WELCOME TO THE
Headquarters of
Friends of Willie and Joe
2020 SEASON
Thanks for checking in with Headquarters!
What can we say? It has been a year of chaos and uncertainty. We have felt the effect of the pandemic as much as anyone else. During a normal year, we can have upwards of 20 events including several multi-day events. In 2020, we have had 6 events. Of those, only two were annual events which included the January (pre-COVID) winter camp and the Auburn Veteran’s Day parade – which was billed as a procession rather than a parade. Two of the remaining events were public, socially distanced events while the other two were private outdoor events including the celebration of life for a beloved local 45th Division vet that many group members knew well. Out of an abundance of caution, we have cancelled our December Winter Social. Our Winter Social is a private event intended to coincide with December 7th, the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Winter Camp is another private event historically held late December and in more recent years moved to January. Lovingly referred to as the “Snow Rain Mud everything but Sun” camp, it is our attempt to commiserate with the veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, the one that took place in Europe December 1944 and not the one that happens after Thanksgiving.
Next year we will hurry up and wait to see what events move on as scheduled and which will suffer the wrath of COVID.
Please accept our best wishes for the holiday season and stay safe. We’ll see you on the other side.
If you want more information about the Friends or have any event you would like us to attend, please CONTACT US.
NEXT EVENTS:
If you know of any events that should be on the calendar, please contact the newsletter editor.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars and contact the event coordinator!
2021
Events and dates TBDJUNE
We will events as they confirm
Non-events
As far as we know, all events are cancelled. Please check with your local event to confirm and let us know if you hear of anything.
See you soon!
Who we are
We are a living history group that operates primarily in Western Washington State and Portland, OR area. Our members stretch from Vancouver, BC to Eugene, OR.
The name was inspired out of respect for the cartoon characters penned by Bill Mauldin during World War 2. Willie and Joe were a couple of tired, dirty, war-haggard dog faces that Mr Mauldin used to tell the story of the Infantrymen who daily endured the tragedies of combat. This is the only official use of Willie and Joe authorized by Bill Mauldin.
This photo is one of the first of our group taken during a Washington Arms Collector show Nov 1995. We were a little younger (and thinner) then 🙂
