Pride of Herndon Heads to Omaha Beach June 4

This coming Tuesday, June 4, the Herndon High School Marching Band, the Pride of Herndon, will travel to Normandy, France to play at the ceremonies for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Each band member will carry “honor tags” of one or two crew members from the USS Herndon, the destroyer that led the Allied naval armada in the assault on France and named for Commander William Lewis Herndon, after whom the Town of Herndon, VA is also named. The marching banner will have a photograph of the ship, and the band will wear baseball caps that say ‘USS Herndon’. The band also will be taking an American flag that flew on the USS Herndon. And three of the band members will wear the original dress blues from sailors on the USS Herndon.

Band parent Margaret Jamborsky has spent the past two years researching the Herndon and managed to track down the families of 293 of the 301 crew members of the Herndon. Her hard work means band members will carry both pictures of the crew members and stories about their lives. Each band member will be writing a letter to the families of the crew members whose story and picture they carry.

Except for one. Because he will be there too. USS Herndon veteran James Clemont, 94, of Minnesota, will accompany the band to France as a VIP guest.

The Pride of Herndon will play at the American Cemeteries in Brittany and at Omaha Beach, as well as in the D-Day Musical Salute to Liberation. World leaders and hundreds of thousands of local and international attendees will join in honoring the men who died on that fateful day and paying tribute to the remaining survivors.

Follow the Herndon Band on FB to see updates of their trip. https://www.facebook.com/HerndonBand/

Also perhaps pause a moment this Thursday to think of these Herndon High School students honoring so many men and women who sacrificed so much.