There are a handful of events I look forward to every year, but my favorite is the American Heritage Museum’s production of “Battle for the Airfield.” I say production, rather than reenactment, as I now look at this annual event as a World War II film that has come to life “in front of a live audience.”

Yes, this is a reenactment by dedicated volunteers from all over the Northeast and beyond, but what’s more interesting to me is how the event is produced. As can be appreciated, the goal is to entertain audiences and for the reenactors to enjoy themselves as well. What’s apparent is the positive energy on both sides, an energy that results in a very entertaining “Battle for the Airfield.”

In the world of motion pictures, particularly large-scale “Hollywood” films, the setup of time and cost would be astronomical. It would probably take a few weeks to set up the same battle we saw literally organized in a day. Traditional Hollywood could learn something from reenactor events like this. True, camera set-up, lighting and a host of other factors go into making a motion picture look as grand and real as possible. But when one considers what’s accomplished during a compressed span of time, it’s nothing less than impressive if not herculean. I might add that they produce two of these battles in one day.  

The American Heritage Museum is much more than reenactor events, it is a museum dedicated to America’s conflicts since the founding of the country. The history of war is presented both visually with tanks, artifacts, and other relics, to educational series and lectures throughout the year.

The phrase “Never Forget” is just as associated with the atrocities of World War II as it is with the tragedies of 9/11 and all conflicts before and after. It is a phrase that is indelible to the numerous exhibitions throughout the museum, that seek to educate those to quite literally never forget. For it is the sacrifices of those who defended our way of life, sometimes with their own that must never be forgotten.

We like to think we learn from history before it repeats itself. As of this writing, the war between Russia and Ukraine continues on the European continent with sadly no sign of abating, nor ending. One doesn’t need to be a historian to know that such a conflict won’t be contained to those two countries forever. Did Russia learn anything from Operation Barbarossa? And just this week Israel and Hamas are again at war.

But through all this is the United States of America. While we may have our own internal strife, we make every effort to present a united front when faced with conflicts outside our borders. My country is not perfect, we are still striving to create a more perfect union. But we know that union does its best when crisis calls, because…

…America never forgets.