Army Ground Forces Band bids Atlanta farewell with reunion concert

By Mr. Lawrence S Stevens (FORSCOM)April 27, 2011

Army Ground Forces Band bids Atlanta farewell with reunion concert
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT McPHERSON, Ga. (April 27, 2011) - Past and current members of the U.S. Army Forces Command's Army Ground Forces Band will hold a reunion concert in what will be a final public performance before the band moves from here to Fort Bragg, N.C.

The concert will be held at the McEachern High School Performing Arts Center in Powder Springs, Ga., at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 30. Admission is free and no tickets are required.

More than 50 AGFB alumni band members are expected to come in for the concert, some from as far away as Shickshinny, Penn.; Exeter, N.H.; Owatonna, Minn.; Cherokee, Iowa; and Missoula, Mont. The current band consists of 64 Soldiers and two officers.

"We thought this would be an appropriate and patriotic way to pay tribute to the metro Atlanta community for the decades of support it has given to the U.S. Army," said Maj. Treg Ancelet, the band's commander and conductor. "Atlanta has been good to us, and we hope we've brought joy and pride in America to our fellow citizens here."

The evening will include a combined current and alumni members' concert, an alumni jazz band set and a performance by the AGFB Dixie Band.

One of The Army Ground Forces Band's major missions is to serve as a community outreach asset on behalf of its parent unit, U.S. Army Forces Command, the Army's largest command.

Since being stationed at Fort McPherson in 1973, the band has played a part in events large and small throughout the metro area, some of the larger ones including:

Aca,!Ac The 1980 opening of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and marching in the inaugural parade. The band's Brass Quintet has performed as part of Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service for years.

Aca,!Ac The opening of the Carter Presidential Library with a week-long succession of concerts in 1981.

Aca,!Ac The opening the High Museum of Art in 1983 with a full week of music by all of the band's various ensembles.

Aca,!Ac The launches of Turner Broadcasting System and CNN News. The band was featured playing the National on TBS before the station went on the air 24 hours a day.

Aca,!Ac Performing at Atlanta Braves, Falcons, Hawks, Flames and Beat games.

Aca,!Ac Celebrating its annual December Holiday Concert for the past 25 years.

The Army Ground Forces Band was organized in 1845. A year later it saw duty in the Mexican War, where it distinguished itself in combat by capturing an artillery battery and turning it against the enemy. The band's lineage includes service in the Civil War, the War with Spain, the Philippine Insurrection and World Wars I and II.

In addition to touring throughout the United States, performing at local, regional and national events, the band has regularly performed for and held master classes and clinics at elementary, middle schools, high schools and colleges in the Atlanta area.

The band and FORSCOM will move to Fort Bragg, N.C., this summer in compliance with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure legislation.

For more on the band, see www.forscom.army.mil/band.