Marine Band and Jim Lehrer Salute End of World War II

Photo MSgt. Kristin duBois, Marine Band Public Affairs.

Story by Don Knight

Nearly seventy years ago World War Two finally came to end. On Sept.2, 1945. The Japanese military delegation came aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo bay and signed the surrender documents.

Bells rang, whistles blew and bars nationwide filled up with celebrants. San Francisco was off limits for the Marines. Troop ships heading east on the Pacific Ocean were re-routed to Seattle and other ports. Ship captains got the word: “There is a big celebration going on, don’t bring any more Marines through the Golden Gate. Go somewhere else.”

And so this year the United States Marine Band, known as “The President’s Own” began another busy season, on tour, to mark the end of America’s four-year conflict. It began with the concert in one of the finest music venues in the country, the Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, MD, Monday evening February 23.

The concert also marked another historic event: the raising of the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima, where Marines fought one of the costliest battles of the Pacific campaign.

Band Conductor Lt. Col. Jason K. Fettig was the first to note that seventy years ago on this date Joe Rosenthal snapped his immortal photograph of five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the American flag during the early days of the battle.

On hand was former Marine Jim Lehrer, who was awarded the USMCCCA’S Denig Memorial Distinguished Service Award in 2007.  Lehrer, was on-stage as the guest narrator during several band renditions during the concert. He was introduced to the audience as a journalist, author, former anchor of the PBS News Hour, and Presidential Debate Moderator Extraordinaire.

The concert lasted two hours. At the ending the vast confines of the Music Hall echoed with shouts of OORAH!, not all from the many former Marines in the audience.