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After Action Report 

Marin Sonoma Concurs  

 

            While S-1 Patrol (Southern California) started their “attach” on the Chino Air Field on May 13^th for the “Planes of Fame” event, T-1 Patrol didn’t make it’s approach until Sat. night, May 14^th, to the Marin County Fairgrounds, for it’s early morning attach on the 15^th to the Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance. 

            T-1 Patrol was lead by yours truly, accompanied by the Chief Fitter Rick Butler and Trooper George Escobedo. There were two “camp followers” to this event, my wife LaDonna and Rick’s friend Della Frost. The ladies were in charge of setting up the picture “story board”; which ended up as quite a chore through out the day, as we had a 15 mph wind most of the day, with an unstable air mass and light rain in the morning. The photos kept blowing off of the story board; I must come up with a better idea.

            The Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance was a late scheduled event for us as we had just received a special invitation on April 25^th to bring the Chevy truck only (not the jeep) since they were going to celebrate 100 years of Chevrolets.  So we quickly changed all of our other plans to squeeze in this event. I am not quite sure what I expected but I had visions of the Truck being on the “green” with the other Concours cars. We took special care to bring more “supplies and kit” to outfit the truck to the fullest for this event.

            To my disappointment we were not on the green, but were regulated to the area which in fact gave tribute to 100 years of Chevrolet, so we were in good company, just not in with the Rolls, Bentleys and other exotic cars.

There was only one other vehicle at the Concours that came close to us in “armament”. It was a 1925 Red Rolls-Royce built for an Indian Maharajah as his “hunting” vehicle. There was a “Howdah” pistol, several rifles and shotguns, mounted vertically in the passenger’s compartment but the kickers were the “elephant cannon” on the rear bumper and a Gatling-type machine gun (I do not know the caliber) with carriage in tow.

Front view of the Rolls in question. The open mouth “snake’s head” is the horn; the center headlight moves side to side and the other two swings up and down. The next photos shows the “elephant gun” mounted on the rear bumper. It does not look like it could be brought into action very quickly, looked like a muzzle loader. You can also see the tow hitch and part of the machine gun and carriage.

This last photo shows the complete gun carriage and machine gun. I am not familiar with weapon and not sure what game you would hunt with a machine gun.

            We had many folks stop by admiring our truck and the gear and asked many questions and took plenty of photos.

  

Jack Valenti

 

 

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After Action Report:
Marching Through History
Oct 2nd & 3rd 2010

On the weekend of Oct. 2/3 elements of the L.R.D.G.P.S., S 1 patrol participated in the 2010 Marching Through History event in Chino Hills California at Prado Dam Park.

Our adventure started on Friday Oct. 1 at 10:00 am as Trooper Jerry Finney and I met at my house to load up the jeep and equipment. This event is very similar in nature to the Ft Mac time line event we did this past July. There were around 60 groups participating this year. There were several reasons why the event was a bit smaller than in the past. First there is a C.H.G. Italian campaign battle the following weekend so several units had to make the decision on which event to participate in. The crowds were also down this year and I attribute that to the weather. It was near 100 degrees and around 90% humidity. It was brutal. However being true to the region each afternoon a good wind picked up and made us all feel a little better. 

For those of you who participated or came as a spectator last year and remember the nice shady spot we were located at, well let’s just say we were not at that same spot this year. No matter what the conditions Bill I., Jerry F, and myself were not going to let the heat of the day or a slightly less than desirer able spot put a damper on our weekend. Jerry and I got to the park around 11:00 am Friday and Bill I. was already there and ready for action. 

It took us several hours in the heat of the day to set up our camp. As this last year has gone by Bill has acquired some very nice pieces of equipment to put around our camp.A theodolite, map tables with maps, range finder and several other great pieces that help make our camp come alive. I have not been sitting around either. I have produced several NO36 Mills Bomb crates (with Mills Bombs) I managed to finally finish the twin Vickers and the Breda gas gun which we used for the first time in the battle reenactment. 

Each day starts with officer’s call and the show opened at 10:00am. Saturday there were around 1000 spectators throughout the day. Once again our display and the S.A.S. jeep were a big hit. Many many questions were asked of us throughout the day and the best part, there were many young people asking and some already knowing the history behind who these men were and the amazing things they accomplished. 

As with all these type events there were re-enactors from Roman’s to modern day. These various groups participate in living history demos as well as several battle scenarios put on for the public. I must say that if you have never been to one of these events you owe it to yourself to attend. It is Top Notch History. This year they even had a Stage Coach with horses giving the public rides around the event. The Wild West area was one area that seemed to really grow since last year. Throughout both days we had a non stop crowd around our camp and by Sunday night I could barely speak. That could also have something to do with the Irish Moonshine I tried on Saturday night. Good stuff but don’t light a cigarette right after you take a drink.   

Both days we participated in the WW2 battle which is always the last battle of the day and the icing on our cake. Even though the battle lasts about 20 minutes it is well scripted and always an intense experience. This year Bill set up a “jeep cam” on the jeep and hopefully got some good up close video of the battle. 

Throughout the weekend we were joined by other friends from the WW2 Foreign Legion group as well as a couple of other’s who once seeing we were there came back dressed in uniform and helped to add to our over all look and feel.  

I would like to thank Bill, Jerry, Eric and Steve for participating, helping and adding to our group. 

I would like to close this report with a rather somber note. In the first paragraph I wrote that there were less re-enactors at the event this year.

On Friday Oct 1 while loading up the Sherman, Stuart and type 90 Japanese tanks at the Chino Air Museum (where they are stored) to make the 5 mile or so tow to the event, one of our re-enactment brothers from the 2^nd Armored Div was seriously injured when he was struck in the head by one of the tanks while loading it on the trailer. I don’t want to get graphic and still details are a little fuzzy but when we left the park Sunday night the info I had was he was not going to make it. Please keep Jim and his family in your thoughts as this is a terrible tragedy and set a very somber tone for the weekend. Let me also remind anyone reading this who participates in this hobby that we love that re-enactment is a dangerous and full contact hobby and no matter what part we play we must always be aware of safety first, fun second. Stop and think before you point that gun at someone who may be to close to really fire on. When loading and un- loading vehicles from trailers clear the crowd from around your trailers. Let’s all be safe and alert before we think about just having fun. 

Hopefully we will see everyone at the Tunisia battle in the Barstow desert in April. 

Kim Calvert 

P.S. On Oct 5^th at 11:00pm James Frey lost his battle to stay alive. He will be greatly missed by his Family and Friends as well as his extended re-enactment family.