Courtesy of Zeeland (Netherlands) Television, follow the link to YouTube for a great opportunity to experience part of the joint concert in Middelburg, The Netherlands.  I know, the post has been on YouTube for over 10 days, but its taken me that long to recover from the trip induced sleep deprivation and jet lag.

Keep watching the blog as video clips from our trip are on the brink of appearing on YouTube with links from this blog!

Click here to view YouTube video of Middelburgs Muziek Korps and Holland American Legion Band.

One week from tonight, 45 members of the Holland American Legion Band will be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Normandy, France!!!

The past few weeks have been packed full of rehearsals, fund raisers, and even several Memorial Weekend performances.  Thank you to everyone who has donated time and money towards this trip,  With your tremendous support we have now raised enough money for the band to make it to Normandy.  Getting home, however, is still questionable.  (There’s a conspiracy developing about leaving the drummers behind.)

We’re also very grateful to the media for picking up our story and sharing it with their respective audiences.

Here’s a few links to a number of recent stories:

Holland Michigan band to mark D-Day in Normandy, France -mlive.com

http://www.mlive.com/travel/index.ssf/2009/05/the_rows_upon_rows_upon.html

Holland American Legion to play in Europe -WoodTV.com

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/ottawa_county/Holl_American_Legion_to_play_in_Europe

Holland American Legion Band to honor Normandy veterans on European tour -Holland Sentinel

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/archive/x1194174468/Holland-American-Legion-Band-to-honor-Normandy-veterans-on-European-tour

65th D-Day Celebration -Halftime Magazine

http://halftimemag.com/articles/05-2009/05-2009-noteworthy/65th-d-day-celebration.html

In addition to these local and national articles, we are also getting picked up in the media in France and the Netherlands.  One reporter even traveled all the way from the Province of Zeeland for a sneak peak at the Holland American Legion Band:

http://liliangoesamerica.wordpress.com/

Okay, maybe Lilian happened to be in the United States researching the stories of people of Dutch decent, but I still believe Holland was the high point of her trip to the USA.  Much of her blog is translated into English, which is a good thing because I’ve heard most of the Dutch learned by people growing up in Holland, Michigan was learned in the barn and inappropriate for civil company.