Veterans Day features ACB Jazz Band and Viet Nam Veteran

Celebrate Veterans Day with the Allen Community Jazz Band and Purple Heart Viet Nam veteran John Bagwell at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, at Allen Christian Church at Allen Heritage Village.

The program begins with the National Anthem followed by American Patrol made famous by Glenn Miller, then Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA. These tunes will feature John Roberts on alto sax and clarinet. Other soloists include Alex Dumas and Stephine Waterman on trumpet, Bob Burnham on trombone, and Jim Wilson on tenor sax and clarinet.

As part of the program, the Band will present their arrangement of Armed Services Medley, highlighting the songs of each branch of the service. Veterans of each branch will be asked stand as their song is played. In celebration of the 250th year of the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps, the band will perform the Navy and Marine Hymns.

When John Bagwell was sent to Vietnam during the war, he was assured this would be a safe assignment. As a disc jockey, his job was to keep soldiers’ morale high, not to fight. Bagwell’s tour of duty took a decisive turn as a wave of violent attacks targeted cities in South Vietnam, an operation also known as the Tet Offensive. The American Forces radio station where he worked in Hue was a target. Of the disc jockeys and production personnel there, several were captured, and others were killed. Bagwell was the only one to escape.

This veteran revisited those harrowing days for the Apple TV+ docuseries Vietnam: The War That Changed America.

Sponsored by the Allen Public Library, Allen Community Jazz Band, VFW 2195, and the Bernardo de Gálvez chapter of the DAR, this event is free. Call 214-509-4911 for further information.

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Host or Publisher Allen Heritage Guild