Reading, PA 2007 Photos and Videos

[VeeVee]

Here are the Saturday pictures from the Reading, PA WW2 Weekend. (write-up, comments, captions later)





















Saturday night hangar dance!









And here is Joseph "cutting the rug" and standing out as the best dancer on the floor!







VIDEOS:







Pictures from Sunday coming soon!

[RIOT]

Vic, nice photos! Good to see you last Sat as well as finally meeting up with Philip & Joseph.

Is it ok if I showed some of these photos over at the FF site?

[Battlemaster]

I love the photos, especially the first one (upper left) ;D

[VeeVee]

joeriot said:

Vic, nice photos! Good to see you last Sat as well as finally meeting up with Philip & Joseph.

Is it ok if I showed some of these photos over at the FF site?

Sure Joe, there will be more soon. I haven't uploaded the pictures from Sunday. B20's camera has even more pictures since we used his as our primary camera. He's travelling back to CA today though and we probably won't see them until later this week.

We were able to do the shoot for Donald on Sunday. They're putting together a documentary about Philippine Scouts for PBS. We had to take many breaks because of the rain. He didn't want to ruin the camera. We shot sequences where we looked like we were manning and firing the antitank gun. Where Joe Calugas, the Scout medal of honor winner took over a knocked out artillery piece and got it back to action. I played a dead soldier too that they had to move away from the gun so they could get it back in action

We also shot a sequence like we were manning and riding a scout car. Donald was the hallmark of resourcefullness, making do with what was available. He also suited up as a Scout to add to the extras.

They're not done filming yet, he's estimating it will take at least another year to finish the documentary and post production.

[RayAdillO]

Hey!......New Pictures ;D

Who's playing Joe Calugas?

[VeeVee]

We kind of all did. It was supposedly Joseph but we were shot as a group. My hands played "Joe Calugas" ;D Donald took some close-up shots of the antitank gun being "operated" with just the hands visible. They were my hands, I took off my wedding ring for that sequence. ;D

[legionnaire]

First Of all I want to thank Victor and his Family as great hosts for me. Great photos Vic!

And I finally got to meet Jobert (Milspec) and Jose (riot). It was great that Jobert joined us as Philippine scout too. And Thank you Jose for taking everyone's pics specially our combat poses.

I had a spectacular time. Militaria Flea market was incredible. WOOHOOO! This was the biggest event I have ever attended. Air show/battle reenactments/militaria swap meet and big band dance show All in one memorable event!

Philip

[26th cav]

Great pictures and the equipment looked great. Wish I had that Tigher Tank.
I noticed they even brought a horse, my kind of event.
Rudy

[legionnaire]

Scout Car commander Sgt. Donald Plata , rear/tail gunner PS Philip Garcia







PS Corporal Victor Verano manning the 50.

L to R; PS Joseph Rocamora, kneeling PS Jobert, 26th Cav. Trooper Corporal Victor Verano and kneeling- PS Philip Garcia

All photos courtesy of Victor Verano

[RIOT]

Philip, it was good to finally have met you as well. Very nice photos! Too bad I missed it on Sunday.

[VeeVee]

Guys,
Thank you so much for attending the Reading event. You had to drive for hours from Virginia, or travel and fly all day from California. That's dedication!

I thought I'd share this email from retired Capt. Felipe Fernandez, a Troop E 26th Cavalry veteran. I am very moved by his comments and I know all of you will appreciate the fact that we seem to be accomplishing one of our main goals, that is to honor the veterans in our own little ways. I know Capt. Fernandez's comments inspires me to keep doing this. It hit a spot for me. -victor

--------
Splendid!! Those are really scout cars. The gun mounted in ours was a Browning, caliber 30, air cooled machine gun. The purpose was that it traverse on a rail around the car so that one could fire at any direction except the front which is equipped with a Cal. 50 like the way you have. Water cooled heavy machine gun is not practicable. Water cooled heavy machine guns were only issued to the Machine Gun Troop.

You are really doing a good job recreating the epic story of the Philippine Scouts' struggle which is so well known at a time and will soon be unknown unless you guys keep on telling the story. As a participant of that war, I thank you very much. - Felipe.

[VeeVee]

Here are my pictures from Sunday. Philip already posted the scout car photos.

A special thanks to our friends who set up the Bataan encampment year after year! A shout out goes to Big Bob, Lorrie, Craig, Steve, Jen, Melody and company... you guys are great! What dedication setting up such a meticulous array of equipment and encampment display. You rock!









Here's a little something I shot for fun:

[milspec]

Greetings Gentlemen,

It was a great World War II weekend! It was great meeting you guys in person. Thank you Philip for lending me your leggings it made the uniform more complete. It was great to be with people who shared the same interest and finally be able to try out reenacting. It was hot but I had a lot of fun. Hope we can do it again next year. I would also like to thank Laurie, Robert, Steve and the rest of the Bataan encampment for letting my family take refuge in their encampent while I in my daughter's word had a "playdate" with my new friends.

Here are some pictures I took.

At the Bataan Encampment Prior to going on Patrol

Documenting the events

Philip with M1928A1

"He's not heavy he's my brother!"

Walking back to camp.

With the guys from Army Ground Forces Association


milspec

[VeeVee]

Thanks for the pictures milspec, your kids were so well behaved.

Here's a slideshow from the Reading Eagle newspaper website:

internetservices.readingeagle.com/webexclusives_photo/slideshows/wwiiweekend/index1.html

[milspec]

Greetings gentlemen,

I was playing aroung with the computer and here's what I came up with.



What do you guys think?

milspec

[VeeVee]

Hi Milspec, that looks great! We could photoshop a mountain in the background since it says Bataan. Or we could also change the caption to "Lingayen, Dec 1941".

Here are photos for reference purposes. I'll try to find out how I can purchase copies from Time:

[milspec]

Greetings Victor,

Great idea Victor! Maybe we can try doing some of the stuff that LRRP-HK guys were able to do with their photo shoots. I'll try to learn more about the photoshop I have on my computer. Great pictures of scout cars too. I'd like to get copies to without the Time-Life water mark.

Here's another simple revision.






milspec

[legionnaire]

Great Idea Milspec!




A unit of the 57th PS taking defensive positions along the Abucay line Bataan, 1942



Scout Car crew (photo courtesy of Sgt. Donald Plata)

[VeeVee]

I wonder when B20 will upload his pictures. His camera is actually the primary camera on Saturday. He said it had about 600 shots.

[VeeVee]

More pictures sent in by Donald...