From the S&S archives:
For H.S. band, 'nothing bigger' than playing at Omaha

OMAHA BEACH. France — When the 1,400 high school students in rural Damascus, Md., launched their sevenmonth project, they raised $200,000. But it wasn't for an addition to their school or for new equipment.

The 4,700 residents of Damascus wanted to send their school band to play for the veterans of D-Day — those returning and those buried here.

"We're really looking forward to playing in the (American military) cemetery," said senior Michael Kuhn. Kuhn is president of the band and the director's son.

"That's where all the men are buried. We're not nervous about playing for President Reagan. It's the veterans who died and the ones who are coming," the band president said.

"For us there's nothing bigger," said Pamela Freeman, an 18-year-old senior who is the band's vice president. "We haven't played anywhere else like this, nothing this significant."

The 160-member band left home May 30 to begin a series of D-Day parades and concerts in England and France. This week the month of preparation and fundraising paid off when they played in the cemetery for Reagan and hundreds of veterans attending memorial ceremonies on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach.

Director Mat Kuhn started the band 23 years ago. He said the students played at the 35th anniversary in 1979 and were invited back for the 40th.

"The kids worked so hard and made such a good impression they asked then back," the director said. They called them the 'young ambassadors.'

"He put it to a vote. The band students and parents all wanted to come so I said, 'Let's go.' "

So the school and its boosters set out to raise the $1,026 per person it would take for Damascus to have the only American high school band at Normandy.

"We started in October selling cookbooks and spices and having dinners and card parties," said 17-year-old senior Krista New. "We did everything we could to get here."

The students are staying in beach bungalows on the sands of Omaha Beach, a short walk from the cemetery. They said it was worth all the work.

The band also has played at the White House, at Miss America pageants and at the Orange Bowl games.

While the students admitted they didn't know the whole story behind the 40th anniversary, most had some appreciation for the invasion that freed Nazi-occupied Europe. And New feels it took more than fund-raising to bring the band here.

"It's kind of scary to think that 40 years ago thousands of men died right here," she said. "It really gives me a good feeling. They died so we could play here."