We just read this touching article about the time Col. Arnald Gabriel, honored former director of the U.S. Air Force Band, spent fighting in Europe while in the U.S. Army during World War II. The Air Force recently announced that a concert hall will be named in his honor.

Col. Gabriel is directing the National Community Concert Band Sousa Festival in Washington, D.C. this June, and he has graciously agreed to return as the director for the second annual event in June, 2009.

By NOELLE STRAUB
Gazette Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Although retired Col. Arnald Gabriel survived the fierce fighting of D-Day and went on to become a famed U.S. Air Force Band conductor, he constantly carries with him the memory of his fallen comrades and friends.

On Jan. 9, 1945, Gabriel was in a foxhole in Germany when a mortar shell hit and killed two of his friends instantly and gave him a concussion. Ever since, that day has been the hardest day of the year for him. And then came word that the Air Force Band would honor him by naming a concert hall after him during a ceremony on Jan. 9.

“For 63 years I have shed tears on Jan. 9, but today it is a day of humility and joy,” he said at the ceremony.