Posted on 02/27/2010 4:24:14 AM PST by shove_it
[...]
It was blustery and cold in Section 48 of Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, and the wind shook the branches of the giant tree that now shelters the graves of 14 lost musicians of the U.S. Navy Band.
But 50 years to the day after they, along with five fellow musicians, perished in a plane crash, their widows, children and comrades gathered with members of the current Navy Band to pay tribute at the spot where most of them rest: two lines of headstones, violins and clarinets, French horns and trumpets, as if still in formation.
It was the first such tribute in the half-century since the crash, which is now largely forgotten, although it devastated the families and altered the band forever.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Musicians, infantrymen, pilots, it doesn’t matter. They all wore the uniform and deserve our respect.
RIP sailors and prayers for the families and friends.
Agreed. I had never heard of it.
Sung by the Sea Chanters chorus of the US Navy Band
Me either, it’s amazing how much happened during the Cold War and how little we know of it.
People say it wasn’t a “war”, yet servicemembers continued to die during that period. Lots of them.
I was a member of the Air Force Honor Guard, Washington, D.C. 1963-1967. Don’t remember if it was true of the Navy or not but the Air Force Band was full of 18-20 year old E8s and E9s.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2143214/posts
You looked pretty sharp in your Zoomie uniform there at present arms (reply #7)...
I had forgotten that I had posted that picture. It’s still there, so it must still be in my photobucket account.
You know we are both getting old don’t you?
Do you keep up with your old buddies from the USAF Honor Guard?
We Grunts have The Old Guard Association (TOGA) which has an annual reunion and quite a large membership:
I have not attended any of the reunions because they occur during the height of hurricane season and I don't want to leave my place down here on the Florida Space Coast during that time. I do keep in touch with a few old buds via e-mail, tho.
I was unaware of this, though I keep in my memory the crew of the EC-121 shot down by the North Koreans, Duane Hodges (USS Pueblo), and hundreds of others killed or injured in various encounters with communist forces.
I lived in Japan as a dependent (Yokosuka) at the time, and my dad was a friend of Commander Bucher. He was also the Security and communications officer for the base, and I don’t think he came home for two weeks while the Pueblo Incident unfolded.
The USAF Honor Guard has an annual get together of some sort, I believe it started about 5 or 6 years ago. It’s in Washington and I haven’t been able to make one yet, doubt that I ever will.
I have my doubts that there would be anyone there from my era.
I don’t remember if I told you this already, bear with me. I worked with and still keep in touch with an “Old Guard” from the same period as when I was there. I believe he was there in ‘62-’63. By the name of Dick Persich.
By the way, do you know if the situation was the same in the Army Band? That there were very young Senior NCOs?
As noted earlier, E8s and E9s were commonly 18-20 years old in the USAF Band. The reasoning was that these guys were the very best in their fields and in order to retain them, they had to pay them the best they could.
It's pretty much the same today with the addition of a military police detachment and a public affairs staff. They do a lot of performances out of the D.C. area which we did not do back in the day. For us it was a big deal to do an arrival ceremony at Dulles National for some foreign despot from a banana republic. Now the Drill Team and Fife & Drum weenies travel all over the world. It's a lot different than when we were there.
As for the musicians, here's the pay scale from 1963, which I'm sure you'll fondly remember:
http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables/militarypaypriorrates/1963.pdf
They had to do something to attract them to the military bands.
Our’s was the 1100th A.P. Squadron at Bolling A.F.B.. Squadrons were divided into Flights. A,,B. and C flights with 60 to 80 men each, (and they were all men, no women).
C flight,of which I was a member had the USAF Drill Team, among our regular duties and we did get to travel a bit.
Regular duties in those days were primarily funerals at Arlington. Toward the end of my tour there we were being slammed because of Viet Nam. I’ve been on as many as 5 or 6 funerals a day, 5 days a week. In those days they didn’t bury on week ends. Four primary details were the “Bearers”, “Colors” “Firing Party” and “Flights”, the A.F. band provided the bugaler. Two flights of 60 men each in the Ceremony for burial of officers only. E.M. got everything but the Flights.
My memory isn’t what it used to be but I’m fairly certain of those details.
In addition we had details at the White House, Pentagon and other places in and around D.C., including arrivals at Andrews A.F.B. I was there when Jackie and L.B.J. came back from Dallas.
The Army was at Ft. Meyers, the Navy at Anacostia, the Marines at the Marine Barracks down town D.C., I believe the Coast Guard was located somewhere in D.C. We had many many joint services and parades with all of them.
There’s a lot more but as I said, my memory is poor and that was 40 plus years ago.
B.T.W. I got out as an E4, which was about average. A few made E5 in only 4 years but it was rare.
Also, as I’m sure you are aware, the spit and polish was outrageous, inspections were night mares, hair cuts once every week. On week days, I’d often have to shave twice a day. Which is one of the big reasons I let my beard grow after I got out. I’ve had it since 1967.
Thanks for that link.
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