Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class William Phillips | Commanding Officer Marvin L. Jones sings on stage with the Lt. Dan Band aboard Naval...... read more read more
Naval Support Activity Bethesda Commanding Officer Navy Capt. Marvin L. Jones had a few questions for the hundreds assembled in front of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center’s historic tower on one of the only sunny days in May.
“Are you ready to jam?” Jones asked the crowd. “I don’t think you heard me. I said, Are you ready to jam? Are you ready to get down? Are you ready to throw down like you’re at the playground?”
Jones fired up the crowd for Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band performance that was the main attraction of the Invincible Spirit Festival May 20 sponsored by the Gary Sinise Foundation and USO-Metro.
Sinise even coaxed Jones to come back on stage and sing “Sweet Home Alabama” with the band.
Before singing, Jones said the festival was a celebration of resiliency.
“Our wounded, ill and injured Warriors here today are synonymous with the word resiliency,” Jones said. “That’s just what you do every day. You display that spirit of resiliency. You go to your treatment at this facility and on this installation, and you served in the most selfless way you possibly can, by giving of yourselves and we appreciate your sacrifice. We appreciate all you caregivers and the folks here today who support their healing.”
The festival was held to give thanks not only to the wounded, ill and injured service members, but to those who provide care as well as their family members.
“Wherever we go we try to remind people that you’re still serving out here, there’s still war going on, there’s still sacrificing,” Sinise said. “And we can never do enough to show our appreciation to you and remember you. As we go into Memorial Day, that’s especially appropriate, but we want to make every day a Memorial Day for our veterans and our military families who sacrifice each and every day to defend us and to keep us free.”
The band covered several hit songs from past and present while the crowd danced and at one point formed a conga line which included Miss Maryland and Miss Virginia along with Wounded Warriors and their families.
The festival also included a lunch of hamburgers, chicken sandwich, pasta salad, potato salad, and more food, which was headed up by celebrity chef Robert Irvine and cooked by 60 military chefs and served by volunteers.
Irvine also competed with service members in a wing-eating competition.
The festival also featured other musical performances and the reenlistment of Navy Seaman Ricky Kilpatrick.
“I’m ready to join the Navy again,” Kilpatrick said. “Let’s do it.”
| Date Taken: | 05.20.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 05.26.2016 09:26 |
| Story ID: | 199125 |
| Location: | BETHESDA, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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