World War II reenactment at Camp Mabry

AUSTIN (KXAN) - They call it Close Assault, 1944, honoring the service and sacrifice of America's veterans. Many military couples also brought their kids to watch.

Solider, Kyle Elliott, was just one of the dads who brought his kids. He said, "They ask a lot of questions so we were hoping they could actually see instead of us describing it would answer some of their questions."

Uniforms, equipment and weapons were shown and demonstrated, including US and German small arms. It was an education for young and old.

Larry Bollin watched the reenactment today and said, "It needs to be told. The story and stuff. I really think its important the kids, everybody knows what really happened. I learned a lot today."

When the staged battle was over, kids stormed the field for souvenir shell casings.

Calvin Alvin found his share of casings. He said, "I thought the show was really cool and the best part was when the tank came in. I've never seen one and I thought it was really cool."

The show is entertaining, but it also has a serious purpose.

Jeff Hunt, Director of the Texas Military Museum, said "The children or grandchildren of these World War II veterans will come up to us and say you know my dad or granddad would never talk about what he went through, what he did over there. He came out and saw this show, suddenly he's willingly to talk about it, suddenly he's telling us what he saw, where he was, what he experienced. Some veterans have a pretty emotional catharsis."

The World War II reenactments are free. They will be staged at Camp Mabry tomorrow, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.