Ben Williams and his son, Ted, partnered up with Hans Redenhauser, all of Elizabethtown, set up a Civil War encampment at the Railroad Museum's Trains and Troops event this past weekend.
Homefront re-enactors (from left) Bev Barbe, of Lancaster; Susan Duskin and Steve Gross, both from Lebanon County, posed with a World War II-era catalogue.
Steve Kistler of Elizabethtown "sells" a train ticket to Tom Brock of Lancaster. The men took part in the Trains and Troops event at the Railroad Museum Sunday.
Lois Nowak portrays Rosie the Riveter, with her husband David dressed in an Army Air Corps uniform.
A World War I uniform on display during Trains and Troops.
War re-enactors gathered among vintage trains at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania to salute those who served during the Trains and Troops event Saturday and Sunday.
Soldiers from the Civil War through the Gulf War were honored by re-enactors displaying war memorabilia. The event also included a swing dance and a flyover by World War II-era planes.
Elizabeth Myer, the museum's volunteer and program coordinator, explained that the annual event is always held the weekend before Veterans Day and features re-enactors from wars that trains played a part in.
Guests should be able to walk through the museum and feel they were entering the past, Myer said.
Civil War re-enactors from Elizabethtown recreated a Civil War encampment, complete with hardtack rations.
Former Manheim Central sixth-grade teacher Joseph Wells brought items from his collection, including a Japanese flag his father brought back from World War II. He demonstrated the difference between dog tags, pointing out that they were made with fingerprints from 1902 to 1942.
Richard Gabryszewski Sr. and his son brought their collection of items from more recent wars, including Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War. Gabryszewski's parents had their first brief meeting on a ship, the Hugh L. Scott, during World War II. Gabryszewski's mother, Gertrude, served in the Marine Corps while his father, Teddy, was in the Coast Guard. They later reunited and married.
Bev Barbe, of Lancaster, dressed in a 1940s suit, showed off World War II-era items found on the homefront, including a mail-order catalogue, clothing and jewelry. She is part of a group called The Victory Society.
"Our No. 1 priority," Barbe said, "is to honor the veterans."
Lois Nowak, of Allentown, came as Rosie the Riveter, the symbol of women who worked in factories during World War II. Nowak's aunt worked in a factory during that time, and this is her way of paying tribute to her.
And author Larry Alexander, also a reporter at Lancaster Newspapers, was on hand to sign copies of his latest book, "In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: Easy Company's European Battlefields."
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