Episode 480: Memorialize

Music gives us a chance to express ourselves when we need help dealing with difficult emotions. It gives our minds a place to face all of the feelings associated with life and death. Without music, dealing with the gravity of death in a war setting is almost too much to consider. And when war-like activities mimic battlefield conditions it takes powerful music to help us cope.
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The holiday we celebrate has a specific scope. Decoration Day became Memorial Day and it honors combat heroes who died on the field of battle. We can’t repay them for their sacrifice but we can be diligent in honoring them. If they were able to tell us about duty and responsibility we would be humbled beyond measure. Most of our program honors them on this episode, but not all of it. 

Inchon
  Robert W. Smith
  US Coast Guard Band, Commander Lewis J. Buckley
Symphonic Requiem, Op. 135
  James Barnes
  US Army Concert Band, Colonel Thomas H. Palmatier
Grant Them Eternal Rest
  Andrew Boysen, Jr.
  University of Texas at El Paso Wind Symphony,
​  Ron Hufstader