Photo By Sgt. Sarah Fiocco | The Parris Island Marine Band marches in the Timken Grand Parade while performing...... read more read more
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CANTON/DOYLESTOWN, Ohio - The Parris Island Marine Band performed patriotic tunes during the Rogues’ Hollow Festival parade in Doylestown, Ohio Aug. 5 and the Timken Grand Parade in Canton, Ohio, Aug. 6.
Thousands of locals gathered at both parade sites to see the band march while they performed songs such as “Battle Cry of Freedom,” “Semper Fidelis” and “Marines Hymn.”
“They looked and sounded amazing,” said Dennis Toth, parade chairman for the Rogues’ Hollow Festival Parade. “Some people out there were 85-90 years old. There was an elderly woman who struggled to stand up when she saw them coming – just to put her hand on her chest.”
As the band made their way down the streets of Ohio, crowds moved in waves to stand up and clap as they marched past.
“Most of the people here are locals, but some came from hours away just to see these guys perform,” Toth said.
At the end of the Rogues’ Hollow Festival parade, Frank Short, a Marine veteran who served on Iwo Jima with the 5th Marine Division, awarded a plaque to the band as a token of the town’s appreciation.
“When Frank was asked to give that plaque to the band, he said something like this is right up there with getting married and coming home from Iwo Jima to be with his family,” Toth said. “He said it was one of the proudest moments of his life. He had tears in his eyes as they were marching past him.”
The band wowed the crowd once again with their performance in the Timken Grand Parade the following day.
“It really made me proud to watch our men and women in uniform march in this parade,” said Virgina Seixas, a Canton resident who attended the parade. “My grandson absolutely loved them. Once he saw them, he dragged me with him to follow them all the way to the end of the parade.”
“There’s just nothing like a person in uniform,” she added. While the band marched and played in the both parades seamlessly, Staff Sgt. Alan Phillips, the enlisted conductor and a trumpet player, said there’s a lot of work that goes into a performance to make sure it goes off without a hitch.
“We start working on these kind of gigs about two months out,” Phillips said. “But these performances give me and the whole band a sense of pride. It’s great to see the whole community come out and support us for the simple fact that we’re Marines.”
“My favorite part of these performances is to see all of the [veterans] out there,” Phillips said. “They’re part of our Corps’ history, and it makes me feel proud to know that we’re also going to be a part of that history.”
Similarly, Phillips said he couldn’t be more proud of the band’s performances in Ohio.
“We knocked it out of the ball park with these performances,” Phillips said. “The Marines represented this band really well. We definitely left our mark on Ohio.”
| Date Taken: | 08.05.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.12.2011 12:26 |
| Story ID: | 75252 |
| Location: | CANTON/DOYLESTOWN, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 106 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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