| Subject: Re: EKM email to Paul D. from me |
Author:
Leon Harrison
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Date Posted: 13:40:29 05/04/09 Mon
In reply to:
Leon Harrison
's message, "EKM email to Paul D. from me" on 00:22:36 05/04/09 Mon
>EKMBBC Capt. Leon Harrison, G.C.M.
>EKM Buckeye Bureau/Harlan County Bn. Ohio Outpost
>West Carrollton, Ohio
>Sunday night, May 3rd, 2009, 10:11 p.m.
>
>Paul D.,
>
>I just saw my desperate housewives tonight, just a
>little while ago, like ya know, the ones on the TV
>show. None brought home from Mansfield, Grove City,
>Clayton or even Kroger for housework, for spousework
>or just for fun...with or without guns. I'm glad that
>my Springfield spring broke at Fryer Park, last
>weekend, making me go to Mansfield, on Friday, with
>Col. Cornett. It was the first time that either of us
>had been to that great Civil War/military show at the
>Richland County Fairgrounds. Soon after we arrived
>that Friday afternoon, Mr. William V. Osborne the
>Second, proprietor of Lodgewood Manufacturing, put my
>Springfield into a stand, took the lock plate off,
>replaced the broken sear spring, and sold me a spare
>spring with a new cleaner screw in about ten minutes;
>to save myself the headaches and trouble I would have
>willingly paid him double. His wife was working with
>him and getting parts out of bins. You should have
>seen all the neat military stuff! Women collect
>knickknacks. Men collect small Civil War-soldier
>mementos to display upon the tops of their
>refrigerators. My Springfield rifle cost more than
>this new Whirlpool refrigerator did! Well, to be
>truthful, my rifle has to be a lot more useful. A
>million dollars worth of it at least...including my
>new sack jacket, vest and probably new ordered dress
>blue staff captain US uniform...that may look great
>even as SIZE 48!!!!!!!! These Civil War sizes are
>driving me nuts! I'm wearing everything between size
>42 and 44. It was kind of a relief, being a spectator
>with a camera, while wearing civilian clothes. I took
>a lot of pictures, which you will soon receive on a
>photo CD, snail-mailed with a few prints. Always on
>the job! I can't help it! Col. Cornett also bought a
>couple of cheap kepis for any new future recruits, at
>least at Leatherwood in October. I also met and took a
>couple of pictures of Kenneth W. Bach, a Lt. Gen. U.S.
>Grant impressionist who gave me one of his cards, the
>copied enlarged image of which is attached to this
>message. One of Gen. Paul's Union officer friends is
>small enough to wear my dress uniform. I hate haggling
>but will let him buy it reasonably cheap, but I might
>have to at least ask him for the half price of my new
>one from The Regimental Quartermaster, Inc., in
>Gettysburg, Pa. I figure that if I dress as the staff
>captain of the Harlan County Battalion, instead of an
>Infantry one, nobody will ask me to do the duties of
>one upon the field of battle, whereat one might have
>to herd and move the troops like children or cattle.
>Damn! This is turning into another East Kentucky
>Magazine story, isn't it? I have to brush my teeth,
>read and then go to sleep. Nobody mowed by grass while
>I was gone! Much to my chagrin, surprise and sorrow, I
>guess that I'll have to do it tomorrow. I have to
>deliver a hand-printed message to Fireman Fred at the
>Awful House, sent by one Pete D'Onfrio who knew him
>when he was a fireman in Kettering, Ohio, while Fred
>was at the base and at DESC before retiring to be a
>security guard at the DMAX factory. Pete is also a
>medical man and wore his warm Union uniform on
>Saturday, like Col. Cornett, to sit and perform and
>practice under the flap of the tent. Bob Mergel was
>there with his wife, both of them also in cooler
>civilians clothes. We all met acquaintances and
>friends of friends again, ending up involved in
>convivial conversations with friendly strangers,
>sharing many common interests with activities;
>including those Revolutionary War and World War Two
>impressionists and reenactors who also wore and
>performed in their period-authentic uniforms while
>drilling or demonstrating at their displays. It rained
>on Friday night, so staying inside the Motel Six was
>kinda nice, even without female friends whom needed
>shelter from the rain. Yes, Captain Harrison does not
>ration his compassion; which is not that hard as long
>as he has a credit card…or two. Sharon didn't know
>what she was missing; well, maybe she did. I have
>never seen so many military antiques and artifacts in
>one place before. We never really did see Mansfield
>proper, because the Richland County Fairgrounds is
>located away from the downtown. It was too bad that
>Dayton did not do the same a century or so ago. There
>is a lot of nice open farmland remaining between
>Columbus and Mansfield. I left about fifty Leatherwood
>Reenactment and "Reenactors honor veterans" copies on
>a table inside one of the exhibition buildings. The
>64th Ohio Volunteer Infantry did drill and fired
>volleys from the grass and the dandelion-covered
>field. When the artillery battery fired, every car
>alarm in the parking lot went off! The kids and the
>crowd loved it. Of course, I once again left that
>heavy zoom-lens 8mp Nikon inside my little HHR car. I
>sort of regretted getting it with that conspicuous
>copper-color/ sunburst-orange paint...until Col.
>Cornett and I left and looked for it on that big open
>grassy parking field, both of us easily seeing it
>right away. Col. Cornett did the long-distance
>driving, which I did not mind. We drove directly back
>to and through Columbus to arrive back at Grove City
>and the Cornett Castle that Saturday afternoon.
>Private Whitey was mad at the both of us, me for
>taking Col. Cornett away and at the both of us for not
>taking him with us and for leaving him at home to do
>sentry duty while protecting and defending Sharon, his
>mistress. For the first time, I have become familiar
>with Enon, Ohio, stopping at Keith and Kathy Crager's
>house, again, just this afternoon, again failing to
>find them at home to collect my "squirrel rifle"
>Hawken fun gun, that I had left leaning against their
>trailer at the Grove City event last weekend.
>Hhhmmm...maybe I ought to call the Cragers first? Nah,
>it's a nice drive through the countryside. Before last
>week, I had never been to or explored Enon, Ohio,
>before. The reenactment season is underway and every
>weekend event conflicts with another two or a few that
>are going on at the same time, as they all will be
>until next fall. Inside this latest issue of The Civil
>War Courier, I see the notice for the Annual Heritage
>Village Museum Civil War Days and Living History in
>Sharon Woods Park, during the forthcoming weekend of
>May 16-17, in Sharonville, Ohio. Ron wanted to go
>there with me but it conflicts with Tom Paul's dinner.
>Damn. I attended and participated in the Sharon Woods
>event the year before last, missing it last year for
>some reason or other. Paul D., I knew that there was
>no way that you could print or publish that last
>eleven-page "Grove City" story with all of those
>pictures. Nor can you print or publish many if any of
>these "Ohio Civil War Show" pictures that shall soon
>be arriving in the snail mail for East Kentucky
>Magazine. Paul D., this quick email has turned into my
>[paragraphless] EKM story to go with the photo CD from
>me. What the heck, I may as well edit a little bit
>spell check; and I might even revise and rewrite it.
>Oh, I bought a new sack jacket, from Fall City
>Sutlers, that fits over my bulging man muscle, and I
>think that it may shrink over time to become more form
>fitting, at least until I am either too old to wear it
>or am quitting. A big yank at the Fall City rack told
>me that it would get wet with rain and sweat sooner or
>later. I won’t wash it in warm water or try to dry it,
>like I did my first sack jacket. The sleeves of my new
>sack jacket are bare; thereby make me a private
>soldier without a care. Yes, I have to sew my old buck
>sergeant stripes upon the sleeves of something, at
>least to be ready to do and look really good at
>Leatherwood [Oct. 23-25]. A squad of third-class
>softcore teenaged reenactors, who are shooting
>Hawkens while standing or kneeling in a strung-out
>single rank, look more "authentic", at least up close,
>than a company of first or second-class gray-haired
>overweight middle-aged men and female friends, firing
>period-authentic rifles while wearing better Civil War
>uniforms. During the Civil War, at least in those Cold
>Mountain-type hills, I bet that an officer could not
>force or order home guard soldiers to stand and shoot
>in battle ranks of two, firing over shoulders instead
>of hiding behind trees and boulders. Nor could such
>officers prevent or stop enlisted men from picking up
>and using pistols (instead of bayonets) that might
>also win knife and sword fights and save their lives.
>Therefore, the Harlan County Battalion does in fact
>act and look more authentic, considering the territory
>and terrain, than most of those first-class hardcore
>reenacting units that would avoid and shun them, and
>refuse to reenact with or take to the field with them,
>if only to entertain an audience and to put on an
>entertaining exciting Civil War show. Sorry if we look
>like amateurish regressive reenactor fools, but it’s
>OUR home unit and OUR host unit rules…at least at
>Leatherwood Creek during this one Oct. 23-25 weekend.
>We have to start getting some kids and younger people
>into this, and the local folks want to see their kids,
>kin and friends perform and in action for those family
>movies and photos. No, Paul D., I cannot wait for at
>least a day before I send this way to you tonight.
>You’ll get a better corrected hardcopy with your photo
>CD from me. I’m typing this on a WORD page anyway,
>seeing occasional red and green lines appear under
>words and phrases, by the way. Does it fill up or
>waste enough empty East Kentucky Magazine space? No, I
>cannot do more because I am ready to snore. Well, in
>four more minutes, it will be Monday. I hope that it
>is also a fun day.
>
>
>Sincerely, Your new staff officer,
>
>EKMBBC Captain Leon Harrison, G.C.M.
>Duke of Hazard and Appalachian-American Ambassador
>
>EKM Buckeye Bureau and Harlan County Battalion Ohio
>Outpost
>West Carrollton, Ohio
Did the explosion at Veoila cause your brain to fall out?
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