Iowa State University band members to perform in Normandy

This summer, Jacob Sprengeler, 19, of Walford, will take his first trip overseas with 179 other members of the Iowa State University Cyclone Marching Band.

'I am most excited about getting to go over there and represent the United States,” said Sprengeler, a sophomore who has been in the band for two seasons. 'It's awe-inspiring to me.”

The students were invited to take part in the Salute to Liberation, a commemoration of the D-Day landing 72 years ago.

'It's one thing to go over there and sightsee, it's another that we get to participate and give back in these memorial services to honor these veterans that gave their lives fighting for us,” Sprengeler said.

Steven Smyth, associate director of bands and director of the Cyclone Marching Band, received the invitation a year ago from Earl Hurrey, who has connections to the U.S. Marine Band. Military bands have performed at past commemorations, Smyth said.

'Because of some sequestration ... the military bands themselves are now unable to do all of the ceremonies which they used to,” Smyth said. 'To keep with the quality of all the ceremonies for the musical end of it, they've started to look for college bands that could uphold the United States end of the bargain as far as the ceremonial music.”

The band will fly to Paris from Minneapolis June 2, Smyth said, then take a bus to Normandy. The band will spend four days there and play at the Omaha Beach Cemetery, the American and British cemetery at Brittany and a parade and musical celebration in St. Mere Eglise, Smyth said.

The team will be joined by a British military band and a French military band. The ISU band will perform the anthems and then all three bands will perform 'Amazing Grace” at the cemeteries, Smyth said.

The ISU group then will take a bus to Paris and sightsee.

'We'll do a performance underneath the Eiffel Tower, which is going to be a neat way to close up our tour,” Smyth said.

The ISU marching band has 400 members, but the 180 students chosen to go on the trip auditioned to gain a spot. Participants are paying for their trips independently.

'This is just a huge privilege for us considering it was the job of a U.S. military band and that they saw us in that position and that they sought us out to do that,” said Rachel Hansen, the band's administrative assistant.