This year’s Oklahoma version will mark the 14th time a D-Day style paintball game has been staged. In one of the largest paintball games in the world, some 3,000 people in Oklahoma will relive the events of June 6, 1944, D-Day, when German-occupied France was invaded by Allied Forces, marking a turning point in World War Two.
In a large, rugged park, Allied Forces and the Third Reich will compete to achieve certain goals based on the many individual battles that occurred 67 years ago. There are mock tanks rumbling around, pyrotechnics exploding and soldiers tumbling out of plywood landing craft amid a cacophony of clacking paintball guns.
The first version of Oklahoma D-Day drew 135 players, Convirs said. Since then as many as 15,000 people – including the families of players — have shown up to either camp out on the grounds of Oklahoma D-Day Adventure Park or stay in nearby motels.
“This is their vacation,” Convirs, 46, told Reuters. “It’s not really about the game, it’s about the event.”
The big D-Day paintball battle takes place this year on June 11 after a week of preliminary activities including a flag-raising ceremony, a parade, military-style chapel services, and evening showings of movies such as “Patton,” “The Longest Day” and “Band of Brothers.”
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