstick you smear on the pig, it’s still a pig and I refuse to refer to it as anything else no matter how many tender sensibilities it might rankle. Honesty may not be pretty but neither was WWII.
If you are involved in reenacting/ living history and intend to truly honor veterans and save history for our descendants, you owe it to the real soldiers that fought, froze, bled and died in the War to represent them as accurately possible. If this is just prancing around at a fruitcake convention dressed as a “Feel Marshal”, by all means, go with the polyester uniform and rubber boots. Or, if you just like vintage gear, just know I do my best to get it right- and enjoy the show.
-Rollin Curtis