Videographer For Reenactment
Back in June – on the the 70th Anniversary of the actual event, a D-Day reenactment took place at Dress Plaza in downtown Evansville as part of Shriners Fest. It was my honor and privilege to be asked to help film this historic (and possibly once-in-a-lifetime) event by my colleague and fellow shooter/editor/director, Steve Oglesby. When Steve initially approached me about helping with the shooting of this endeavor – I assumed that we would merely be spectators -with cameras – among the throngs of thousands in Evansville watching the reenactment. The final product, a short film about the day – would eventually have an extended life in the Freedom Heritage Museum (eventually renamed the Evansville Wartime Museum) – and would also help benefit and raise funds for building it. It was only during early planning / re-con for the actual event, that I learned I would have the great fortune to be “embedded” with the American troops.
View of LST from Higgins Boat
For those who may not know him, Steve brings great enthusiasm and support for this endeavor (and really to all his shoots) – so with our professional cameras and many others Go-Pro’s mounted to strategic places, he set out to capture what would surely be a rare and unique opportunity in our city (or any other for that matter). Re-enactors from all over the mid-west and beyond would be there to portray both American and German troops, in authentic uniforms and weaponry. I would actually be on the Higgins boat with the re-enactors crossing the Ohio, after being “deployed” from the LST 325 and then storm the “beach” of Dress Plaza. So – as the event neared, I decided I better look the part. Borrowing my father’s dress khakis from his days in the Army’s 82nd airborne – I set out with camera in hand to capture this very unique opportunity. Now let me just say that I had some trepidations going into this – about being embedded. Not that I couldn’t or wouldn’t get great footage. But what if some re-enactors were “in it” for their own glory – rather than trying to honor the real heroes? And now I would essentially be part of them. What if the whole thing just came off as a big dud? And how would I feel about being a part of a re-enactment that didn’t do even a small amount of justice to those real heroes?
So – I’m so happy to write and report that from the moment I arrived that morning until the crowds erupted in applause as the re-enactors left the “stage” of Dress Plaza, I felt everyone involved in the re-enactment undertook that day’s events with great honor and dignity to observe and possibly preserve the true heroes from the real D-Day. So hat’s off to Richard Litov and James “Sarge” Goodall – who was in charge of the corps of re-enactors. And I’m even happier now to report that Steve has taken the footage from that day as well as still photography (where other photographers were embedded as well) and created a short film called “Forever Honor” – which had its premier in October at Showplace Cinemas on Morgan Avenue. If you get a chance – please go see it and help support the Evansville Wartime Museum. It continues to play occasionally in theaters in the area and will hopefully be around a lot longer than either of us.
Landing at Dress Plaza
This was such a unique and exciting opportunity for me, that it did leave me with just a few serious thoughts that I would like to leave with you here. As our Higgins boat approached – and while we were hunkered down on the “beach” – I knew we were only being “fired upon” with blanks, but it did provide a huge, quite personal perspective on the heroics of our service men and women (and here I should say that nearly all the re-enactors next to me were veterans). And it only made me think longer and harder about those of the greatest generation and all generations that face real bullets and that pay the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. We can all decide to disagree and not approve of elected leaders getting involved in armed conflicts and wars. And we can and should debate this – as a nation, with fervor, passion and rational sense. But whether or not we agree with that ultimate decision, we should always support and honor our troops, and their families. Theirs is a sacrifice we can never repay. They are doing the real fighting for us. And for that, I am forever grateful.
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