Our unit. Our group focuses on D Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) as it would have been in Normandy during the D-Day invasion, just after the battle for Carentan. All members should work to build a full  living history impression to represent this. 

 

Why choose Miss Drop 44? We have no subscription to join the group, it's something we've been saying we will do for years... and we finally got around to it. So you get to join a free group. The group funds all its own purchases, including over 2k worth of Normandy parachutes. Several members make things and have great connections to various dealers and manufacturers of the items we need, as well as contacts in other countries to get the items at good/great prices! You'll also be given items that are made by group members, such as the FM 21-100 (1941) SOLDIER'S HANDBOOK upon joining the group at your first event. Also plenty of items are available at cost price, like huck towels, Olive Drab (OD) hankies (which weirdly are impossible to find for sale elsewhere), coffee - sugar - milk cans, hexi heating block wrappers, maps of France, invasion currency and lots of other items that 101st paratroopers would have carried... and other items of interest, too. It's a group that looks after its own, big time! The list of items we make and share grows all the time!

However, before I lose you in the details of the group, what to wear, how to wear it, ranks, weapons, food, drill, saluting.... let's start from the beginning and ask some important questions for those new to the hobby of re-enacting who might be looking to uncover how you even start in this minefield of a hobby.

Why do people get involved in living history? I'm sure there many reasons why someone would want to take up the hobby and become a living historian. It's the only way to really immerse yourself into the periods of history that happened well before our time. You may have a passion for one particular unit and want to literally live the life as much as you could. It's not a cheap hobby, it's not a very simple hobby to do correctly, but you make great friends, experience all sorts of different things and can find yourself in situations you'd have never expected! You'll learn all sorts of odd things that will honestly never help you in regular boring life... things like marching, rifle drill, how to pitch and strike pup tents and how to light a fire. Not everyone in life can start a fire!

 

Can anyone do this? This is such a controversial question in living history! You'll get living history groups that will accept literally anyone. From stick thin to obese, male and female, old and young. Now the problems start from there onwards, some units firmly stick to what was correct then, and therefore it will only be acceptable now. If re-enacting was a scale of 1 - 10, they would be the 10 - if it's not perfect, then it's not acceptable. The living history hardcore if you like. So let's take the 502 PIR as an example; it was an all-male fighting fit unit. So no female paratroopers (stop your booing lads), however for any females, please jump to the bottom of this section, just above the photos. For 'other genders' please refer to the 'other genders page'. There would have been nobody overweight and certainly nobody that could be considered old (I sniggered while I wrote that). Then you get the other end of the scale, the 1's. The 1's can be a mixed bunch, usually excepting of anyone, expect a mixture of kit and ranks and usually a lot of things that make no or little sense. As 'Karen' likes to say "a dressing up unit that sleeps under green canvas", which in fairness is fairly apt. However, don't let their lack of attention to re-enacting fool you, they still might have rules to stop certain people joining. Their attention to detail could be lacking and in most re-enactment groups very few follow the written TO&E tables which show the composition of units, resulting in groups that make little or no sense, let alone when you look closely at what they are wearing and doing.

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Our group is NOT a "battle re-enactment" group. We'll just leave the "dress up" and playing "make-believe army" to those that enjoy such re-enactment. We are a Living History group, which is a huge step past re-enactment. We attempt to accurately represent the 502 PIR as it was in 1944 Normandy. Expect to really put some time and dedication into your appearance. Forget making comments like "that'll do" or "that's close enough". If it can be improved upon, then no, it won't "do". Any group will always be judged by its least accurate member, so there are no half measures, we strive for near perfect, or not at all. 

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We expect people to fill their riggers with ammunition, your canteen bottle will be full of water, your musette will have a wash kit and all the essentials you'll need. Even your underwear should resemble that of a WW2 GI. All the enlisted troopers should be around the correct age for the impression that they are portraying. Fitness doesn't really come into it, but it sure helps if you can run for miles and miles and lift heavy weights, but trust me, I'm as unfit as they come, I just look healthy!

So to answer the question, YES, anyone can get into the hobby, but just not with every group!

What do I need? This will sound pathetic, but the best thing you can have in this hobby is a willingness to learn and put time and attention into everything, most of all your appearance and impression. Anyone who can come into this hobby with the willingness to learn will always do well. You'll never stop learning or buying kit, there is always something else...

We also have spare kit for anyone who wants to simply try the hobby. We have spares of everything, to kit you from head (helmet) to toe (boots). Including webbing sets for various roles and spare weapons. So if you are brand new to the hobby and don't own anything other than a sleeping bag, we got you covered. No charge at all - all you need to do to attend is get yourself insured with an agency like AFRA, give us the details and tell us which show you want to attend with us. Easy right? The only catch is, we do need notice. Both to sort out and reserve your kit to make sure you get the correct size uniform, and enough time to let the show organizers know you'll be attending as part of our group. Then you can experience the hobby with zero outlaying cost, because we're all fully aware how expensive getting even basic initial kit can be.

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Women! Yes, we are a group that accepts women. No, you don't get to be a stinky dirty paratrooper, however the date and place we portray is just outside Carentan, which was the site of a HUGE field hospital that contained staff from the 3rd Auxiliary (Aux) Surgical Group. We already have some members for this unit and it is open to expansion. The plus point over being a paratrooper is that you'll get better sleeping accommodations! So small wall tents are permitted and so are PUP tents. I have the TO&E for this unit, too, so it can also be done down to the letter if we get enough interest. Let's also not forget that the 3rd Aux was another male-heavy unit; consisting of 132 male officers against the 70 female nurses, not to mention the 278 male enlisted soldiers it contained. So if being a paratrooper isn't your thing, and you still have interest in the group, then this could be a unique alternative for you.

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