Excellence: all in a day's work for Navy bands

Published

June 16, 2011

Rock Island Argus

Moline Dispatch

 One afternoon in late December of 1975, a trombone player pounded on my barracks door.

 "Liberty is cancelled!" he hollered. "Jump in your working uniform and get to rehearsal: we're doing Bob Hope's Christmas show tonight!"

 This was news to me. As a Navy Musician, I checked the band's schedule daily. When I went to sleep, I always knew whether the next day would bring a few military ceremonies, public concerts or perhaps the beginning of a cruise.

When the rest of Navy Band San Francisco and I stumbled into our rehearsal hall, we learned what had happened. A glitch in Bob Hope's travel plans had given the legendary entertainer an unscheduled evening off. Instead of complaining, he'd called the nearest military band and said, like they did in those old movies:

"Let's put on a show."

Not many people would have had the nerve to make such a request. But we were a military band, and Bob Hope was, well, Bob Hope. For him, "Support Our Troops" wasn't a bumper sticker; it was a way of life. He got what he wanted, and what he wanted was to perform that night for the injured veterans at the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital.

So, while Mr. Hope caught up on his sleep, his manager raced to the Naval base with the musical arrangements for the show. We didn't have time to rehearse everything, so we played only the hardest pieces, trusting experience and training to get us through the performance.  

It worked. Bob Hope's show—the jokes he'd been telling for 30 years and the music we'd rehearsed for 30 seconds--was a welcome holiday gift for that audience of wounded warriors; you could tell by the glistening tears in their eyes as they sang along with "White Christmas" in their wheelchairs and gurneys.

The Vietnam War was over and congress was cutting the budget for military bands. Fortunately, my band had survived the financial trimming. Over the years, I've often wondered: what sort of Christmas would those vets have had if congressional cutbacks had eliminated my Navy band? I can just imagine Bob Hope's manager trying to hire a civilian band: 

"I need an 18-piece group to play old-time swing music, current pop hits, patriotic songs and Christmas carols. The music is of professional-level difficulty, but the band will have to play most of it without any preparation because they'll only have a half-hour rehearsal, starting in 45 minutes. The show begins in three hours. Can you do it?"

For a civilian band, an impossible request; for a military band, a typical day's work.

The National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, now awaiting action by the Senate, would crush the budget for military bands to fragments. I hope enough senators know what their forebears knew when the Vietnam War ended: military bands are not frills. They are an integral part of our Armed Forces. Military music is a force multiplier that raises morale, lends dignity to ceremonial occasions and boosts crucial public support for the Services.

This is Navy Week in the Quad Cities. Among other events, Navy Band Great Lakes is in town to perform jazz, pop, rock and good old patriotic band music. Check them out at the fairgrounds, the air show or the park. You'll see the Navy's bands are still earning their keep.

Certainly, in hard times we have to tighten up our military budget. But ask any sailor: there's a big difference between trimming your sails and chopping down the mast.

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Copyright 2011 Frank Mullen III