A Huey helicopter performs a flyover before last year’s SALUTE! concert.
Like a lot men of his era, my Dad was hardly an openly emotional man.
But had the World War II P-47 Thunderbolt pilot lived long enough to see one of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic SALUTE! concerts, I am convinced that he would have been more than slightly misty-eyed.
Such is the impact of an event heavy with stirring sentiment, grand honor and awesome spectacle.
It might have happened after the US Army Air Corps veteran spotted so many other World War II veterans proudly wearing their baseball-style caps amid a throng of more than 5,000 or 6,000 people at the Bartholomew County Memorial for Veterans. It might have happened when people milling about might have shaken his hand to simply say “Thank you for your service.”
And it certainly might have happened when the orchestra launched into the hand-over-your-heart Army theme song and the crowd applauded each standing group of veterans. I have seen a former soldier’s emotional dam break time and again when we have written about the concert conceived by former Republic associate editor Harry McCawley. I have been riveted watching Vietnam vets in recent years as their eyes fill with tears when they spot the windswept fury of a Huey or Black Hawk helicopter landing, dear God, right in the street beyond the Robert Stewart Memorial Bridge.
They have looked at it as if it were a mirage, and suddenly, the memory of a fallen comrade whisked to safety had them bowing their head in silent gratitude.
So I cannot help but remain fascinated by a free gathering that attracts the very young and the very old, those who wouldn’t know a cannon shot from a Cannon camera, plus those who figure they might never step foot into an orchestra concert — until they discover that, wow, they feel very much at home right there at Second and Jackson streets.
All that and more makes SALUTE! one of the more distinct outings in Bartholomew County. If patriotism has a heartbeat, then this event is part of its lifeblood.
The aroma of grilling burgers and brats served up by local band boosters sometimes mingles with the lingering gunpowder from the nearby, gleaming Army National Guard howitzers test-fired before the concert in preparation for their starring role in the evening’s rousing and booming finale “1812 Overture.”
What’s not to like about Boy Scout troops distributing miniature American flags to attendees? How can you possibly not love it when out-of-towners from as far away as Colorado stop you and dumbfoundingly ask, “They do this EVERY year for veterans in this little town?”
This is Americana at its finest, a seemingly Normal Rockwell throwback deposited squarely amid the cynicism of today.
As the son of a member of The Greatest Generation, the stepfather of an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, the brother of a Vietnam veteran and the brother-in-law of a career Navy man, SALUTE! makes me proud.
Clearly, it’s more than an orchestral performance.
Instead, it’s a community in concert with a Memorial Day celebration the way it should be.
