Fort Indiantown Gap, 2008 Acting Captain Petronis gives classroom instruction on the history and regimental TO&E of the 10th Dragoons Friday night at Fort Indiantown Gap our unit enjoyed a dinner in the barracks. All members brought traditional Polish foods to include Kapusta, Kielbasa, rye bread, wine and dessert. Lance Corporal Moore looks on while Drg. Neri and a member of the 15th Recce discuss WS-19 radio operations during a pause in the tactical action at Ft. Indiantown Gap Practicing close order drill in the barracks and out of the cold Polish, British and Canadian flags fly outside the barracks of Task Force Wolfe. Every morning and evening we participated in formal raising and lowering ceremonies. It was impressive to see over 70 troops representing the commonwealth and governments in exile all in parade. Three Polish jeeps abreast as our crews prepare to embark for the tactical training area. The middle and furtherest jeep on the right belong to members of the 1st Polish Para brigade (recreated) Our recreated adversaries embark for the field in their half track As this Stug passed our column we found ourselves asking "Did anyone remember to bring the anti-tank gun?" Our friends in the 15th Recce unit prepare their Dingos as our tactical column assembles.   Dragoons preparing to embark for task force wide battle drill training on Friday.

Acting Karpral Moore and PSK member Hillori Holliday man the Task Force Wolfe HQ on Friday. Our members are always willing to volunteer and step up to the plate when needed. Our switchboard was operational and hooked up to all the various barracks that our forces were billeted in. Also notice the fully operational mimeograph machine on the right.

Nordwind Invitational Tactical, Fort Indiantown Gap     At this year's Nordwind battle I was honored to have the opportunity to lead one third of the allied forces. Here we see our company composed of some of the finest living historians I've ever worked with. The manpower for our force drew from the recreated Black Watch, Argylls, Black Watch of Canada, 15th Recce and Polish Para's. Our 10th Dragoons acted as HQ platoon by providing the radio operators for comms to our upper chain of command at Battalion level as well as inter company communication. Brian, Will and acting Kaptain Petronis pose before our departure into the field. Given that my men had the difficult task of physically digging in, I decided to help by laying mines. These were supplied by the recreated 15th Scottish Recce regiment and were equipped with mouse traps atop. I was therefore handling them as gingerly as possible. Both Brian and Will did a great job of acting as company level communications throughout the day. Needless to say the period antennas were not an asset it the woods.

Wings, Wheels and Tracks - Cobleskill, NY May 17-18   Here is an overall view of our display area at the Wings, Wheels and Tracks show in Cobleskill, NY. We had a large display area showing period tentage, communiations equipment, weapons and vehicles to include the M3A1 halftrack and BSA M20 motorcycle. A nice shot of Will Tatum in the ring mount and Joe Beiga behind while returning from the Cobleskill Armed Forces Day parade on Saturday afternoon. Before leaving we picked up a WWII 57mm A-tk gun to two through the parade. The good news is I don't think it effected my gas mileage too badly.     Brian Neri, Will and myself pose in front of my half track at Cobleskill. The weather on Saturday was absolutely wonderful however it was not to hold for Sunday. We had several hundred pounds of wet canvas to pack away that afternoon.     Here's a nice shot of Brian's BSA M-20 motorcycle next to my half track. Brian had the only British motorcycle on display and so was a hot point of visitation for the biker crowd.   A view of the near side of our display with bren gun, 2 inch mortar and air raid siren. The Luftwaffe must've known we were equipped with said siren and therefore never attacked us once throughout the entire weekend.

Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, NY 23-25 May 08 Here's a view of our display at this year's Hyde Park WWII weekend. This is one of our best events all year. It is sponsored by "The Duffle Bag" and the Roosevelt Presidential Library. This year we were looking for a more "combat orientated" display. No large tents or office gear, just a tarp slung aside the half track. It was actually a rather comfortable sleeping arrangement. The Bren gun nest with various weapons typical of the Dragoons was a source of interest to the public. Bud Walker owns this wonderful Sherman M4A4. What's even better is that he allowed me to take a few shots while playing with it. Here I am atop the turret scanning for German Tigers. The good news is that Upstate New York is currently safe from roaming panzers.  Mike and I consult a map in an effort to find the nearest gas station.     Sgt. Petronis astride the ring mount of the M3A1 .30 cal at the ready. You'll notice that not only did I park the vehicle beneath a tree, but I disguised it with my cammo net. You'll be happy to know that at no time during the weekend were we strafed by Luftwaffe aircraft. The cammo was so good however on several occasions we were unable to figure out where we parked the half track.

Eisenhower Farm, Gettysburg PA 19-21 Sept. '08   Here's Sgt. Petronis about to ride Brian's BSA M20. This was my first foray into the world of British motor bikes. What you can't see is Brian out of frame praying that I don't damage his baby.   By Sunday the weather had gotten a bit hot so we stripped off our BD tunics after lunch. Brian is smiling widely because both Chris M and Petronis succeeded in bringing his bike back in one piece.                                                                  The two Chris', Petronis on left and Moore on the right showing off their mid war 1943 look. Petronis is armed with a Thompson SMG sporting a 50 rd drum. These drums would not see the Normandy beaches. Moore is using his SMLE No I Mk III these were also replaced in 1944 just before the invasion. This young visitor reminds me of when I was young. Hopefully he will learn and carry on the hobby after we are too old and fat to fit into our uniforms. Brian's BSA was always a hot spot for motorcycle enthusiasts all weekend long. Not only was his restoration amazing but visitors were impressed with the precision art of starting it. Our weapons display consisted not only of small arms but Chris M's rare Mk I Bren, Brian's PIAT and Petronis' two inch mortar.

Battle of the Bulge January 2009 Fort Indiantown Gap, PA This year's Battle of the Bulge event was used as a "school of the soldier" by our unit. Instead of taking the field for the battle reenactment, our section held two days of hands on classes consisting of basic skills that every Dragoon would be taught while in training. Some of the topics were "Polish rifle section tactics", "The Two Inch Mortar", "Bayonet Drill", "PIAT operation", "Basic Rifle Cleaning", "The Bren Gun" and "The Mills Bomb & 69 Grenade" just to name a few. We were also crazy enough to attempt unit P/T on Friday morning culminating in a 1.25 mile run. That nearly killed us. Here is a view of an impromptu living history display we did in the barracks. We were not prepared for the influx of visitors that came by our floor on Saturday. Having always gone out for the battle in years past we were unaware that so many people come through. We therefore curtailed a session or two and brought out the training aides for our various classes which lent itself very well to public interpretation. Here Chris Moore recieves his promotion to Senior Private or "Starszy Dragon" in Polish. Moore is now officially the second in command of the section. Will Tatum earned his 10th Dragoons Regimental Badge by being a member of the unit for one year and exhibiting proficiency in a standard test of Polish rifle drill. Part of our training was to learn the mechanics and composition of the Mills Bomb and No. 69 Offensive Grenade. The culmination of the classroom training was to brave the snow and practice throwing the Mills Bomb in a period manner. The sandbags represent a target 20 yards away which was the destructive radius of a Mills Bomb. Here Sgt. Petronis demontrates the overhand release while attempting to hit the target.

Newly promoted Starzy Dragoon Chris Moore gives classroom instruction on the differences between the Bren Mk I and MkII. Here Drg. Tatum puts his war face on while practicing his bayonet stabbing technique. Here Moore is willing to put the instruction hat on again for PIAT training. Here we see the real reason why Moore was promoted. He's the only one crazy enough to show us how to manually cock the heavy PIAT spring. That is the level of dedication we're looking for in our unit. Just before our dinner and dancing on Saturday night our friends Kim and Jen receive Red Cross packages compliments of the Regiment.

FDR Presidential Library, Hyde Park 2009 Memorial Day weekend found us once again as guests of the Presidential Library. The weather was great as well as the public turn out. We fielded many great questions from the visitors and had a wonderful time conversing with our friends from the hobby after hours. This year we again went for the "combat" impression attempting to recreate how the unit may have looked during the closing of the Falaise Gap in Aug of '44. We were missing many of the creature comforts we had the previous weekend, i.e. comfortable cots, large tents. etc. Here Zach keeps a close eye out for any approaching enemy. He looked so militant up there that he scared off all the German forces in and around Hyde Park. Sgt. Petronis attempts to relay our position back to HQ using the WS-19 radio in the half track. The only problem is that nobody's been listening since May of 1945.

Live Fire Training Weekend 1-2 Aug '09 Dragoon Neri and St.Drgn Moore take aim with the 1919a4 30 cal. Here the men get familiar with the proper loading, aiming and operation of the weapon. Dragoon Rich Holliday lays waste to all targets before with the .45 cal Thompson SMG. Moore takes aim from the ring mount with the .30 cal Sgt. Petronis drives towards the targets atop the hill. When approximately 75 yds from the hill top we dismounted the half track. Upon disembarkation we threw a smoke grenade to cover our movement for the enemy targets and formed a skirmish line perpendicular to the vehicle. At that point we all discharged a full magaize from our rifles, bounded forward another 20 yards, reloaded and fired another 10 rounds at the targets. We were very surpised at the accuracy of our fire given the mobile nature of the attack. Luckily we did not receive any casualties in our ranks from the offending paper targets. On right Moore and Neri fire their .38 pistols on the range.  Drgn Holliday searches in vain to find my marks upon the target. My pistol scores were an embarrassment. It is my policy to blame the weapon.

Eisenhower Farm, Gettysburg 19 - 20, 2009 This was one of our most important events of this year. As you may have seen from our "flag project" sub page we organized a dedication ceremony for the reproduction regimental flag. The weather could not have been more perfect. The Saturday visitor turn out was great and we had a good deal of people there for the ceremony. Our organization was very honored by the presence of the Polish Military Attache from the embassy in Washington, BrigGen. Socwezica and his aide LtCol. R Nowak. In addition our guest speaker was Col. J Karcz USAR (ret) who spoke on behalf of his uncle 10th Dragoon veteran LtCol. Jan Karcz. Upon arrival Gen. Socwezica inspects the men Col. Karcz relates stories of his uncle's heroism during his time with the 1st Armoured Division. The embassy staff and Lt. Petronis listen beneath the flag of Poland. Gen. Socwezica present the colours to Lt. Petronis Kapral Moore troops the colours before the assembled section. A group shot, top row left to right: Gen. Socwezica, Rich Holliday, LtCol. Nowak, Darrell Henning, Brian Neri, Zach Mateja bottom row: Col. Karcz USAR (ret) Chris Petronis, Chris Moore Darrell displays the detailed emboidery of the flag. A full 15 minute video of the ceremony can be downloaded in segment on our "video downloads" sub page.