Letter from a high school senior

[John OMalley]

Hello Fellow Members,

After returning from a trip to Europe this summer with a national high school music performance group managed out of Carlisle, PA., a nephew of mine wrote a relatively short, yet moving letter to Major Winters, which I attempted to send to Mr. Winters via the Alumni Office at Franklin and Marshall College in early August. That was all done prior to my awareness of this great website, as well as the knowledge that the Major is no longer accepting correspondence, which I can fully appreciate.

The letter to Major Winters was movtivated by a visit that my nephew and his fellow musicians made to the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. For young men of my nephew's age, Major Winters and his Easy Company associates have very much become the face of the World War II veteran. Here is the letter:

Dear Major Winters, August 4, 2009

My name is Ian Atchison and will be going into my senior year at Pembroke High School in Pembroke, MA this fall. I am writing you this note to share an experience that I and a number of my fellow students had while visiting the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial on July 25th of this year. I am sending you this letter because you and your former fellow soldiers are very familiar to me and my family because of “Band of Brothers’, which we have watched in full several times. We are extremely grateful for the tremendous sacrifices you and all of your friends and associates made for our country and its future generations.

During the month of July, I was a member of the Sound of America Honor Band and Chorus, which was made up of about 150 high school musicians and singers from forty two states. After rehearsing for four days at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, we left for a tour of Europe. We performed numerous classical and America-themed shows in six countries. We were able to perform at several major concert halls, as well as at Masses held in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice and the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. We received tremendous responses from all of our audiences We also found that there was a very positive attitude towards us and Americans in general wherever we went and especially in Luxembourg.

As part of our schedule, our last performance was the day before coming home, held outdoors at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. Our group held a flag raising ceremony and then those of us in the chorus proceeded to line up on a beautiful stone terrace. We had our backs to a small chapel and were facing the large field of five thousand white crosses, which were laid out as a semi-circle, very much like an audience facing a stage. It was a very nice morning and the air had been completely still to that point. I think we were all a little extra nervous.

As we started to sing, it became very, very breezy, the wind blowing right into our faces right from the direction of the field of crosses, which made it somewhat different from singing indoors. At that point we all had to concentrate more. We proceeded to sing several of our songs: “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “If Ye Love Me”, and “The Last Words of David.” Right after finishing our last song, a giant gust of wind hit us as we stood on the terrace. The gust was strong enough to knock me off balance a bit. Then suddenly, it became very still again, as it had been before we sang.

At that point, many thoughts and emotions just started to hit me: I was so fortunate to be a part of this group and tour, I was so fortunate to be an American; the people we had been performing for during the previous weeks were so fortunate to have had their way of life saved by America; the souls we had been just singing to had been my age when they made the ultimate sacrifice and had made this great experience possible for me; they had been so brave and so far away from home. And then there was just a really strong sense of sadness and I started to think about my family. It was such an unbelievably great honor to perform as we did. It was a special chance to thank those souls, as well as honor you and your fellow soldiers.

Major Winters, I think you should also be made aware of Mr. Clyde Barr, who is the Director of the Sound of America Honor Band in Chorus. He lives in Carlisle, PA, and has run the program for many years. He always includes a performance at an American Military Cemetery each year. On top of being an outstanding band and chorus leader, he is an excellent teacher and a great American.

This fall, we will be receiving a CD of the music we performed on tour, which I believe will include our singing at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. I will send a copy to you.

Again, thank you for all you have done. Be assured that performing musical groups will continue to honor our fallen military so far away and that Americans, as well as Europeans, remain very grateful for what you and so many others have done for them.


Sincerely,



Ian J. Atchison
26 Gates Lane
Pembroke, MA 02359
‘atchman222@yahoo.com’

[frisco-kid]

A touching letter about a touching moment. Thank you for sharing.

[GySgtMJones]

John,

What a wonderful letter! Thank you very much for sharing your nephew’s letter with all of us.

I have to say that I am convinced that the wind your nephew talked about was the voices of those brave soldiers joining into the songs!

Thank you again!