Village Band members honor veterans

Charles Porter remembered a special Monday evening as The Village Band sat down to rehearse.

A high school sophomore readied herself to play among the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community band, made up primarily of working adults and retirees.

“I got down and said, ‘Do you study American history?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Well, have you studied World War II?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, the guy that’s sitting beside you played bugle in Okinawa against the Japanese,’” Porter told her.

Porter, manager of the 62-member band, which performed a Veterans Day concert at the Seymour Center in Chapel Hill Tuesday, said the best part of being in the band is the mixing of different generations evident in that memory.

John Fuller, director of The Village Band, said the group played “Armed Forces Salute,” a medley which included all of the branch songs during which veterans stood and were recognized during the song.

Fuller said the patriotic concerts the band performs really get the audiences feeling good about the U.S.

“Nothing’s a guarantee, but you can almost put on one of those concerts knowing that the people are going to walk away happy,” he said.

Fuller said the band loves being a community band and doesn’t seem inclined to big travel plans, but that’s fine with him.

“I like the group the way it is, so we’re just going to keep right on going the way we have been because that makes the band happy and that makes me happy,” he said.

Larry Slifkin, who plays trumpet in the band, served in the army during World War II before teaching physics at UNC for about 35 years.

Slifkin said he carried a bugle made out of green plastic as official bugler while stationed in Okinawa.

“Nobody had any use for a bugler,” he said.

Slifkin said he was originally trained to be a non-commissioned officer in charge of a squad. He later got demoted after protesting the fact that a platoon of black men who were spending two weeks under his command were denied furlough or leave.

“It was denied to them because they were black,” he said.

“It turned out that the commanding general came by that afternoon and asked me if everything was alright, and I said, ‘No sir.’”

The next day, the members of the platoon got their leaves restored, and Slifkin got transferred to a company ready to go overseas.

Slifkin said while it’s nice the country honors veterans on Nov. 11 each year, he would encourage the government to take more tangible actions to help veterans.

“If the government really wants to honor these folks, why not treat them for the illnesses they got while fighting for the government? There’s a little bit of hypocrisy,” he said. “It’s cheaper to name the day ‘Veterans Day.’”

But he said there is one thing for which he owes the government.

“The lady who’s been my wife for the last 66 years, I met her in my first pass from the army,” he said.

“So actually, if you look at it that way, I owe a debt of love or something to our government for arranging all of this.”

Slifkin said he looks forward to rehearsals and concerts with The Village Band.

“I keep playing because it’s fun,” he said. “Just playing the music is fun.”

Porter said he enjoys talking to young members of the band and encouraging them to stay with their instruments, even after high school and college.

“You can’t believe how much you’re going to get out of playing this horn if you just stay with it,” he said he told one of them.

Porter himself has accomplished a lot as a professional musician, none of which he planned.

He played with the Navy band in Washington, D.C., six years with the Ringling Bros. Circus and even in a backup group for Louis Armstrong. Now, with The Village Band he helps bridge the gap between generations.

“That’s basically what we’ve got to do. (The band) gives the old people a chance to communicate with the younger,” he said. “It’s a little more than just music.”

arts@dailytarheel.com