Area communities, Fort Riley come together to commemorate D-Day with Symphony at Sunset concert

By Collen McGee, Fort Riley Public AffairsJune 11, 2018

Fort Riley supports Symphony at Sunset concert June 2 in commemoration of Operation Overload D-Day landings at Normandy 74 years ago.
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew David, commander of the 1st Infantry Division Band, conducts the combined military musicians and Salina Symphony for several patriotic songs played during the June 2 Symphony at Sunset concert in Abilene, Kansas. The a... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Fort Riley supports Symphony at Sunset concert June 2 in commemoration of Operation Overlord D-Day landings at Normandy 74 years ago.
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Fort Riley supports Symphony at Sunset concert June 2 in commemoration of Operation Overlord D-Day landings at Normandy 74 years ago.
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sgt. Alisha Bailey is a percussionist and the drumset player for the 1st Infantry Division Band. Her commander heard her sing at a church service while they were deployed and he asked her to step out from behind the drums to sing during the June 2 Sy... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Fort Riley supports Symphony at Sunset concert June 2 in commemoration of Operation Overlord D-Day landings at Normandy 74 years ago.
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Maestro Ken Hakoda, music director and conductor of the Salina Symphony, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew David, the 1st Infantry Division Band commander have a short conversation before the June 2 Symphony at Sunset concert. The event is held to ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

ABILENE, Kan. -- For seven years, the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home has hosted a concert on the same ground where the former commander of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces played as an 8-year-old boy. The 1st Infantry Division Band has played on that lawn for all but the one event that happened while they were deployed. For that show, the Kansas Army National Guard's 35th Inf. Div. Band stepped in.

The concert, held the first Saturday of June, is a partnership between the 1st Inf. Div. Band, the Salina Symphony and the Eisenhower complex. It is a salute to Operation Overlord, better known as D-Day. Members of the Commanding General's Mounted Color Guard also participate with a historic encampment and a riding demonstration.

"We love having both of them here, so pleased that they are able to participate," said Dawn Hammatt, director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum about the Fort Riley Soldiers. "We are so pleased to have Fort Riley so close to us and all of these options for us, this is fantastic."

The appreciation goes both ways and the event is something 1st Inf. Div. Band conductor, Matthew David said they strive to excel for and gives the public a chance to get to know about the units from the post.

"We focus a lot of attention to making sure that we have a great program for the audience every year," David said. "In fact, the Eisenhower Library started to include the CG's Mounted Color Guard in 2016. It's a great way for the Kansas community to see two of the 1st Infantry Division's ceremonial units at their best."

Excellence requires preparation and planning. Preparation for the band and Symphony partnership started in December.

"Maestro (Ken) Hakoda and Adrienne Allen, the Salina Symphony Executive Director, contacted me last December to start planning rehearsals and music themes for this year's concert," David said. "In fact, it was right after Christmas that I started writing music for this concert."

Though the band played familiar love songs from the '50s and '60s, the arrangements needed to be written for the instrumentation of the division musicians.

"I have always wanted to do a show with a lot of Frank Sinatra tunes," David said. "I knew that the Symphony at Sunset concert would be the perfect venue for these songs."

Once the theme is decided and the music is written, the bands started rehearsing.

"I started rehearsals for this concert in May," David said. "Up to that month, the band was busy with meeting training requirements for Command Deployment Discipline Program and sending personnel to military professional development courses like Basic Leadership Course. However, I am truly fortunate to have professionals in the 1ID Band who worked hard to present that wonderful performance on 2 June."

Though the tradition of the concert will continue, for David, this was his last performance at the Symphony at Sunset event as he will complete a permanent change of station this summer.

"Though I will PCS to Hawaii, I will never forget the great people I got to work with at this momentous annual event," David said.