Look Back ... to the day the Army band music died, 1999
May 14—May 14, 1949: The date fell on a Saturday during a 12-year period (1940-52) when The Star didn't publish on that day of the week.
May 14, 1999, in The Star: The 8 o'clock performance by the 14th Army Band tonight at Anniston High School auditorium will mark the end of an era that began 51 years ago at Fort Mead, Va. It will be the band's last public performance before the fort closes Sept. 30. The band originated at Fort Mead in August 1948 as the world's only all-female military band. When the Women's Army Corps transferred to Fort McClellan in 1954, the band came with it, and it's been here ever since. Men were integrated into the band in 1975. "It's really sad. There's a lot of history here," said former band member John Risse. The band played at President Eisenhower's second inaugural parade in 1957, at the World's Fair in New York in 1964, the White House in 1967, for the Mike Douglas Show in 1968 and in 1969 at the Tournament of Roses Parade, in which the musicians marched.
Assistant Metro Editor Bill Edwards: 256-236-1551. On Twitter @bedwards_star.
