Posted on 03/10/2006 2:59:34 PM PST by real saxophonist
After playing a patriotic concert in Wabash, Ind., 35 members of the Marine Forces Reserve Band from New Orleans were awaiting a flight home on Aug. 27, 2005, when the order reached them: Hurricane Katrina, a Category 4 menace, was bearing down on their hometown.
With 140 mph winds and dangerous tides, the storm threatened their base, their homes and even their families. Instead of returning to Louisiana, band members quickly changed flight plans to proceed to Memphis, Tenn. There, they would join their 17 fellow band members, along with spouses, children and pets, who were already evacuating New Orleans and driving 400 miles north to reunite with them.
Thus began what Master Sergeant Christopher M. Krueger, senior enlisted advisor and bandmaster of the 50-member musical unit, described as "quite an adventure." It would take the band and family members on an odyssey covering three months and several states. Between the evacuation and bittersweet homecoming, they would face unexpected challenges as they carried out the band's mission. Along the way, they would make many friends for the Corps, sometimes bringing hope to others forced from their homes by the storm.
Consisting of active Marines, the bandis part of the 850-member Marine Forces Reserve command in the "Crescent City." The band dates to 1967, when it was founded as the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) Drum and Bugle Corps. It moved to the New Orleans area in 1974 and was redesignated the 4thMAW Band four years later. Its current title is the Marine Forces Reserve Band, New Orleans.
Today's organization, including a ceremonial and concert band, jazz combo, and brass and woodwind quintetes, supports numerous Marine Corps and Marine Reserve activities. The band is called upon frequently to provide inspiring music in support of recruiting and community relations programs. Traveling more than most Marine field bands, it performs in excess of 250 concerts, parades and ceremonies around the country each year, entertaining a combined audience estimated at more than 6 million.
The band's routine was interrupted as Katrina zeroed in on its low-lying hometown. Lieutenant General John W. Bergman, Commander, Marine Forces Reserve, monitored weather reports as the storm swept across south Florida and strengthened while crossing the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The general ordered te band and other units of his MARFORRES command to evacuate to specified cities, including Kansa City, Mo.; Atlanta; Fort Worth, Texas; and Quantico, Va. Units included MARFORRES Headquarters; Fouth Marine Division Headquarters; 4th Marine Logistics Group Headquarters; and Headquarters Battalion, MARFORRES.
The evacuation affected about 200 Marines from nearby Belle Chase, La., including Headquarters, 3d Bn, 23d Marine Regiment; Marine Aircraft Support Detachment, 4thMAW; and Detachment, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Marine Aircraft Group 42, 4thMAW.
The timely evacuation was a lifesaver. When Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29 with sustained winds of 140 mph, it blasted coastal structures and breached levees protecting the city from Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi, flooding vulnerable neighborhoods. More than 1,100 people were left dead, and thousands were homeless in Louisiana alone. The death toll could have been higher but for Marine air units and other rescuers who saved countless lives.
Hurricanes are a familiar threat to Marine units based in coastal Louisiana, and the band had evacuated for several days in September 2004 to avoid Hurricane Ivan. Although that evacuation was brief, it had interfered with operations by scattering bandsmen to various cities. When Katrina approached, the bandwas prepared to evacuate under a flexible emergency plan, approved by MARFORRES Command, designed to maintain unit integrity.
With barometers plunging, band members in New Orleans secured their work areas in the six-story building at the Naval Support Activity to minimize wind damage and flooding. They packed up the band's precious instruments, computer equipment and critical files, including data about their scheduled performances.
"We took everything we needed to remain operational, whether we were away for three days or three months," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Forest Q. Brown, the band's director and officer in charge.
Then the group convoyed north on Interstate Highway 55. Quick, decisive action put the band members on the road to Tennessee before highways were clogged with fleeing residents, and they arrived in Memphis 12 hours ahead of those flying in from Indiana.
Memphis was selected because of its access via interstate highways, according to CWO-2 Brown, a trumpeter and graduate of the Armed Forces School of Music who has led the band since 2003. So the Crescent City contingent, leaving no one behind in best Marine Corpstradition, convoyed to Memphis with 32 family pets, ranging from a German shepherd to a hamster.
Bandsmen were embraced in Memphis, where Tennesseans rolled out the welcome mat for the displaced Marines and other evacuees. Managers of the Red Roof Inn provided military rates, waived a limit on pets and accomodated the entire group.
Making space was especially challenging since the inn was solidly booked with contestants auditioning for television's "American Idol." The inn "assisted in maintaining billeting for the whole unit, although they had to send higher-paying guests away to make it happen," said Msgt Krueger, whose 25 years of Marine Corps service range from serving as a platoon sergeant and drill instructor to leading a big band and jazz combo.
To say thanks, the band performed an impromptu concert on the grounds of the inn for guests, including fellow evacuees. The musicians payed a typical concert of familiar marches, patriotic songs, traditional clasics and contemporary "pop" music, concluding with "The Marines' Hymn." Under the circumstances, though, it was the unit's New Orleans-style melodies that stopped the show. The brass band played "Rampart Street Parade," and the full band played itsarrangement of "When the Saints Go Marching In." One homesick Louisiana evacuee described the concert to a reporter from National Public Radio: "It was a tremendous stress reliever until they played 'Saints,'" said Randy Adams. "Then we all broke down."
Despite the warm welcome in Memphis, the band's leadership knew that living in an inn was no long-term solution for the families. "we had no idea how long we would be gone," said CWO-2 Brown. "Marines have been coping with deployments for years, but we wanted to give the families a sense of normalcy. So we elected to move on to the Dallas/Fort Worth ares, which one of the bandsmen recommended from evacuating there the previous year.
On Sept. 3, after a week in Memphis, the goup drove to Texas. The transplants moved into the AmeriSuites in Hurst, near DFW International Airport, and the Marines resumed a more normal performance and training schedule.
"We drilled and rehearsed in the parking lot, across the street from the hotel," recalled MSgt Krueger. "We took our auditions [to demonstrate proficiency] at the nearby college campus. And we fulfilled our physical fitness tests and kept up on our military training, including a martial-arts program, at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base" in neighboring Fort Worth. The Hurst Fire Department provided CPR classes. Individual practice and small-ensemble practice helped to restore "chops" weakened by abbreviated rehearsal time.
Reviewing its situation, the band leadership-which in addition to CWO-2 Brown and MSgt Krueger included Staff Sergeants Jesse Barta, the drum major, Timothy Otis, enlisted conductor, Scott Seely, small-ensemble leader, and Samuel Edwards, instrument repair technician- decided to concentrate on paying at evacuation shelters and in communities where evacuees had relocated. Over the next few weeks its music lifted the spirits of evacuees at DFW shelters, earning recognition in local media. However, opportunities were limited because the uncertainty made it difficult to predict when and where refugees could be entertained.
The band did gain friends at various professional and high school sporting events and at the American Airlines Sky Ball, a Fort Worth event supporting families of deployed military personnel. It also played at a Hurst Community Council meeting to thank the community for its hospitality.
At the same time, the unit fulfilled a busy schedule of commitments around the country, some made months before the storm. The band traveled to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for a Contest of Champions state high school band competition. The group flew to Cleveland to welcome the 25th Marines home after a tour of duty in Iraq, and to Minneapolis for a Marine Reserve Toys for Tots kickoff.
"From Kansas City, Missouri, to Miami, Florida, we were able to support various Marine Reserve units by providing musical support for their marine Corps Birthday Balls," said MSgt Krueger. "Through the hard work and dedication of the Marines in the unit, we were able to stay in business and continue to grow musically."
Meanwhile, Marine families "handled the situation calmly and remained strong," according to CWO-2 Brown. Families quickly moved into a routine. The band officer's wife, Pam Brown, an English teacher during more normal times, worked with Cori Kennerup, wife of the MARFORRES deputy commander, Colonel James Kennerup, to help families meet special needs. The band family grew by two members during the evacuation. Corporal Alma Perez, a clarinetist married to Sergeant Steve Perez, a trumpetr, delivered a daughter they named Trinity. Lily Vandeburgh, wife of Sgt Nick Vandeburgh, a trumpet player, delivered a son, Nicholas Jr. Of the family members, CWO-2 Brown said, "I am proud of them all."
CWO-2 Brown and MSgt Krueger kept the command, other bandsmen and Marine Corps Musicians Association members briefed throughout the evacuation. The command praised the band's success at carrying out its mission far from home. Other Marine bandsmen were sympathetic and supportive, although the group came in for some good-natured kidding. One suggested the evacuees nickname their unit Marine Band Dallas/Fort Worth.
Although the Marines took pride in meeting the challenge of the evacuation without missing a scheduled performance, it came as a relief to receive word that tey were oreturn to New Orleans on Nov. 29-one of te last MARFORRES units to go home.
For the first time, band members and their familiessaw for themselves what the most costly storm in U.S. history had done to their historic city. The band's quarters escaped relatively unscathed, although the flooding had surged within four blocks of the buildings and water had blown in under some windows.
"The bases are in good shape, and the barracks and family housing are fine," CWO-2 Brown said. "The band'swork spaces are fine, with no flooding or broken windows. The work hall was much as we had left it, just a little cleaner, thanks to a few Marines who had returned earlier."
Marines who had parked private vehicles between the buildings for protection found them damaged, however, with windowsbroken and the contents soaked first by Katrina and then by Hurricane Rita.
CWO-2 Bwown and MSgt Krueger found their homes had escaped serious damage, a relief since their neighborhoods had taken a beating. Some band families were less fortunate. A few had suffered wind or flood damage. A married couple, Sgt Jose Espinoza and Sgt Christie Espinoza, one of the band's five distaff members, found that their new home in suburban Slidellhad been flooded by 5 feet of water. The couple had purchased that home, their first, only monthe earlier after serving with the 1stMarDiv Band in Iraq.
"We're staying in a FEMA trailer while contractors work to get things back in shape," said Sgt Christie Espinoza, a flautist. "We pretty much lost all of our personal belongings, including wedding photos and souvenirs from the Mideast."
Her husband's pickup truck had been deposited in a neighbor's yard, and her car, drenched inside after its windshield was broken, was also a total loss.
A busy performance schedule left little time for hand-wringing - or for rehearsals. After spending the first night home on cots or in sleeping bags in their barracks, the band was scheduled to perform the next night with the Louisiana Philharminic Orchestra at Saint Louis Cathedral. It was an emotional evening. "We opened our program wit 'Do You Know What It means to Miss New Orleans,' and people began crying and applauding," said CWO-2 Brown. "A woman in the audience told me later there wasn't a dry eye in the house."
Nearly 40 musicians from the New Orleans band joined West Coast Marine units marching in Pasadena's 117th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 2. It was the first time the unit had marched in the California parade since 1982, when it was the 4thMAW Band. Like other participants, the composite band had to contend with pouring rain.
"It was coming down so hard that water was pouring into my flute," said Sgt Christie Espinoza, platoon sergeant for the New Orleans contingent. "Fortunately, it didn't stop the brass."
Despite the downpour, The Los Angeles Times reported, parade viewers surged out of sheltering buildings to get a closer look and applaud as the Marines marched past. The composite band also included a small group from the 1stMarDiv Band, preparing for a third deployment in Iraq, and bands from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, 3dMAW in Miramar and Twentynine Palms.
The New Orleans band then faced a marathon series of traditional Mardi Gras events that included marching in 10 and playing for three balls in January and February. Nobody grumbled about that hectic schedule, knowing they were bringing new life to a downcast city.
Bandmaster Krueger aptly characterized those Mardi Gras events, and the band's participation in them, as "a big step in recovering the spirit of the 'Big Easy.'"
"We are honored," he said, "to be a part of the festivities, and proud to be returning Marine music to our city."
Editor's note:Marine veteran Don Bedwell served with the 1stMarDiv Band at Camp Pendleton shortly after the Korean War. He is a member of the marine Corps Musicians Association and remains active as a trumpet player. His October 2005 Leatherneck article, "Bandsmen Give performances of Their Lives in Iraq", described how Marine bands not only go to war to make motivational music but also pick up the rifle and fight alongside all other Marines.
I'm waiting patiently for the first FReeper who has the guts to call these evacuees freeloaders.
BTTT
Finally a positive article about NO, showing how it should have been done by everybody.
Excellent.
bttt
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