Air Force band to present free concert
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on February 1, 2004 2:02 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- The United States Air Force Heritage of America Band will present an evening of musical entertainment at 7 p.m., Friday, Feb. 27, at Mount Olive College Hall.
The concert is being sponsored by the Goldsboro News-Argus and Mount Olive College. Admission is by free ticket.
Tickets can be picked up at the reception desk at the newspaper and in the Administration Building at Mount Olive College.
They can also be ordered by mailing a request to the Features Department, Goldsboro News-Argus, P.O. Box 10629, Goldsboro, N.C. 27532.
Requests must include a note stating how many tickets are being requested and a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Individuals and families can order a maximum of eight tickets; groups can order more.
The concert band is scheduled to play a program of traditional classics, rousing marches, contemporary selections and patriotic music.
One of the original Army Air Corps bands created by order of the Secretary of War on Oct. 1, 1941, the Heritage of America Band was originally called the Air Force Band at Barksdale Field, La.
The group was awarded the American Theater Campaign ribbon for its service during World War II.
In June 1946, after a short stay at Brooks Field, Texas, the band moved to Langley Air Force Base, Va., and was renamed the Tactical Air Command Band. In 1997, it was called the Heritage of America Band.
The unit consists of 61 active-duty personnel who are assigned to two primary ensembles, the Concert Band and the Blue Aces popular music ensemble.
The concert band plays 500 concerts and entertains a million people a year.
It has performed for several U.S. presidents, as well as for the president of France and the queen of England.
Among the honors it has received are the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the Organizational Excellence Award, the Col. George S. Howard Citation of Musical Excellence, and the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine.