“You took your chances, maintaining your position in the column, at the pace of the column. At the long curving approach to the bridge its self, it was not possible to walk the distance without your feet touching anything but human flesh.”

That’s what Easy Co. 99th Infantry Division soldier Harry Arnold said about the crossing of the Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, very near the end of World War II in March 1945.

For the ninth year in a row, World War II reenactors descended on Tidioute in the hundreds, some portraying the civilians who were marched out of Remagen before the unique and integral battle took place, German soldiers, or American forces fighting over control of the bridge that turned out to be a major plot point in the war.

“World War II didn’t end after D-Day,” Patrick Tarasovich, who’s been organizing the Remagen event for nigh on a decade, said.

The location, Tarasovich said, is truly ideal. Not only does the geography of Tidioute match that of Remagen well, but the layout of the bridge to the town and the hill across the river mirrors that of Remagen itself and, even better, there was even a lumber yard that soldiers fought through on their way to the bridge.

The Remagen reenactment is one of the largest in Western Pennsylvania, Tarasovich said.

And it’s important, too.

Not only does the event give veterans something to connect to from their past, but it gives younger generations a way to try and understand what soldiers and civillians experienced. Americans have almost no understanding of what it feels like to be in a war zone, so reenacting is one way to bridge that empathy gap. For Tarasovich, it’s been a way to dive deep into his love of history, and to share it with those who lived it and those who have come after them.

“We had one veteran pick up an M1 Garand Rifle, look at it a minute, held it, tenderly, and put it back. And then the tears started to flow, but he didn’t say anything,” said Tarasovich. “We asked him, ‘does that gun mean something to you?’ And he just nodded his head and walked away.” It’s experiences like that, said Tarasovich, that let him know that reenacting is not just something fun to do or a hobby.

Many of the reenactors for the event come from the area but there are reenactors from Canada, Texas, West Virginia, Albion, and St. Marys playing parts in Saturday’s Remagen event.

They all do it for different reasons, but for each of them, reenacting is a passion.

“It has to be,” said Patricia Patterson, of West Virginia. Patricia will be playing “Frau Frump,” a character she said she feels most comfortable adopting for this particular reenactment, which she’s attended regularly throughout the years. Reenacting, said Patterson, can become expensive fast. And it’s time consuming as well. While she only does around three to five events a year, she said it’s easy to spend nearly every day either on the road to or from an event or acting in it.

She loves to take part in reenactments and the Tidioute Remagen event is one of her favorites. “It’s unique,” said Patterson, whose father was a World War II and Korean War veteran. She said it gives her a chance to show the integral role that women played in the war, “in all aspects, no matter what side you were on.” She likes to be able to showcase a woman’s contribution to the events that took place. Civillians at Remagen became refugees, said Patterson. And the uniqueness of the Remagen event is what draws reenactors to it, she said.

Also reenacting as civilians this year will be Debby Leaverton, in her first year at Remagen with friend Jim Storozum. Jim’s mother and father, said Debby, are both German, so being on the German side meant a lot to them. Debbie Tercho, of Albion, is in her third year of reenacting but will also be doing her first year at Remagen. The pyrotechnics, said all three women, are one of the things that make Tidioute’s Remagen event more unique than other reenactments. To the best of her knowledge, Leaverton said, she didn’t know of any other events that involved blowing up a bridge.

On the American side reenactors Jeff Schatz, and Mike, Dave, and Mitchell Sanderson, all of St. Mary’s, said they’ve been doing Remagen in Tidioute since the beginning. Not only is the event nicely set up, said Mitchell, but it’s one of the closest to home. German reenactors Rusty Shackleford and Jack Thompson, of Virginia, echoed what most of the reenactors had to say about the event. The people of Tidioute, they said, are so welcoming and excited to have them there that reenactors are happy to include themselves in the event.

“This is an awesome place,” said Shackleford. “We really love the people.”