Having taken up the trumpet in 4th grade and continuing it through high school, my young cocky self felt that perhaps I might be the next Al Hirt or Herb Alpert (from the Tijuana Brass). My high school band director encouraged me to enlist in the Army and sign up for the Army band, a position of some distinction.
I realized late in high school though that I was not as good as I thought and needed to temper down my expectations. But I was afforded the opportunity to direct the band at our high school graduation for the theme song from the movie BORN FREE. That popular song still rings in my head, and my “air baton” still moves to the 4/4 rhythm. I so appreciate that opportunity and the lasting memory it still elicits to this day, fifty-six years after I last played my trumpet.
My appreciation for orchestral music has recently been heightened by revisiting two mini-series from WWII, Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The Band of Brothers, originally broadcast in 2001, is the true-life recounting of the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division’s Easy (E) Company (506th Regiment) from initial training until the liberation of Germany. The Pacific, originally broadcast in 2010, follows 3 Marines from different regiments of the 1st Marine Division in different battles in the Pacific theater. Both mini-series are graphic in their depiction of the consequences of war yet emphasize the human component extensively. These young men bravely fought for the principles of democracy with unwavering grit and too many lost their lives (over 400,000) or suffered severe injuries (over 650,000) or sustained psychological trauma. The Greatest Generation (a term popularized by Tom Brokaw in his book The Greatest Generation1) indeed bore an incredible burden.
Over the course of the Memorial Day weekend and the 4th of July time this year, I re-watched both series to reflect on what patriotism is. In a blog post last year, I opined upon several things about patriotism – it is not red, white and blue displays; it is not hollow words; Abraham Lincoln had it right; it is a mix of things; it requires action.2 As I watched the two series, I was struck by how often patriotism is confused with a superficial symbol (a banner, a t-shirt, a hat, a song) when patriotism requires action to honor the memory of these brave soldiers and to honor them with our actions that sustain what they fought for.
Lingering in my head is the music that accompanied these two series. I have downloaded the music and listened to the soundtracks many times. One might wonder why this music (“war” music) would resonate with me. Well, it reminds me of the sacrifice of these brave men. It reminds of the sheer terror these men faced and how lucky I am to be here today. It reminds me of my father (serving in the Navy in the Pacific) and the trauma he endured. It reminds me of the human condition – our hopes, our fears, our dreams, our faith, our loved ones, or in other words, our common humanity. Those men might have died in a gruesome way in a far-away place, but I can still carry their memory forward by living a life of service to all. Waving a flag is nice but it does not substitute for actions that serve others extending a common decency and dignity to them.
Let me reflect on a few of the ways that this music stirs my emotions.
- Band of Brothers
- The main title theme for Band of Brothers layers a soft chorus over strings initially. This combination is so evocative that when the pauses occur it takes my breath away.
- The interludes in several of the early pieces makes it easy to visualize the mounting effort of the troops and their resolve.
- The staccato bowing of the violins accentuates the tension in the preparation phase.
- The waltz-like section of one of the opening pieces belies the ominous pending events, a full-scale invasion of the France coast to repel the German forces.
- The string quartet playing alone amidst the rubble in a devastated town just grabs one’s soul and cries out to help all affected.
- When one of the concentration camps is discovered, the music asks why – why did this happen? Its foreboding tone and relentless pace make one pause to consider how man can be so inhumane to man.
- The final requiem melds strings, voices and oboe to place a muted exclamation mark on the series. A significant number of the members of Easy Company perished and those that survived will be the first to say it was a joint effort and that they were luck to survive. And that they survived because of the sacrifice of their brothers-in-arms.
- The Pacific
- Honor (the main title theme) leads with French horns to evoke a somber atmosphere for the battles to come. Strings are the glue that hold the sections together. A triumphant trumpet (aha, my trumpet!) comes in near the end yet is then softened with the plaintive cry of the oboe.
- With the Old Breed (end title theme) carries a similar sequence of instruments and pays appropriate homage to those that were lost in battle.
- When thoughts turn toward home, the music indeed takes one out of the Pacific theater and back home to what the soldiers hold dear and yearn to return to someday. The harp, though brief, provides an eerie heavenly quality to these dreams.
- The gripping scene when Private Sledge encounters a dying villager wishing to have her life ended, the music is haunting yet so tied into the emotions of the Private and the villager that the tears of the viewer (i.e., me) are oddly soothing in the tender moments in this horrific scene.
- When Private Sledge returns to Alabama, the lead instrument is the oboe, so appropriate for these moments which are greeted with joy yet such profound sadness for how they finally arrived.
So, war music does indeed have a role in my journey to understand the past, to live a better life in the present and project positive change in the future. Listening, usually with my eyes closed, allows me to see these people – their hopes, their fears, their dreams, their faith, their loved ones, or in other words, their common humanity. Their humanity becomes a part of my ethos and I am better for it. I wish that it didn’t have to happen this way, but I must pay tribute to them and celebrate them in every way possible. Their patriotism shines a bright light to this day still. My air baton praises their memory.
- Brokaw T. The Greatest Generation. Random House; 2001. 464 pp.
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/memorial-day-and-patriotism/