The famed 1st Marine Division Band is gearing up for a special performance in Mission Viejo on Saturday, September 20.
Based at Camp Pendleton, the Marine band will play during the City’s Vietnam Veterans Recognition at the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center, 24932 Veterans Way. The band starts performing at 2:15 p.m.
With 50 talented Marine musicians, the band performs more than 400 ceremonies and programs a year, including historic events like the State Funeral for President Gerald Ford as well as the Tournament of Roses Parade and Disneyland’s Magic Music Days. In 2008, the 1st Marine Division Band received the “Colonel George S. Howard Citation of Musical Excellence for Military Concert Bands” award from the John Philip Sousa Foundation.
The 1st Marine Division Band’s roots date back to during World War II when it was organized in the Pacific Theater of Operations in the early 1940s. Since then, the Division bandsmen have drawn their rifles in support of several operations like Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom I and II.
Most recently, the band was attached to Headquarters Company, Regimental Combat Team 5 and was deployed to Camp Fallujah, Iraq in 2006-2007 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The band functioned as a security platoon, with Marines serving as fixed site security in Central Fallujah.
The 1st Marine Division Band’s performance on September 20 in Mission Viejo will surely have an impact on the veterans who will be recognized for their service to our country. For more information about the Vietnam Veterans Recognition Ceremony, call 949-470-3061.
