Post by Diane Merkel on Apr 3, 2008 20:22:08 GMT -6
Bill Wirtz II did not know his father well, but the Norco man says he feels more connected to him on the Civil War and Indian War re-enactment battlefields.
Wirtz, 70, a retired Pomona College professor, said his father, an Army veteran of World War II who died in 1985, was a quiet person. Wirtz seeks a link with his father by participating in the historical re-enactments.
Wirtz will be a sergeant in the Union cavalry that fights the Confederates at the 145th anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg at Prado Park in Chino on Friday through Sunday.
Wirtz also plays a lieutenant in the U.S. Army in Indian War re-enactments. He has traveled to the site of the battle of Little Big Horn in Montana every June since 1990 to take part in the re-enactment of the American Indian forces wiping out Gen. George Armstrong Custer's 210 troops. Wirtz plans to be there again in June.
Although the Indian Wars are Wirtz's main interest, he said he became involved in Civil War re-enactments because there were not enough Indian War activities. The Norco resident, who has blue uniforms and about 70 books on the cavalry, takes his horse to the re-enactments. He practices by riding along the Santa Ana River, swinging his cavalry saber.
"That (the Indian Wars) gave me the connection that I think my spirit was connecting with my father," said Wirtz, adding, "I'm a Christian. I believe in God and heaven, and my father knows what I'm doing. The first time I stood on the banks of the Little Big Horn River, I knew my father knew what I was doing."
The elder Wirtz, a member of the 102nd Cavalry, put his son on a horse at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
"It's the horse and the cavalry in general that are so special," the younger Wirtz said.
For the rest of the story: www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_B_cavalry03.415860b.html