AN HISTORIC REUNION: A TRUE MIXER
The first reunion of the 33rd Army Band Alumni Association on March 11-14 for former members of the USAREUR Headquarters Band from the 50's to the 90's in Washington, D.C. proved to be a wonderful mix of fifty bandsmen from five decades plus family and friends, for a total of 75 people in attendance. The reunion also provided for a rich blend of emotions, from exhilaration and joy to somber reflection. The weather for the occasion was not the most cooperative, for a late winter storm shut down Reagan National Airport three nights before the reunion, and as the meeting neared its end on Sunday, March 14 another storm threatened. Still, for the actual days of the reunion the participants were able to enjoy the various tours and museum visits set up by the reunion steering committee and to walk to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
The festivities got underway with registration in the early afternoon hours of Thursday, March 11 when old and new friends gathered at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington and immediately began sharing stories and reminiscences of the 33rd. George Masche, the 33rder at the reunion who served the earliest tour of duty with the band (beginning in 1954), provided beautiful commemorative mugs for the event, and because the registration area was adjacent to the hotel bar, numerous alumni took the opportunity to fill their mugs for the first time.
The evening concert of the U.S. Army Band and Chorus was augmented by the Citadel Chorale, and to the delight of our reunion-goers the band portion of the program was replete with German music, purposely programmed for the 33rd alumni by Colonel Shelburne, leader and commander of the U.S. Army Band and former C.O. of the 33rd (from 80-82). The concert included selections from Overture to Der Freischutz by von Weber, Horn Concerto, Op. 11 by Richard Strauss, Alte Kameraden by Teike, and an aria from The Magic Flute by Mozart.
The Friday tours of the Capitol and of the Library of Congress proved to be rousing successes. Because Barrie Spessler (58-60) happens to be one of those who knows the right people, those of us who were on the Capitol tour had the good fortune to have the Capitol Architect as our guide, and we slipped into areas where normal tours of the Capitol are not likely to go. As a consequence, our party nearly came face to face with a contingent of Capitol Hill folks accompanying former President George Bush. Reports from those who were on the Library of Congress tour with Rick McFerron (75-78) indicate that they had an equally fine experience.
Lunch at the NCO Club of Ft. Myer was most pleasant inasmuch as the staff set aside a room for just the 33rd party. Following lunch our hired buses took us to Arlington National Cemetery where, in a solemn ceremony, four alumni of the 33rd--Frank Schlatter (56-58), Gene Karjala (57-58), Rick McFerron, and Tom Kolbe (56-59)--placed a wreath before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Immediately after the ceremony members of the reunion retired to the amphitheater by the Tomb for a prayer and appropriate remarks for the occasion.(See "Arlington Cemetery Ceremony, a Significant Event". )
Upon our return to the hotel we had the first of our two rehearsals for our two evening concerts. Jim Westerhouse (62-63) put us through our paces with the German music that had been provided for our "beer tent gig" by Herbert Bilhartz (73-76), who, unfortunately, was unable to attend the reunion. Subsequent to official reunion photos being taken by a professional photographer, we enjoyed the camaraderie of our first evening banquet, the playing of German music, and then the showing of slides from various time periods. The slide show was a unique event in that we had three projectors projecting pictures from different eras onto three screens at the same time. It was fascinating to those in attendance to view the similarities and differences in the pictures from the various decades. Without doubt, the slide show was one of the highlights of a reunion filled with highlights.
On Saturday morning a number of reunion participants returned to the Washington Mall area for sightseeing, while a contingent of 33rders remained at the Sheraton National to hold a rehearsal for the evening concert. Bryan Shelburne, who brought along his trombone so that he too could play with the band, later said that for every three minutes we rehearsed our concert numbers we spent six minutes talking about things of interest to us. Both segments--the playing and the talking--were enjoyable.
In the afternoon we had a tour of the National Cathedral and a short recital on the Cathedral organ performed by Erik Suter, a highly accomplished organist. On our return to the hotel, some of us shared additional slides and then, as we had done on the previous evening, we once again went up to the sixteenth floor for our banquet, where we could enjoy looking out over Washington, D.C. through the hotel's large windows. The first of our concert numbers was directed by Bryan Shelburne. Then the podium was shared by Fred Boots (59-62) and Gary Lamb (95-98), who, at the direction of Bryan, were also called upon to share anecdotes from their time periods with us.
The scheduled activities for the day closed with a showing of a half-hour video tape of the current USAREUR Band and Chorus, viewed with great interest by those in attendance.
Even though threats of a storm were on the horizon and there was concern about departures from the area, the Sunday morning breakfast and business meeting were well attended. At the business meeting an election of officers was held and plans for future reunions established. (See "Business Meeting Sets Future Course for Association".)
The efforts of those who, in collaboration with reunion coordinator Frank Schlatter, made all the arrangements for the reunion are hereby acknowledged: Rick McFerron for arranging for buses, coordinating various activities with the U.S. Army Band, and working out the details for the tour of the Library of Congress and the National Cathedral; Bryan Shelburne for the U.S. Army Band concert, for also supplying bus transportation and obtaining means to cover the costs of the commercial buses we used, as well as providing us with concert music to play; Barrie Spessler for providing some larger instruments and developing the Capitol tour; George Masche for once again producing commemorative mugs for our reunion; Herbert Bilhartz for supplying the German music; Jim Westerhouse for supplying a truckload of musical equipment and stepping in to direct the German music; and Andy Eschelman (76-79) for serving as liaison for handling the German music and for bringing a TV and VCR, plus other equipment used during the reunion.
At the business meeting on Sunday, March 14, the members of the alumni association made a number of major decisions in a relatively short time:
We talked about the need for several committees of the association. A Recordings Committee composed of Rick McFerron and Larry Land (71-74) will do some reproducing and distributing of tapes of past 33rd Army Band records. (More about this committee's efforts and how you can obtain tapes will be provided in the next newsletter.)
A Membership/Directory Committee will be headed by the association's secretary-treasurer. Directories will be produced in hard copies for distribution at reunions, and copies may also be sent, upon request and payment for printing and postage, to members of the association. Fritz Schaufele (59-63) volunteered to assist with the distribution of alumni information via electronic means in coordination with the newsletter editor. Dee Tonning (56-57), our webmaster, stated that he was open to receiving recommendations and data to expand our website. Frank Schlatter, who chaired the meeting, noted that Dee at this time is the caretaker of pictures and documents that have appeared in the newsletter and on the website, and he suggested that the formation of an Archives Committee (a committee devoted to the history of the band and our association) might well be in order. No action was taken in this regard.
Bob Holmes (72-73) forwarded a colorful folder containing several news clippings. The folder shows American and German flags across the top, an illustration of the globe with a bridge of musical notes over the Atlantic between the U.S. and the gates of Heidelberg and the words "Friendship Through Music--33rd United States Army Band, Heidelberg, Germany". At the bottom are the words "We Set the Standard."
One of Bob's clippings relates to "Fasching fun in Heidelberg", a picture at the top of the Heidelberg Herald captioned "CLOWNING AROUND--Herr Peter Schwan, honorary member and conductor of the 33d Army Band, directs the musicians in a festive tune during last year's Fasching parade in Heidelberg." Two of the band's euphonium players are shown.
A second clipping, also from The Post, has a picture of the band in motion. The caption beside the picture reads:
A news clipping of Friday, May 16, 1975, from the Heidelberg Herald Post was forwarded to us by Herbert Bilhartz. A five-column wide picture of the band at the top of the page is captioned "Friendship - Band directors CWO Herbert Bilhartz of the 33d Army Band and Hauptmann Herbert Russek of LuftwaffenmusikkorpsII exchange scrolls." The story itself has for a headline "G-A Friendship Week was big success" and recounts the various activities of Heidelberg's German-American Friendship Week. A paragraph is devoted to the band:
Jim Westerhouse (62-63) thought the Kennedy ceremonies proved to be most interesting. He wrote to say: "I was there for that as a snare drummer, and the drum line was in front of the band on that occasion. Consequently, I was the first person in line during the pass-in-review. During our playing of the French national anthem, our cymbal player, Gene Hawk (oboe), broke one of the cymbal straps and a cymbal crashed to the ground. The Secret Service agent next to me dropped and had his gun out in a heartbeat. Kennedy was probably about 30 yards down the line at that time. Gene was told later that if he had stepped out to retrieve the cymbal he never would have gotten up off the ground! There was a flap about it in the local press and a photo in one of the papers, front page, showing the cymbal in mid-air. I think Stars & Stripes also carried it. I always wanted a copy of that but never could find it. There was some allusion to the band's 'commentary' on the French national anthem."
George Hines (70-72) has asked "if it would be possible to post photos on the Website of activities during tours of duty: beer tents, parades, etc." He indicates that he was in the band that went to Sarajevo in 1971, the first uniformed US troops in Yugoslavia in 30 years, and he knows there are some great photos of "what Sarajevo used to be like."
Jeff Gottwig (78-80) wrote the following account: "In 1979 the Band was on its way to Paris to play in Bastille Days celebrations, we ourselves celebrating in the usual fashion on the bus ride over. By the time the group arrived at our overnight facilities, the French Military Kaserne, we were quite festive and in need of restroom facilities. Our French Army host was more than willing to oblige and escorted us to the 'head'. We immediately made note of the unusually small urinals on the wall and figured it was additional training for the French to be adept at hitting such minute targets. So, here we were, about 20 more than a slightly inebriated US Army musicians lined up on the wall relishing our relief when in walks a French soldier who immediately went ballistic and began screaming at us in French and shaking his fists. After several minutes of his fussing, we finally found someone who could speak a little English, only to discover, much to our delight and the French's horror, that we had relieved ourselves in the Sacred French Army Footbaths that adorn the barracks walls."
Got a Story? Seeking information About the 33rd? For such information, contact Frank Schlatter, 3111 Futura, Roswell, NM 88201. Telephone: 505-622-6898, Fax: 505-622-1611 E-mail: obfusa@rt66.com
The website for the 33rd Army Band Alumni Association:
http://www.rt66.com/~obfusa/33rd