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About Us
The Band originated in Roanoke in 1922 as a section of the 116th Infantry Brigade's Service Company. But in October 1943, it was inducted into federal service as part of the "Blue and Gray" 29th Division (so called because it included National Guard units from Maryland (Union Blue) and Virginia (Confederate Gray)). Band members joined in the assault on Omaha Beach, an action for which they received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. In all, they saw action in four European campaigns: Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, and Central Europe.
In 1946, the 29th Division Band was inactivated. Its Virginia segment became the 90th Army Band, the "Governor's Own", a title which it retained until October 1985. That year, it once again put on the Blue and Gray patch, this time as the Band for the only Light Infantry Division in the entire U.S. Army National Guard.
Present-day missions take Band members all over (and sometimes outside) the Commonwealth of Virginia. They perform in concert, marching band, and small ensembles for military and civilian functions alike, with a repertoire that ranges from the classics to pop music to Broadway and motion picture hits. The Band's most recent foreign assignments were in Bosnia-Herzegovina in support of Stabilization Force 10 in 2002, and the 60th Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France in 2004.
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