Great Bend Municipal Band pays tribute to D-Day

Band salutes the troop and the 'Greatest Generation'

The Great Bend Municipal Band performed its first concert of the season Thursday on the Thelma Faye Harms Stage in the Clayton L. Moses Memorial Band Shell. Justin Engleman was the narrator and Grant Mathews was the director of a program of patriotic music that paid homage to the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. - photo by Susan Thacker

city band 2024 — The Great Bend Municipal Band performed its first concert of the season Thursday on the Thelma Faye Harms Stage in the Clayton L. Moses Memorial Band Shell. Justin Engleman was the narrator and Grant Mathews was the director of a program of patriotic music that paid homage to the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. - photo by Susan Thacker

The first Great Bend Municipal Band concert of the season was a patriotic, musical salute to all who have served in the armed forces, to “The Greatest Generation” and to the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy by allied forces on June 6, 1944.

“Tonight we pay tribute to those that sacrificed and say thank you to those who served,” narrator Justin Engleman said. “We especially want to honor World War II veterans.” In the audience was Wayne “Buzz” Banks, age 99, a Great Bend resident and World War II veteran.

Pearl Harbor was the beginning of World War II for Americans and D-Day was the beginning of the end.

Theme songs for all branches of the armed services were played and audience members who served or had relatives who served were invited to stand as their song was played. Engleman said the arrangement does not include the newest branch, the Space Force. “When it is available, you can be sure we will add it to our arrangement.”

The band was directed by Grant Mathews. Engleman thanked Great Bend Community Coordinator Christina Hayes for securing the new U.S. flag in the band shell, the City of Great Bend, and band managers Curtis and Debbie Koch.

Two former band directors were in the audience, Eldon Hamm and Joe Boley, who wrote a history of Great Bend’s city bands. Boley said the band has enjoyed 139 seasons from 1885 to the present, with 31 different directors.

More free Great Bend Municipal Band concerts are scheduled at the band shell in Jack Kilby Square. Most start at 8:15 p.m. Upcoming dates are Thursdays, June 20 and 27.

Audience members can bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the music. A wide variety of musical selections will be performed by the group.

There will also be a Big Band concert on Friday, June 21.

The Independence Day concert on Thursday, July 4, will start at 7:30 p.m.

The concerts will return to the 8:15 p.m. starting time on Tuesday, July 9, and the final two shows will be on Thursdays, July 18 and 25.

This story was modified on Monday, June 10, 2024, to correct the date of the Big Band concert to June 21.