Bands combine for Sept. 11 tribute

By Denise Dick

The concert is free, but donations will be accepted.

BOARDMAN — Two bands will combine in a tribute to the passengers of the flight that crashed in Somerset County, Pa., Sept. 11, 2001.

The Youngstown Area Community Concert Band and the Somerset County Community Band will perform in a combined concert at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Maag Outdoor Theater in Boardman Park. The event is free, although donations will be accepted.

“We’re going to play three or four songs, and then they’re going to play three or four songs, and then we’ll combine and play together,” said Joy Cable of Salem who plays flute and piccolo in the Youngstown band.

One of the selections the two groups will perform together is “Flight of Valor,” written by Ohio composer James Swearingen as a tribute to the victims of United Flight 93. The plane crashed in Somerset County, Pa., when passengers fought with terrorist hijackers Sept. 11, 2001. The piece was commissioned by the Somerset County Concert Band.

Dan Croft, director of the Somerset band, said the piece begins with a military theme before moving into the hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.”

“It’s a well-known hymn and although the composer didn’t know it when he composed it, it was a favorite hymn of the man who said, ‘Let’s roll’ on the flight,” Croft said.

Todd Beamer, a United 93 passenger, was heard to utter the phrase before he and other passengers fought with the hijackers, causing the plane to come down in the Pennsylvania field rather than in the nation’s capital and its intended target.

The piece continues with an interlude that Croft said is to depict loved ones on the ground calling their loved ones on the plane. The song continues, communicating the chaos on the plane, before concluding with a military theme again.

“It conveys that although they weren’t soldiers, the passengers died for their country,” Croft said.

He has directed “Flight of Valor” all over the country, the first time at the Somerset memorial site in a ceremony for family members of those killed on the flight.

“It’s a very powerful piece,” Croft said.

Somerset residents who work at the memorial site will be at the concert and will answer questions.

Cable, a former Somerset resident, and Croft are friends. That coupled with the Youngstown Area Community Concert Band’s efforts to branch out resulted in plans for the combined performance.

About 50 people from high school age to senior citizens make up the Youngstown Area Community band under the direction of Joe Pellegrini.

“That’s one of the neat things about the band,” Cable said. “You have young people sitting next to people who have been playing for years.”