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MILITARY OFFICER
OCTOBER 2011 $4.75 THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
WWW.MOAA.ORG March On
RETIREMENT CUTS? Is military retirement on the budget-cutting table? 29
DARK DESTINATIONS These 4 sites give insight into a somber past 60
end, national security boils down to the people in uniform.
“ In the —Lt. Col. Jim Cheshire, USAF-Ret. ”
For decades, military bands have educated, entertained, and inspired — both abroad and on the home front 50
Hitting the Wrong Note Thanks for [“Strike Up the Band”] in the October issue of Military Officer. How- ever, while Glenn Miller, arguably the most popular big band leader during the war years, led the Army Air Force jazz band, his highest rank held was major, not general as stated in the article. He disap- peared over the English Channel near the end of the war while on a trip to Europe to scout locations for the band’s upcoming performances, and the aircraft in which he was a passenger was never found. —Col. Michael A. Katz, AUS-Ret. Summit, N.J.
The outstanding Regimental Band of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, under the direction for the past 40 years of Capt. Kenneth R. Force, USMS, should have been mentioned as it is the only marching band among the five federal service acad- emies made up entirely of cadets rather than professional enlisted musicians. —Col. William S. Bernfeld, USA-Ret. Smyrna, Del.
I note that there is no mention made of the Army Ground Forces Band, which is an outstanding organization. —Maj. Richard Kerr, USA-Ret. via email
I would like to add to the list of service bands the music ensemble of the Com- missioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, founded in 2000. The ensemble, “The Surgeon General’s Own,” consists of instrumental, choral, and jazz groups, all under the direction of officers. —Capt. John J. Bartko, USPHS-Ret. Newville, Pa.
A history of military bands should not over- look the fact that U. S. Army bands served in France during World War I. One of these
14 MILITARY OFFICER DECEMBER 2011
was the band of the 116th Regiment of En- gineers of the 41st (Sunset) Division. My father, Master Engineer Harold Bachman, was the leader of this band, and my uncle, Sgt. Myron Bachman, was a member. —Lt. Col. David D. Bachman, USAR-Ret. Tallahassee, Fla.
As a former Army bandsman, I was flab- bergasted … no mention was made of the premier U.S. Army Field Band, who have been ambassadors of the Army for over 65 years and have appeared in every major concert hall in the world.
—Donald C. Fejfar Iowa Falls, Iowa
History, Tragedy, Travel Thank you for publishing the article titled “Dark Destinations” [October 2011]. It is clear that these sites mark tragic events in history. I noted that in their commentary on 228 Peace Memorial Park, the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, and the House of Terror, the authors sought to describe the magnitude of events. Certainly all three pale in comparison to Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp in which more than 1 million individuals, more than 900,000 of them Jewish, were systematically exterminated. I believe that the commentary concern- ing Auschwitz should have contained, at a minimum, the fact that this was one of the most significant killing facilities in Hitler’s attempt to wipe out European Jewry. —Col. Richard M. Goldberg, AUS-Ret. Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
I’m somewhat dismayed by your article “Dark Destinations” having listed the Salem Witch Trials as one of your four “somber events in history” among that of Auschwitz, the Taiwanese slaughter, and the “House of Terror” in Hungary. Con- trast the 29 convictions of witchcraft (19 were actually hanged because witchcraft
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