30 January, 2010. Snow shoot, Kalamazoo, MI. Our newest members Fred and Caleb Chapman braved the cold temperatures to attended this event and did themselves proud with Caleb bringing home the High Junior Shooter trophy (see the photo on the photos page). Though Fred experienced an equipment problem he said he enjoyed the event as well. In attendance were: Fred and Caleb Chapman.

27 March, 2010. Delay the Inevitable, Ft Custer, MI. Near perfect weather greeted us for this Reto event put on by Alan Miltich and his unit. It was a long day of near continuous action. We started of on a long combat patrol where we engaged a large number of Germans, before being over run. We finished the day by successfully holding off numerous attacks against our CP. In attendance were: Rob and Mike Wall, Fred and Caleb Chapman, Matt and Dan Ziemer, George Bailey and Paul Garrett.

1-2 May, 2010. Lowell, IN. Though we had only four members attending, this was another successful event. We arrived early afternoon on Friday, 30 April and set up camp in our assigned location which was prime for meeting the veterans and public as they passed by. We were also fortunate enough to be camped directly accross from Bill Sheets' unit of the 505th PIR of the 82nd Airborne Division. We participated in the large public battles and met many friendly and interesting people. Of note were two 45th Infantry Division veterans of WWII as well as one from  the 9th I.D. We also enjoyed meeting a number of reenactors from the 10th Mountain Division and look forward to joining them in Union, IL at the Anzio Express event in a few weeks' time. In attendance were: Keith Bonney, Rob Wall, John Baumer, and Paul Garrett.

28-31 May, 2010. Anzio Express, Union IL.  This was a great event! The Illinois Railway Museum is a very interesting and unique venue for an event. The grounds are quite large and there were multiple battle sites. Riding the trains and trolleys was a lot of fun and the dance featured a very good swing band with some great vocalists.  We had a nice tent location that had shade from the hot sun we experienced all weekend. Our participation included doing "Cassino" skirmish battles for the "Tour of Italy." We staged short battles each time one of the "Tour" trolleys came along. A British reenactor boarded the trolley to give the passengers a little history and then we went into action. With us for these skirmishes were the Polish unit and a squad from the 34th ID. We also took part in the "Platte River Canteen" reenactment in which Mike Wall got act out a tearful good-bye with his "sweetheart" at the station. We all dressed in our class B uniforms and rode in Pullman cars. Another highlight was spending more time with our friends from the 10th Mountain Division, who we met at Lowell this year. This was our first Mediterranean Theater specific event and was a great opportunity for our 45th ID unit to show our stuff. In attendance were: Keith Bonney, Rob and Mike Wall, John Baumer, and Paul Garrett.

25-27 June, 2010. Battle for Caen, Billie Creek Village, Rockville IN. Our first time down for this event. Billie Creek Village is in a beautiful part of Indiana, about an hour's drive west of Indianapolis. The battles took place in the village itself. The spectators were in the middle of village, the Germans defended and the Allies attacked, so the crowd got to see battles on all sides. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the battles. We met a lot of new friends as well as seeing a few old ones. We camped next to our friends of the 10th Mountain Division and enjoyed that quite a lot. In attendance were: Rob and Mike Wall, Matt and Dan Ziemer, and Paul Garrett.

23-25 July, 2010. WWII and Veterans Weekend, St Clair Shores, MI.  Though the rain at times made us question whether we really wanted to do this one, this event was a lot of fun. We met a lot of people who braved the weather on Saturday and even more who took advantage of the good weather on Sunday. We took part in all three beach landings. Twice from the Higgins boat on saturday and once from the DUKW on Sunday. The battles went well and the spectators seemed to really enjoy them. We got to spend time with friends from last year as well as make new ones and the event organizers fed us well (Steak and corn on the cob for Saturday night supper). A fun event with great spectators and one we look forward to attending next year. In attendance were: Keith Bonney, Rob Wall, John Baumer, Lance Aldritch, Matt and Dan Ziemer, and Paul Garrett. 
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6-8 August, 2010. Thunder Over Michigan, Willow Run Airport, Belleville, MI. We had our largest member turnout for this event with 15, including our unit photographer. As always, the airshow is a special event due to the large number of vintage aircraft, some of which took part in the battle reenactments. There were seven operational B-17s, a B-24, and a couple of P-51s that flew over  field of battle to "bomb" and "strafe" the German positions. The P-51 "Old Crow" buzzed the field in numerous passes, each lower than the previous one so that it looked as if his wingtips would brush the grass. There were four battles, two each day, and reenactor turnout was fairly high on both sides. Our campsite was moved from the previous location to a more central and visible one alongside the road to the main gate to the airport. We were nearly overrun with spectators and hardly had a moments to spare from early morning to the close of the show each day. On Friday's Thunder Run we rode (as we did last year) with the Dumas family in their 2 1/2 ton truck. We camped next to our friends of the 10th Mountain Division once again (something of a tradition now) and enjoyed visits from friends and family as well. This was a great event and we are looking forward to next year. In attendance were: Keith Bonney, Rob and Mike Wall, John Baumer, Lance Aldritch, Fred, Caleb, and Silas Chapman,  Matt and Dan Ziemer, Mike Lezotte, Joe Szomolai, Jeffrey Adams, photographer Lynda Grinnell, and Paul Garrett.
Photos