CONNEAUT, Ohio — This year is not only the 75th anniversary of D-Day but also the 20th anniversary of its biggest re-enactment, happening just over the Ohio border. A lot of Pittsburghers and Western Pennsylvanians will be part of it.
In 1999, a small group of history buffs re-created a bit of the epic World War II battle at Conneaut Township Park in this community — on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Erie, Pa. — because the bluffs-backed beach was reminiscent of Omaha Beach at Normandy, France, that the Allies assaulted in 1944.
The first re-enactment wasn’t meant for the public, but some park visitors witnessed it and were enthralled. So the re-enactors kept at it each summer and wound up incorporating in 2007, and proceeded to make nonprofit D-Day Conneaut not only public but also the country’s largest and most historically accurate WWII living history event.
It drew 45,000 spectators over two days last year, and this year’s — Aug. 15 to 17 — looks to be only bigger, in that they’re starting on Thursday and growing the re-enactors to about 1,700 for this double anniversary.
“That has special meaning to us,” says D-Day Ohio’s CEO Betsy Bashore, herself a re-enactor who will dress in period garb but be busy running the logistics of the small city she and others will run that week.
The group also runs the North Coast WWII History Museum in Conneaut that it opened in 2016 to tell the bigger story between re-enactments. It’ll be busy, too, during this year’s event.
Like the park will be — the schedule is packed. On Thursday, spectators can do everything from ride one of the Higgins boats that dropped troops on open beaches to watch a “sand table briefing” in the Allied Camp, one of several camps throughout the park. You might see modern vehicles as re-enactors set up the camps, but by Friday, all that is moved out, so everything looks as period as possible.
“The big thing with this event is authenticity,” says Reilly Palatinus of Butler, Pa. He’s one of the most historically accurate re-enactors in terms of age, because he’s only 18. He portrays a sailor who helps operate one of D-Day Ohio’s two Higgins boats that drop waves of soldiers and give spectators rides.
The re-enactors are held to high standards in not just their costumes but also even their facial expressions in battle. “You are in a life and death situation; your actions, movements and expressions should reflect this.”
Mr. Palatinus, who’ll be going for the fifth time this year, says of WWII veterans who have attended, “They said it’s the closet thing to actually being there that they’d ever seen.”
The re-enactors will fire (blank rounds) in machine guns and mortars, even a Stuart tank — simulating firing with a shotgun — that will be trailered in with Jeeps, ammunition carriers and other vehicles from Western Pennsylania’s First Frontier Mechanized Calvary. “It puts off enough noise,” says Jeff Bauman, a 57-year-old history buff from North Versailles who got hooked on re-enacting at this event starting five years ago. This year, his third as a re-enactor, he’ll portray a paratrooper with the 101st Division. Last year, he hit the sand from the water.
He recalls, “The feeling as you’re stepping off the watercraft with all that gear on. It’s 90-some degrees out. Your adrenaline is rushing. ... It makes you feel like you’re part of something.” Part of a good show for the spectators, at least.
Re-enactors will demonstrate land mines and other gear, training and tactics, and, at 3 p.m. Friday, re-create the British beach landings and German efforts to repel them.
At 5:05 p.m., there’s the Foucarville Battle deeper in the park “between England and occupied France.”
Saturday’s key events are the 10 a.m. Battle for La Fiere Bridge and the 3 p.m. Seaborne Normandy Beach Landing Battle.
And from 8 p.m. to midnight, there’s a U.S.O.-style dance in town at the Conneaut Human Resources Center. New this year is a debut screening of a documentary for which D-Day Ohio lent one of its landing craft.
In between, there are exhibits and demos for spectators, who can ride shuttles to and from other parking areas, and who are asked to observe etiquette to make it all go smoothly.
Organizers also provide tips, such as, fill your vehicle’s tank before getting there. “We have been known to sell out all the gas in town,” notes the website. “We are expecting all-time record numbers of attendees once again this year.”
Ms. Bashore suggests coming on Thursday so you have more time to see everything you’ll want to see. That day ends with a WWII-themed movie under the stars from 9 to 11 p.m.
The activities are free, but donations are encouraged to support this massive volunteer undertaking.
“It’s a great event and it takes a ton of people to make it be successful,” says Robert Field, who splits his time between Sewickley and Somerset and who commands the Provost Marshal office — military police — during D-Day Conneaut. “I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
D-Day Ohio sells souvenirs from its PX (store) and photographs from its online galleries. At the park, spectators can shop at a lot of vendors, including a variety of food concessions.
For a full schedule of events, complete with extensive explainer notes, and all the other details, visit www.ddayohio.us.
Bob Batz Jr.: bbatz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1930 and on Twitter @bobbatzjr.
First Published: July 22, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
Updated: July 22, 2019, 5:56 p.m.
