Community Corner

Reenactor Brings History to Life

Kurt Eberling, Jr. has thousands of war collectables, and brings them out of his basement for the world to see.

The once 25-by-25 foot room that Kurt Eberling, Jr. calls his man cave is now only accessible through a winding path overflowing with countless military uniforms, non-working hand grenades, typewriters, guns and even 1940s candy.

Eberling, who is a mechanic by trade, has been collecting military gear since he was 12 years old, when his uncle handed him a World War I German bayonet—a long blade that attaches to the end of a rifle.

About thirty-five years later, his collection has grown to an estimated 30,000 items.

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But even before he received his first war collectable, Eberling enjoyed playing army games or cops and robbers as a child.

“I remember, as a kid, I played with [small army men] toys called Marx,” he said. “I used to dig trenches [for them] in the garden.”

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Eberling is a first generation American—his father being from Germany and his mother from Austria—and was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. Not only does he consider himself patriotic, but he also has immense pride in his roots.

“I’m big into this region because our country was founded here,” Eberling said. “[And in the '40s,] Philadelphia was the main supply hub for military gear and equipment.”

Eberling said the excess of military supplies not only clothed the areas boy scouts when he was younger, but used to make his collecting easy.

Now if there is an item he’s looking for—which is rare due to the fact that he has almost everything—Eberling said looks for it on websites such as Ebay.

“It was old, junk army stuff,” he said. “Now, everyone’s bought it all up.”

Army paraphernalia stores near Philadelphia used to be decently common 20 years ago, Eberling said. And it was at one of those stores where Eberling’s collecting transitioned into putting on living history displays for the public.

After hearing two men in the store talk about it, Eberling decided reenacting was for him.

“I said, ‘You mean I can take my gear and equipment, put it on and show it to the world? Where do I sign up?' ” said Eberling.

One of those men was Erik “Buddy” Paxton, who has since remained friends with Eberling.

“I’ve been around military collecting since the late '80s and I know not very many people that have a collection of items as vast as his and as broad a time period as his,” said Paxton. “He has pretty much one of the most extensive World War II personal effects collections around.”

Paxon describes his friend as an old-fashioned, humble, all-around good guy.

“Once he gets to know you, not only will he give you the shirt off his back, but he’ll give you his jacket too,” he said. “He has a very big heart.”

Along with public displays, Eberling also shows his 1942 Ford GPW Jeep and loans his equipment and his time for use in small, independent, local films.

But every here and there he ends up reenacting for big names—like the History Channel, Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

When it comes to accepting money for bringing history to life, Eberling does it for the love of history and to help others gain knowledge.

“With me, history is not for sale,” Eberling said. “I have never accepted a dime for public displays.”

Eberling puts on intricate uniforms that can take up to 20 minutes to get on, and they sometime overheat him due to the material and the weight, but he said it’s worth it to share his passion.

“It doesn’t sit in the basement like other people’s collections,” he said. “I bring it out for the world to see.”


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