INDIANAPOLIS – Memorial Day is a holiday steeped in tradition. Parades, cookouts, saluting those who served. For the Hutcherson Family, it also means Grandpa Jim’s annual reenactment of the Normandy invasion using hot dogs.
“It’s really easy to lose sight of what the holiday is all about,” Greg Hutcherson, Jim’s son, said. “But nothing really drives home the magnitude of the sacrifice the brave men who served this country made like having grilled meat stand in for them while we pretend the picnic table is a beach.”
Grandpa Jim’s reenactments have become more elaborate over the years. What started as just a few hot dogs and a general description of the major events has become a full-scale production requiring more than a gallon of ketchup to represent the blood of fallen hot dog soldiers. This year also saw the addition of bratwurst, which was used to represent the Nazis.
As Grandpa Jim started on hour four of his presentation, granddaughter Alice seemed to be losing interest. “It would be nice if just one year we could actually eat the food,” she sighed. However, Alice did state that she prefers this to Aunt Harriet’s one-woman production of Roots for Black History Month.
