Ten years in the making, “Patton, Hidden in Plain Sight” published
By: Denny Hair
This has been a long journey. The series is really only one book that is divided up in
6 parts. It is a day by day account of what it took to build the US Third Army under
General Patton in World War Two. It is written in the words of those who were
there and offers an insight as to what really happen and what Patton really about
those that served both above and below his rank of General. It is a fascinating
journey as it has Patton’s thoughts as he put it down at the end of each day in his
diary, which has never before been published. Woven around his diary are the
thoughts and words of the eyewitness to the fight that were part of Patton’s staff
and those superiors above him. This is by far the hardest endeavor mentally I have
ever engaged in. The massive files of the Patton Papers housed in the Library of
Congress contributed to a great portion of the book. This is the book I feel General
Patton would have written had he lived to write it. He had started on it but after his
death, the book that bore his name was heavily didactic to protect his children by
his beloved wife Beatrice. There feared with good reason what Eisenhower would
do if the truth were told. They two daughters were married to career solders and his
son had just graduated from West Point. Had General Patton wrote this book his
family would have suffered.
On a personal note to those who read this. This is not an easy read because it has so
much detail to it. It's the type of book(s) that tell the truth and that takes a lot of
research and attention to detail. I spent 31 years as a Houston Police Officer and
part of the time was manning a crime scene unit. I was dispatched to several
hundred homicides and worked with some of the finest detectives you would ever
want to know. They were the best of the best. They taught me to question
everything. You must ask yourself the who, what, where and how of any
investigation. So for ten years I asked those questions. What I discovered was that
Patton had left hundreds of clues in his diary as to what was really going on. By
developing a timeline on a day by day bases, as any homicide detective would , the
truth of what General Patton wanted known came out. He could not say it directly
but he could say it in his diary. I then collaborated it by direct testimony and eye
witness accounts. It had to be footnoted and have good bibliography sources. These
point to the witness testimony of the facts.
The title “Hidden in Plain Sight” was coined for the series because the clues were in
plain sight but hidden in dusty files and like the pieces of a puzzle that are all there
but not in the original box. You can’t see what the image will look like until you get
all of the pieces put where there are suppose to go.
In book six the images uncovered are exhibit A as these are the images that were
hidden in the Patton Papers for all to see, yet hidden from view until now, but in
context to the text of the other five books.
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One of the series of 6 books published by Denny Hair about General Patton.
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And it’s a cool thing. Were still working on the details and the Turret is on the way. We’ve had to re-design most of the tank as we get more accurate measurements as well as having the engineers learn the program. Optimizing the pieces to be able to not just display properly but to be easily transferred onto blueprints for manufacture is a task that we’re devloping. So while the visible “wow” factor sometimes isn’t there, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work getting done.
He made a nice cutaway view of what the tension adjustment arm might look like with all the bearings and bushings in place.
Anybody who knows anything about anything knows how optimistic that is.
So that’s that.
A final note, one of the exciting things about this project is as we continue researching, asking questions, and learning about the tank, we’ve gotten to speak with some excellent people and we’re finding out that we’re becoming part of the conversation in ways that I certainly hadn’t expected. We’ve been asked to date/verify for sale items, asked to distinguish which model a piece may have come from, and been part of a conversation about how to utilize an early-war tank in US reenactments. A tricky subject indeed.
It’s been enlightening and thrilling to become part of a bigger world and we’d like to thank every one of you who’s been along for the ride so far.
Thanks for sticking around, see you in Virginia!
-T.ankmann
K rations came with a variety of canned meat and/or cheese. These cans were oddly shaped by today's
standards and were opened with keys, which were included in the ration. Correctly sized cans opened
with keys are no longer made today, especially with the correct contents. What I use are easily available
5 oz. cans of either chicken or diced ham (great for the breakfast meal). While these cans are slightly
larger than original (they're a bit too wide to fit into the K ration's cardboard protective sleeve for the meat can but they will fit into the inner box) and aren't opened with a key, they get the job done.
Remove the outer label from the can and give it a quick spray with OD paint. Pro tip: don't paint the top
of the can, otherwise you'll get paint flecks in the meat when you open it with your P-38. Each meal
receives a can of meat.
The Biscuits
These are pretty straight forward. For one type of biscuit use any brand of graham crackers broken into
small sections with three or four pieces in each pack and wrap in cellophane, heating it to seal. For the
other type of biscuit use any brand of rectangular, unsalted "party" crackers. Again, three or four
crackers go into each pack and wrap them with cellophane, heating it to seal. Each meal receives
biscuits.
The Beverage Powder
There were four standard beverage powders included in the K ration: soluble coffee, lemon powder,
orange powder, and beef bouillon powder. These are also pretty straight forward: take whichever
powder you like, insert about a GI spoon full into the repro pouch you are using, and heat seal using your wife's hair straightener (just don't let her know).
For the coffee, it may be best to buy the most economical container of instant coffee you can find for this project. However, I've found Folgers individual packets of instant coffee is an easy solution as each packet holds the perfect amount of coffee for a single repro pouch. For the lemon powder, make
sure you use sugar free lemon powder. Use whatever orange powder and beef bouillon powder you
wish. Each meal should come with one beverage powder, most commonly coffee for breakfast (and later also included in the supper meal), lemon or orange powder for dinner (used interchangeably) and beef
bouillon for supper.
The Fruit Bar
Breakfast K rations usually came with a fruit bar. LARABAR brand 'cherry pie' fruit bars are an excellent fill-in as they fit the bill in both looks and taste. The bars are the correct dimensions you need so simply seal it in your fruit bar packaging.
The Caramel Candy
Caramels are also very easy. Find a bag of Kraft caramels that are individually wrapped. Six of these
caramels will fit perfectly into an authentic K ration caramel box. These were normally seen in the dinner meal as a substitute for the Chocolettos.
The Chewing Gum
This is very straight forward. Get some sticks of gum and replace the outside wrapper with a
reproduction wrapper. Each meal received a stick of gum and they tended to be placed away from the
rest of the food as it would otherwise impart its flavor on the food.
The D Bar or Sweet Chocolate Bar
Depending on how much work you want to do, this step can be difficult and time consuming. There are
molds available that you can use to shape whichever type of chocolate bar you go with.
For the D bar, use one of the many recipes that are floating around the internet. The final product should be a fairly bland and dense bar with a lot of energy for your body. Be sure to eat slowly.
For the sweet chocolate bar, I like to use chocolate almond bark. While not actually chocolate (it uses
vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter), it still tastes very much like chocolate while having a higher
melting point and, unlike chocolate, retains all of its flavor and properties after melting. As almond bark has a high percentage of vegetable oil, the ingestion of too much too quickly will cause the squirts, so be sure to eat slowly!
The Sugar
Straight forward. Either wrap sugar cubes (Domino brand preferred) in packaging or fill your repro sugar box with grandulated sugar. Breakfast usually received the cubes while dinner or supper received the boxed granulated sugar.
The Cigarettes
Buy Lucky Strike cigarettes as they haven't really changed in 80 years and are filterless. Pack 4
cigarettes into your packaging and you're set. Each meal received a pack of cigarettes.
The Toilet Paper
You can purchase unbleached napkins relatively cheaply from Amazon.com or Walmart.com. Take 2-3
napkins and fold into a compact bundle, then wrap and glue your TP label around it. Only the supper
meal came with toilet paper, so use sparingly!
Usable K rations are a sort of holy grail that can take months to develop from scratch. With these tips at
your disposal you will be able to quickly and simply fill out your K rations with the most authentic
consumables that are commercially available. Good luck! 
Does anyone remember ‘Reenactor Parking?’ I used to love those comics, I think I actually printed a couple off and hung them on my wall.
That was back aways, close to 10 years ago.
2007, The Pacific hadn’t even come out yet and Band of Brothers was still new enough to really get excited about. It was pretty close to the peak of my reenacting experience and I’m now realizing I’m not the only one who looks back at this time fondly.
Was there a reenacting ‘hay day’ and has its time come and gone? My best good friend Cody, whose been reenacting as long as I have, mentioned having the same feeling recently.
“You remember what it used to be like,” he’d say. “How excited we’d get?”
Now Cody and I still get excited about stuff. All the time actually, it’s just not usually about 
reenacting anymore. It typically has something to do with women, or movies, or which one of us hurled the best insult at the other.
But not reenacting. I figured we’d just been doing it so long that it stopped being exciting, but more and more I feel like no one is excited about reenacting anymore. Even the new guys I’ve seen come into the hobby in the last few years don’t seem as wound up about it.
The young guys, who get into it at 15 or 16 and are usually so gung ho it makes you want to puke, don’t really care anymore. Ten years ago any new reenactor under the age of 19 would literally wet his pants at the sight of anything he didn’t own. I remember I got to carry a GP ammo bag at my first tactical, one of the other guys let me borrow it. I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen and I stared at it all day.
About two years ago I let a new reenactor in our unit borrow a spare wool overcoat for a Bulge event. When the day was winding down and he tried to give it back to me I said, “Naw, you keep it.”
I thought I would be super cool and he’d be in awe of the overcoat forever, but he said, “sure, I guess,” and I haven’t seen him since. This is not isolated or unusual; this is commonplace in today’s hobby.
The hay day is over, the best is past and the hobby will spin into the abyss.
Unless… we all harness our inner Bernie Sanders and start a revolution! Republicans, sorry for the Sanders reference, but you understand what I’m getting at and don’t pretend you don’t love Bernie just a little.
Ok maybe not so much a revolution, but a renaissance. We’re living in a renaissance as it is. Everything that used to be cool is cool again. We’ve brought back music, clothes, food, books and even politics that used to be cool. We love anything that “used to be” so why not do the same with reenacting?
So go to Rockford, even if you’ve been 10 times before. Get in the cheesiest public battle you can find, because god dammit you used to get so wound up for them. Stop thinking so much about what kind of beer you should bring for Saturday night and start thinking about what patrols you want to run or training you could do.
And by god, print off a couple 'Reenactor Parking' comics and hang them on your wall.
When did you enlist in the military and why?
I joined the Army when I was 24 years old. I was one of the older Service Members as many joined at our around 18 years old. I had always wanted to serve my country and join, but life, school, and a woman initially delayed my joining. I personally think that it’s every person responsibility to pay service to their nation whether through volunteering or service.
What units did you serve with?
I did a short stint in the Special Forces, but due to injury was not allowed to continue training. I spent the majority of my Active time in the 82nd ABN Division, Bravo Company 2-504th PIR in North Carolina. After 5 years I moved back home to Minnesota and spent 1 and ½ years in 34th INF Division in Alpha Company 2-135th light Infantry and 1 ½ years in the 34th INF Division in Bravo Company 1-194th Mechanized Bradley Unit.
Where and when were you deployed?
I did two deployments with Bravo Company 2-504th PIR. My first was located at FOB Ramadi in the Al Anbar Providence of Iraq for 13 months in 2008-2009. My second deployment was also with Bravo Company 2-504th PIR. We were in Afghanistan for 9 months in 2012 at COP Qara Bagh in the Ghazni Providence.
I’m sure there are some similarities between today’s military and our representation of the WWII military. What are some of the best examples of how “unchanged” the military had remained in the last 75 years?
Lol, yes there are many similarities between our representation of the WW II military and that of today. The most common one is the hurry up and wait. Whenever something comes up it’s a frenzy of activity to quickly carry out a task and by the end of it you’re always waiting on someone else or a time hack and then your just standing around shooting the shit telling stories to get the time to pass.
Have you found it difficult to “unlearn,” so to speak, some of what you were trained in the military, such as how to carry your rifle or the appropriate terminology for things?
Yes, you spend so much time carrying your rifle in the current low ready position of today so you have to actively remember to forget if that makes sense. Also I’ll start talking about teams, letters or movements and by default I will use Alpha, Bravo instead of Able, and Baker. It does get hard to unlearn 8 years of habits, but after a few events it becomes more natural.
Even though you served with the 82nd, how’s it feel to portray the soldiers in reenacting that made the airborne you served in so famous and elite?
Amazing, we all look up to the Greatest Generation during the Greatest War with respect. There is so much nostalgia for them, what they did, and what they lived through. When you put that uniform on it makes you feel a part of something bigger than yourself. You hold yourself up to a higher standard you want to live up to that uniform. With that you also have a bit of arrogance, and cockiness. Lol well, a lot more than a bit. You don’t think you’re the best you simply know you are. This just makes you want to do better and strive to be better than anyone else.
How has your service helped you become a better reenactor?
You have been there and done that. Even though they went through different training there is something about service members that set us apart from the rest of civilians. Even though the terminology and movements are slightly different you have a base of knowledge to draw upon.
On the other side, do you think experience in reenacting could help someone preparing to join the military?
Yes, you do get some military bearing, such as chain of command, and duties. You also build up comfort for being in the woods and practicing in military exercises even if it’s a little bit different than the way we do things now. You gain a level of comfort.
What are some of the most important things you can teach reenactors who have no military experience about how to portray a solider?
Look cool, Be cool, and do cool things. We call it the three principles of patrolling. If you dress the part, if you act the part, if you portray the part, you are the part. Look to the man to your left and the man to your right and copy what they do.
What’s your favorite part about reenacting so far?
The Comradery is one of the best parts, but my favorite part is the tactical portion. I love being in the woods, I love practicing the movements. The quiet of the movements through the woods, the tense in the air before battle, the smell of sulfur after rounds have been fired.
Even though it’s on a vastly smaller scale, do you feel a sense of comradery amount your reenacting group that’s reminiscent of your experience in the military?
Yes, it is a different level as when I was active I was with the guys 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for 5 years. But there is a shared experience between the reenactors and myself.
Having experienced life in a combat zone, have there been moments in reenacting that have challenged you emotionally, so to speak?
In terms of flash backs or issues I have not had any difficulty. But emotionally it does stir a lot of memories and emotions about my time in the service, and time with my brothers. It brings back thoughts of all the down time smoking and joking with my brothers. The deep conversations of marry one, fuck one, kill one and would you rather…. As well as plans and hopes for the future. 
Being primarily an airborne reenactor, these are the first item on my list. I've seen all manor of leather gloves being used by reenactors as "jump gloves" but I can honestly and without bias say these are the best reproductions I've seen so far. Many other reproductions look very much like originals, but the feel of these gloves sets them apart. Reproduction gloves tend to be stiff and uncomfortable, and never seem to fit. These are soft and comfy, with a natural color that doesn't stand out like some of those neon yellow jobs I've seen floating around at events in the past. Work them in with a little dirt sweat and water and they'll look great, feel great and form to the shape of your hands for the perfect protection for your fingers.
2. USMC 1941 "782" Upper and Lower Combat Field Equipment Pack
PTO is a growing faction of WWII reenacting. Thanks to films like "The Pacific" and "Heartbreak Ridge" many reenactors are being more intrigued by the idea of "stomping through the Solomons." With that new wave of reenacting comes a far greater number of USMC events and impressions. And no piece of gear is more important to a Marine impression than the "782" pack. I started my USMC impression a little over a year ago and have been piecing away at it since then. The 782 is tops on my list of "next to buy" and while I don't have it yet I have gotten my mitts on one of MTL's repros recently. Top notch as always, the most intriguing part of this piece of gear is the price. $80 for both the upper and lower packs is a steal to say the least. You'd pay at least that much for each piece individually at any other site.
3. U.S. M1917 SBR Gas Mask & Carry Bag
So this is a fairly new item at Man The Line and I'm very excited to try it out. Much like PTO reenacting, WWI is on its way up in the reenacting world. My obsession with the Great War began with an obsession with Boardwalk Empire, or more specifically with Jimmy Darmody. I loved the idea of a WWI vet coming home, putting on some amazingly slick suits and falling into the hay-day of organized crime. So I've thus begin a WWI impression, more specifically the 134th Infantry Regiment. I had no idea repro gas masks were even a thing, so when I got to play around with one of these bad boys a couple months ago I got very excited. Gas masks are THE most iconic and horrific prop of the war to end all wars. The price is heavy at $239.95, but I can tell you every last penny is worth it when the huns hit you with gas at your next event.
Good shopping to all and happy holidays!!!! 
So why then, when we get a chance to put on the uniforms and spend a weekend as close as we’ll ever get to stepping into George Luz’s long johns, do we sit on coolers covered in wool blankets sharing photos on Instagram and waiting till the sun goes down so we can sit around a fire and drink lukewarm bud light?
If I wanted to do that I’d befriend the hillbilly rednecks I went to high school with. I’m sure they’re in the middle of a cornfield right now tossing empty blue cans into a nearly out-of-control fire.
What’s the point? I mean honestly I’d like an answer here. If you’re not at least going to give authenticity the old college try, then why the fuck even be a part of the hobby?
And what happened to people being embarrassed of their authenticity mistakes? Everyone makes them and continues to make them. But 5 years ago at least people would acknowledge their mistakes and move forward. In 2016 it seems totally acceptable to use your smartphone just as you would in everyday life during events. No shame, no guilt, just Facebook.
I have a smartphone. I love my smartphone; the technology amazes me almost every day. But when I get to an event I shut it off. I understand if you need to have your phone on you incase of a family emergency, but if you can’t go 2 days without checking your Facebook or taking selfies then you need to have your fucking head examined.
So what happens now? Have smart phones become such a replacement for our personality that we can’t possibly be without them and therefore it’s completely OK to use them regularly at an event? I hope not.
Have we become so complacent with our hobby that we honest to goodness stop learning anything about the unit we portray and stop caring about how we portray them?
I’m seeing it happen all over the hobby. And the hobby is suffering because of it. Are your unit’s numbers down lately? I thought they might be……..
The stitch Nazis have died off and their return is nowhere in sight. We should all pray they come back before the hobby vanishes into the grey space somewhere between airsoft and cosplay.
The low temperature this coming Friday, the night of the event, is 4 F. If the forecast turns out to be true, it’ll be the coldest night I’ve ever spent outside. The absolute, no doubt about it, most imperative tool for braving that kind of temperature is a bail of straw. Peel it apart and line the bottom of your foxhole with a solid layer. Its insulating abilities are remarkable, and while it might’ve been a seldom had luxury in the real Bulge, it’s a must have for these events.
I like to think I’m a real hard ass when it comes to authenticity, but I’ll admit that even I break down slightly when it comes to these events. You won’t find any handwarmers in my jacket pockets, but you will find a few pairs of high quality, modern cold weather socks on my feet. There’s nothing more to say, you can’t get by without them. Cold hands can always be warmed in pockets, armpits or crotches. Cold feet are on their own and mine won’t survive without real socks.
No fires in the bulge, but a covered foxhole with an esbit stove passes muster in my eyes, and there’s nothing better than a tiny, golden red sliver of hope when your nuts are freezing to your leg. Use it to warm fingers, light cigarettes, heat your corn beef hash, anything that’ll keep you going.
4. A foxhole buddy
I’ll try not to sound weird here, but nothing warms you up like, snuggling up next to another shivering, miserable buddy. It’s just like cuddling, but without the reward at the end. I’ve spent nights in foxholes by myself and nights with another reenactor. I can tell you the nights spent in the latter situation were infanantely more comfortable.
So, my socks are packed, the straw is bought and paid for, my pockets are stuffed with fuel tablets. Friday night is the big night and I’m already shivering. Wish me luck! 
During the summer of 1998, I lost my grandfather. The Saturday before his funeral, I attended a local air show in the Twin Cities with some friends. There I stumbled across a reenacting group manning a display. I knew this was something I wanted to start doing. I had no idea how easy it was to get started and what they did. A couple of months later I attended my first tactical event and I was bitten by the bug and forever hooked.
The loss of my grandfather hit me pretty hard, but as I reflect on this eighteen years later, his passion to teach transferred on to me and I can’t even begin to account for the hundreds of people I've had the pleasure to speak to and educate them on the men and women who served in WWII. Not just that, but I’ve gained countless friendships with people who like him and I share a passion to learn, discuss and keep the history alive for the future.
What unit do you portray and why?
I am a member of Fox Co. 2/502nd PIR 101st Airborne Division out of Minnesota. I joined this group because I wanted to group that had the same beliefs I have about this hobby, to honor veterans and teach history to future generations.
How long was the trip to Europe on the books?
We started planning for this trip back in February for everything to happen in September.
Where did you travel in Europe?
This trip was a big one, two weeks and five countries to hit! The plan was simple at high level five days in Normandy, four days in Holland, four days in Bastogne, and a couple of stops in Aachen, Germany and Luxembourg. Planning the stops took some more planning, but what sites we did hit was a reenactors dream vacation.
We stayed in St. Mere Eglise during the entire Normandy stay, just blocks away from the church Private John Steele landed. In Holland We stayed in Nijmegen and our hotel was blocks away from the bridge, we could see it from our balcony. In Belgium we stayed blocks from McAuliffe Square.
What was your favorite location?
This is a hard question for me, I enjoyed all of the sites we visited, but if we had to pick I would say the Normandy Area. From where we stayed, you could walk in any direction and hit an import location. There is just so much going on in a concentrated area, it is easy to miss some sites on a five day stay.
Describe to me what it felt like to visit the U.S. cemetery at Omaha beach.
Its one thing to see pictures online, but when you step foot on the grounds it just blows your mind. It was a weird feeling of pride, sadness, and gratitude for the ten thousand plus GIs buried there. The grounds are kept in pristine condition with some fantastic memorials and museums. I’m amazed at the amount of people that visit this cemetery on a yearly basis, and the locals show great appreciate for those American men that paid the ultimate price for their freedoms.
Walking through the streets of Normandy, it's easy to imagine what it must've looked like at the time. Very little has changed. What was that like for someone so connected to the history of the area?
I thought it was awesome; you can still physically touch the same buildings that stood 70 plus years ago and see the bullet holes in the sides of houses and fences. It was a very surreal feeling to be walking down the same roads as those guys did back in June 1944. I applaud the French for not trying tear down history and upgrade some of these towns. Every road, turn, town square, or field had something going on it was just so much in such a concentrated area it just blows your mind.
It's every reenactors dream to visit the battlefields we spend so much time studying. What was it like to finally be there after over a decade of reenacting?
This was a bucket list trip for me. From a very young age I always wanted to go to Normandy and walk the beaches. I went to Europe in high school but we only hit London and Paris, which bummed me out that we were so close and didn't stop. So to finally make it was literally a dream come true to not just hit Normandy, but also Holland and Belgium. One thing that added some great perspective is to see how the terrain really was, the coasts, hedgerow country and really understand how daunting of a task these guys had when trying take back these lands.
Did you use a tour program or go on your own?
We did a mix of a couple days with paid tour guides and friends in Normandy and Holland. But most of it was a plan put together by us and what we wanted to see. We drove ourselves around which gave us the ability to be fluid and change due to timing or weather.
Did you find yourself getting emotional as you walked through all the battlefields where so many people gave their lives?
At times I did catch myself becoming emotional, at the cemeteries and beaches mostly. To know that you’re standing at the spot where thousands died trying to run up those vast open spaces of beach. When we hit Omaha beach the second day, It was warmer and nice out and the locals were enjoying the beach. All you can see are kids playing and families laughing, and I had this internal struggle with “don’t they know where they are, and what happened here!!!.” I was quickly reminded by one of the guys I traveled with that many gave their lives so they could have the freedom enjoy life. That helped put me at an ease of mind around that.
What did you miss that you'd like go back and see someday?
I’d go back in a heartbeat. The group I went with are already taking of a possible 2019 trip for the 75th anniversary of D-day and then head into Germany. I found myself not ever getting bored or tired of seeing all the sites. I would see some of the same spots for a 2nd time.
For your money, what country had the best food and beer?
If I had to rank them from best to good, for the beer category it would be Belgium, Holland, and France. In regards to food it would be Holland, Belgium, and France.