The Patrick High School Marching Band departs on Thursday, December 4 for a great adventure in Hawaii, after spending much of the last two years raising funds towards the $150,000 price tag needed to send them as Virginia’s representative in the annual Pearl Harbor remembrance.
The band was slated to play on Friday aboard the USS Missouri and then again in the Pearl Harbor parade on Sunday December 7 – the anniversary of 1941’s “Day that will live in infamy,” as President Roosevelt told the stunned country over the radio.
Earlier this week the band got in their last minute practice sessions after classes, before getting ready to head by bus to Dulles Airport for a Thursday flight. The Patriots will play a number of military and, well, patriotic numbers while in Hawaii.
They’ve already met veterans at the VA Medical Center in Salem, performing there and then holding a special “Patriots for Patriots” concert for vets and other seniors at the high school – wanting to make them feel like they were part of the upcoming trip to Pearl Harbor. “It was a great connection for [the students],” said Alex Schmidt, the band teacher.
Dylan Francis is the drum major at PH: “I’m super-excited to go. We’ve been working on this trip for a long time and it’s a fantastic opportunity for the entire band. It’s a huge honor to represent the state of Virginia and all of our veterans in this parade.” Francis said “multiple fundraisers” and significant help with corporate donations and from the band’s booster club helped raise the funds needed for the trip.
“It’s an unspeakable honor … I can’t put it in words,” said Francis two days before the Patriots left town. “You learn all about this in history class, but [we] get to put a face to it. We get to meet survivors of these wars. It’s a fantastic opportunity to really make that connection.”
Schmidt, the band teacher for the past four years at Patrick Henry, said he had received a letter from the daughter of someone who fought at Pearl Harbor, letting him know how much she was touched by the school’s upcoming trip to honor those who were there on that fateful day, December 7, 1941. “She just wanted to let us know her father’s story … it was awesome. We are through the roof excited,” said Schmidt.
Someone – he doesn’t know who – submitted the PH band for consideration. Those making the decision checked out videos of performances on the band’s webpage and they were then selected as a finalist. “We started talking … and so we went for it.” It took just about every one of those 600 days to raise the money needed. “I think [the band students] learned a lot about goal setting; they learned a lot about being patient – and a lot about the sacrifice that veterans made for them,” added Schmidt.
After the parade on December 7 they’ll meet Pearl Harbor survivors: “an incredible honor; there’s not many left,” noted Schmidt. “This is not any old trip,” he tells his charges, “this is a trip to Pearl Harbor. We get to experience some real history that affected America in a very serious way. A way to connect to our history and our local veterans’ community.” These young Patriots may be a bit jet-lagged on Friday but Schmidt vows, “we’ll be ready.”
– Gene Marrano
