When Hunter Wilford pulled a replica World War II U.S. Army paratrooper helmet over his head, he could barely see.
But there were plenty of other military artifacts and exhibits for the Derry Township boy to explore Sunday when his family stopped by an Allied military encampment during a World War II living history weekend at Historic Hannah’s Town in Hempfield.
“He loves history,” his father Jason said, “and we don’t want to get in the way of his passion. We go to a lot of history events.”
Jim Wojciechowski of Pittsburgh played a member of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, while other reenactors nearby welcomed visitors to a replica Red Cross tent.
They changed uniforms, sometimes dressing up as U.S. Army Rangers or Air Force personnel.
“We do a lot of different impersonations,” said Wojciechowski, who has been in the re-enactor hobby for 20 years.
He displayed many of his collection of World War II-era weapons and their reproductions, including a British sniper rifle.
“That gun collection draws people in like a magnet,” he said.
But that usually leads to a discussion of the combat and other GI relics in which they would have been used.
“We have a stove, ammunition boxes, a set of dishes, military rations and even a little cracker,” Wojciechowski said.
Fellow reenactors set up an officer’s field desk stocked with vintage pin-up calendars.
Under a small grove of trees on the other side of Forbes Trail Road, two Marine Corps veterans from Hempfield, Ron Maxson and his son-in-law, Bob Isler, showed visitors some of the many vintage World War II and Korean War items that Maxson owns.
Among the items was a rocket launcher that was on display on the tailgate of a 1952 artillery carrier that Maxson had restored.
“It was originally built by Dodge,” Isler said of the vehicle, “This is the father of the Power Wagon. This vehicle wasn’t built for speed, it was built to haul big, heavy weapons. It replaced multiple mules, horses and wagons.”
This exhibit only represents a small part of Maxson’s military collection from that time.
“We have enough items to make a museum,” Maxson said, “over 80 World War II Marine uniforms, over 100 guns, bayonets and manuals of all kinds.”
Isler, a former staff sergeant and Marine recruiter, said that while he’s not a collector himself, he enjoys helping Maxson with historical re-enactments like Hannah’s Town.
“I do it as a tribute to what I accomplished as a Marine,” he said.
Josiah Bortrick and his wife drove from their home in Mundy’s Corner, Cambria County, to view World War II displays and demonstrations, including Allied and German re-enactors firing blanks from period guns and then a battle reenactment that mimicked a battle that took place among the hedgerows of Normandy.
“I’m a fan of history in general,” Bortlik said, “and there are so many great events happening here that cover different periods of history.”
“My wife and I were so happy to be able to see it in person. It’s different from reading about it in a book or seeing pictures in a magazine.”
Most of Hannah’s Town’s permanent buildings and artifacts relate to the site’s history as an 18th-century pioneer village and the first British court west of the Allegheny Mountains.
But it’s also the headquarters of the Westmoreland County Historical Society, which hosts historical reenactments of other eras, including the Civil War.
Society executive director Lisa Hayes said the World War II event grew out of a program to be held at the site in 2022.
“There was a military timeline going from the French and Indian War to World War II,” she said. “People seemed most interested in the World War II exhibit.”
The association is considering holding alternating weekend events re-enacting the Civil War and World War II.
Paul Baltzer of Albion, a World War II paratrooper re-enactor and Navy veteran, helped organize the Allied forces unit for the Hannahstown event.
He believes living history events can broaden participants’ scope of knowledge.
“The most important thing they should take home is a desire to learn more about the subject,” he said.
Jeff Himler is a TribLive reporter covering the Greater Latrobe, Ligonier Valley, Mount Pleasant and Derry Area school districts and communities, including transportation issues. He’s been a journalist for more than 30 years and enjoys digging into local history. He can be reached at jhimler@triblive.com.
