The Battle of Guam: next in the queue

Sherman!

While I'm waiting for the rest of the paint to arrive for my LCM, I'm going to start building the tank that it will be landing on Red Beach.

Have I mentioned how much I'm loving retirement?

Soldier on!

Mannie

The Battle of Guam: process

These are all but six of the kits that are in the queue to be built for the Battle of Guam.  Again, I remind myself that the battle is well underway in the form of preparations...and I'm enjoying it immensely.

Soldier on!

Mannie

You never get too old for toy soldiers

lc99 left a comment a few posts back about how, now as a young man, he has dusted off his childhood toy soldiers and is playing with them again.  This prompted my thinking.

This is for my younger readers.

If you read this blog, then you probably enjoy playing with toy soldiers, just as I did when I was your age. 

As I got older...in my teens... I started to get very self-conscious, and even a little embarrassed by the fact that I was still playing with toy soldiers.  Of course, there was no reason to feel that way.

Sadly, at about age sixteen, I got rid of all my soldiers...hundreds of them, including my cherished Marx Blue and Gray and Desert Fox sets.

(recently, a friend just gave me his childhood Marx Desert Fox set, which was in storage at his parents home; you can only imagine how happy this made me.)

Now, many, many years later, how I regret that I no longer have them, how I would love to have my childhood sets of soldiers battling it out on the toy soldier table.

So here's some advice; and I think that it's good advice.  If you think that you are getting too old for toy soldiers, simply box them up and store them away...just put them in a closet and forget about them.

Then, one day when you are older, and start to have fond memories about playing with toy soldiers, you'll suddenly remember that you still have them stored away at your parents home.

How happy you will be to open that dusty shoe-box to be greeted by your old friends.

Please remember that you are never too old to play, and to play with toy soldiers.  And believe me, any fun and enthusiastic grown-up man or woman will tell you exactly the same thing.

Have fun, and...

Soldier on!

Mannie

(Back me up on this pals.)

Battle of Guam: reader poll

Hey everyone, I'm currently building the Trumpeter 1/35 US Navy LCM as one of the Battle of Guam components.  I'm taking step-by-step photos of the process.

Should I use these stills to make a video? or should I make a regular pictorial post with lots of pictures and commentary?

Leave responses in comments, and...

Soldier on!

Mannie

The Battle of Guam: Battlefield ghost

This wrecked Sherman remains on the island since the battle.  Now part of War in the Pacific National Park, this tank was visited in the 1968 by my brother Carman, by me in 1971, and by my brother Joe in the late 1980s.  All three of us were US Navy communicators stationed on the island.  

There were two Shermans at this location along with some shot-up LVTs nearby.  We tried to conjecture what sort of battle had been fought there, only to find out later that this had become a firing range for the US military, and hulks left from the battle were hauled here and used as targets.

The Battle is still very much in evidence on the island of Guam.

Soldier on!

Mannie

The Battle of Guam: video progress report

Take a look gang; and see how many extra syllables I can pack in to the word "Italeri."

As always...

Soldier on!

Mannie