Army band gender changes

 

Rick1, my first husband, was doing his required military service. They were fantastic musicians with some going on to play with the likes of Stan Kenton and the New York Symphony. Stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, the 82nd Army Band was mostly a PR unit playing fests and Fashings many times a week.

Fast forward to the present. On Facebook, I publish some writer whose birthday it is each day with their birth and death dates, one of their quotes and a photo. Today's writer was Julia Ward Howe who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic. 

I went to YouTube to listen. I noticed there were both men and women in the U.S. Army Field Band and the chorus. When my husband was in the band, I don't think the idea of a woman being in the band even entered anyone's head.

Arlie Hatfield had led the 82nd. They called him the old man. I wonder if any of the musicians in the U.S. Army Field Band would dare call their conductor, the old woman?