“I have had an interest in World War ll history all of my life. My dad was a veteran and he stayed in the army reserves after the war. I played army when I was a kid and never grew up. Now I work for the Battleship Alabama as a volunteer with the living history crew. We come aboard every other month and portray the life of a battleship sailor. During our battle demonstrations, we wear the uniforms and use the equipment from the ship, the life jackets and the steel helmets that were issued to the sailors, and teach the history of the ship. The big hit of the weekend is on Saturday after lunch. When the weather is nice we have airplanes attack the ship and we fire seven automatic anti-aircraft weapons at them. When the planes come across about 20 feet off the water and zoom over the ship, we are shooting guns at them, putting out fires and helping the wounded sailors. It is an awesome show. Our next one is August 23, then October 22 and December 10. We do this every other month. It is enjoyable to be able to act out living history and give people a taste of the action. When they see the planes coming across the water, they can ponder the terror that these guys were really feeling, knowing someone is trying to kill you. ‘What would it have been like had I been there? How would I react?’ It is exciting to portray that and give that feeling of intensity. It is a show. It is noisy with big flames out of the barrel of the guns and the automatic weapons are loud, firing a mixture of gas, oxygen and propane. We have been doing this for about three years but I don’t think many people know about it. This is as close as you will ever get to being in a battle.”