sorry to see you posted this one 3 months ago and I missed it, I'm in this video at 12:10, the filthy 13 bloke sat on the right with the GP ammo bag, i did chuckle when you didnt pull our kit apart, the face paint I understand is contentious, but other than that the only thing is my brother (holding the M1) with no cc2, everything else we have is as accurate as we could make it ;) I've been doing this event since 2006 so just for some context, the vast majority of the blokes on this march are individual enthusiasts from all over Europe, Majority French with Spanish, Belgian, Dutch, Italian, and English participants, we even had a lad fly all the way over from Hong Kong on this march, it should be said this ISN'T a Re-enactment, its more of an Experience for the participants, so the guys taking part aren't full on reenactors, you follow a set route, between 15-30km and whilst on the march you encounter scenarios where lads are picked out to take german prisoners or interact with civilians, in certain spots we do wreath laying at memorials and have local historians gather us up and tell us what happened in those places, there are kit regs and a uniform check when you all gather in the morning, but because of the numbers, there was 236 on the first day, they cant be absolute 100% hardcore with what kit you have otherwise it would knock the amount of guys attending down and eventually things would get silly and the event would turn into a massive proverbial swinging contest with everyone justifying what they had and so they arrange a general kit list with some leeway, it isnt solely for 101st units, as you see there's 82nd, glider riders and 4th infantry amongst us as well as two lads portraying Rangers and the odd medic/nurse - its more of a "units involved in d-day but we want to keep it majority Airborne" type of deal, the march starts in Carentan, you follow a route out and around the area before heading back into Carentan for a ceremony commemorating the "exodus of Carentan" (the civilian populace evacuating the town), a vehicle parade, the return and welcome of veterans and the re-enactors representing the liberation of Carentan followed by many big wigs and politicians giving speeches, year on year the kit regs have gotten better and better, this march originally started as a promo for the Brothers in arms road to hill 30 game, and it really started to kick off in 2006/7 if you want you really want to rip into a video, search for "brothers in Arms march Carentan 2007" comparing it to this video the event has come on in leaps and bounds, this year they have cracked down even more on accuracy but the odd fopah still slips through, in my own defence of some of the guys on this march, as I said they're not all reenactors who specify one time or place, many of them have jumpsuits for "walking out" uniforms so not the Normandy invasion, hence the lack of CC2, its one of my biggest bugbears for this event but given the context I can let it slide, the shoulder holsters - yes it was bad in 2019 but again 2023 they have cracked down hard, it should also be noted that this was the first time the event took place over two days for the 75th anniversary, we marched out roughly 17km in the pouring rain, got to Holdy, set up camp and a literal thunder storm rolled in and all through the night (alongside german reenactors firing blanks every 20minutes), when we awoke the next morning we were down to 110 participants, after another 12km by the time we reached Carentan there was 90 of us left, so massive props to the guys who took part in this event, all I will say is as far as I'm concerned proper reenacting in the UK is dying, if you can get out to Europe where events like this are held, in the places it actually happened and get involved, you will love it, the "2nd Armoured in Europe" events, if you're into the british/commonwealth stuff "France 44" or "montys men" do some stellar marches, or the french reenactment groups that have done commemorative events/marches following the 1st/4th/90th infantry breakout from Normandy are amazing, if a weekend event sitting in a foxhole is your thing, more power to you, the standard does very much need raising and so by all means rip into videos like these, take from them and learn from them, next year will be the first time I'm not at the Carentan liberty march so Dan get you and your group over there, represent! (giving a like because i made a review video 😉) P.s sorry for the essay

I dread the day I show up in one of your videos (if I haven't already). I'd kill to participate in this event.

By no means am I an expert, but in terms of the 45 shoulder holster, it is documented that some paratroopers did wear them, forest guth comes to mind( but I know I have seen others wearing them) my point is as long as it done is small numbers I don’t see the issue? Many paratroopers would wear things that were not considered standard or regular, admittedly I’m not a reenacter( unfortunately it’s not that big in the nanny state of Australia) but I am putting together a uniform for gel soft games. That being said I would like to be as historically accurate as possible. Any info or suggestions would be very much appreciated

From reading I've learned that the 517th in Op. Dragoon was one of very few airborne units to improvise camouflage on their uniforms. Is this factual? Obviously, I know you saw the guy in the makeshift trench system wearing such.

Lol reenactors need to stop with the low carry like they're a navy seal and about to assult bin laden's compound.