Army Mounted color guard, 1st Division Band added to Wah-Shun-Gah Parade
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Originally published 01:44 p.m., June 19, 2008
Updated 01:44 p.m., June 19, 2008
The 1st Infantry Division Band and the Fort Riley Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard have been added to the attractions for the Wah-Shun-Gah Days celebration at Council Grove this weekend.
“Getting one or the other unit is significant,” stated a news release from TinaRae Scott, executive director of the Council Grove/Morris County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism. “Getting both for the same event is earth-shattering.”
The band was instituted on Oct. 12, 1943, and has served through World War II, in Vietnam, Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Operation Iraqi Freedom II, the release stated. It spent 10 years in Germany to promote German/American relations. It returned to Fort Riley in 2006 to be stationed at 1st Infantry Division Headquarters.
The mounted color guard will demonstrate cavalry tactics and will participate in the parade.
The guard, which performs nationally, recreates “the colorful spectacle of the American horse soldier,” the release said. It was a two-time National Cavalry Competition Top Military Unit award-winner. In 2006, the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs awarded the unit the Army’s Best Ongoing Community Relations Program title.
The Wah-Shun-Gah Days parade will begin at 9:30 a.m.