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In that year, Irvine Regional Park was going to celebrate its 100th year in existence as the County of Orange’s oldest regional park. A couple of the employees for the County, Eric Fredrickson and Jon Reed had mentioned to their boss Mike Miniachi – a Union Infantry re-enactor himself – that they knew a small group of guys that could put on a small time-line living history event as an adjunct to the event(s) already being planned for the Irvine Park Celebration. Next came the phone call to George and Jeff and within minutes of hanging up the phone, Jeff looked at George and said; “This is a job for Ron Lane – he knows everyone in the reenacting world and has ties to the 40th Infantry Division – California’s Own National Guard Division.” Turns out Ron and the then Adjutant General of the State of California – Major General Tandy Bozeman were pilots together in the California Air National Guard and Tandy flew many times as Ron’s co-pilot… After several meetings and six months of HARD planning, the first Marching Thru History Exposition was presented on 1-2 OCTOBER 1997. The event was such a success that in real terms, the MTHE overshadowed much of the remainder of the celebration in the park’s honor. MTHE was off and running… there was another MTHE event at Irvine Park before the event was moved to the County Operations Center in Santa Ana after a one year hiatus to get organized. AT this point, co-founder George Craig passed on from a sudden heart attack at 57 years old… Our event was so shaken at his loss that we considered folding our tents. Instead, because of his character, we collectively decided to make this event the largest of its kind in the area and our goal is now to someday be a destination stop drawing tens of thousands… After three more successful years at the County Operations Center, the event quickly outgrew the confined spaces and the MTHE Board then decided that even though the MTHE was the single largest veterans event held annually within the OC, AND the fact that the event was sponsored by both the United Veterans Organizations of Orange County and the County of Orange Veterans Service Office, it was time to take the MTHE out of Orange County to a place that has become our home and hopefully will be for many years to come… Prado Regional Park in Chino California… First in 2003 under the watch of Sam Arce, MTHE established itself as a patriotic juggernaut in San Bernardino County. Although not well attended because of a time schedule change (from May to November) and a short work up period because of our move from the OC, the MTHE still managed to overcome all these challenges and the show went ahead as scheduled. Mother Nature even threatened us with rain; however, we managed to dodge the weather bullet. In 2004, with almost a year to plan, the event moved its timeframe again, this time to October, and the event had over 700 participants and over 7000 visitors. Wayne Watkins and his Prado Regional Park Staff did their usual spectacular job as the event added both a JROTC Drill Competition and a timeline shift from beginning with the Colonial American Period to encompass what we now consider “The Ancient World” portion of the exposition. Since this incorporation on the Ancients they have received the Best of Show “George A. Craig Award for Excellence.” Needless to say, their addition has added much to the flavor and interest of our exposition. In 2005 the MTHE added the AMVETS Brotherhood Rally Motorcycle Run to raise dollars for needy veterans and 1/6th scale Armor RC modelers. We added new units including the 1812 HMS Surprise Jolly Boat Crew, The Louisiana Special Battalion CSA, and Haslet’s Delaware Regiment, to name a few… we also had first timers join us from the Air Force ROTC Unit at Loyola Marymount University. The 18th Cavalry of the 40th Infantry Division was also a nice addition to this year’s event and we hope that we can get more 40th ID participation in the future. Our JROTC Drill Competition was a huge success as was the addition of the new units and the scale modelers. Lastly, we have the King of AMVETS Post 18 – Orange County - Del King – and his partner Scot Norton, along with the assistance of the Tustin Young Marines and their adult staff, who together create the best dinner served at ANY event of this type anywhere in the United States! In 2007, we plan to add many new units, infrastructure for parking and guiding the public into and out of our event site, more era specific props for each timeframe to incorporate into their designated areas, and a new layout that will drastically change how the MTHE is operated from an administrative perspective. We plan to develop a large “Vietnam Era” display to pay tribute to those aging warriors from America’s turbulent past and we are considering adding an antique car show that will draw into MTHE a hundred or more classic automobiles. As you can see, we are always thinking of ways to make MTHE an event that will continue to evolve into something that we all will be anxious for and proud of in years to come. Please come out and support us in any way that
you can. We need more public participation from boys and girl scouts,
public and private schools, homeschooler groups, veteran organizations,
displays from state and local entities - Police/Fire displays, and
links to any and all other websites that might promote our event
to those who might consider coming and seeing all the hard work
of the MTHE staff and from the participants that make up our MTHE
Family. For more information about the Marching Thru History
Exposition or AMVETS, please contact:
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