There were a few marked differences during this year's World War II event. Because the weekend also coincided with the 80th anniversary of D-Day, many of the antique war birds were flying at other events. The airshow suffered slightly by the lighter roster but it was still fun to watch them soar. I saw many of the veterans on TV being interviewed in France so I was not surprised that the speaking roster was also a little light. What surprised me the most was the quality and type of items being proudly sold by the vendors.
When Robby and I started to attend the weekend nearly 10 years ago, anything with a swastika was original to the time period and held a story. I have never liked seeing the Nazi items for sale but have come to accept the historical value of the items. Vendors who sold these items always did so with respect, covering the symbols with stickers etc. to avoid promoting associated ideology.
The Nazi items on sale this weekend were not old, not concealed and held no historical value. I was gobsmacked seeing a 4 foot rayon 'Made in Vietnam" swastika flag right next to the meet the survivors table. This brand new flag was being sold for modern use, not for historical preservation. Throughout the vendor tents we found brand new nazi propoganda for sale, much of it updated and repurposed for modern times.
I'm worried that our World War II weekend is slowly starting to become a Right Wing meeting event. I pray I am wrong.
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