WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday evening hosted hundreds of U.S. troops and their families, treating them to a concert that featured Mary J. Blige and country music legend Willie Nelson.
President Barack Obama said that servicemembers who voluntarily go into harm’s way to keep the country safe and protect its cherished freedoms have the respect and admiration of a grateful nation.
He spoke movingly of having met Luis Avila, who was badly wounded in an explosion during his fifth tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2011.
He suffered a traumatic brain injury, and in the weeks that followed, heart attacks and a stroke. Doctors at one point recommended he be taken off life support.
Obama spoke of how, with the support of his wife, Claudia, Avila was brought back at least in part through hours and hours of music therapy.
“Through the music he loved,” Obama said, “[Beethoven’s] ‘Ode to Joy,’ military marches, even some Beatles,” Avila slowly began to register responses.
“He’s even playing, as I understand it, a little bit of golf,” Obama said as he opened the evening’s show.
Nelson opened, followed by John Fogarty, Blige, and rapper Common, who with music director Don Was accompanying on standup bass, offered a powerful poem. Latin singer Romeo Santos and Daughtry, performing via satellite from a USO concert in Yokota Air Base, Japan, also performed.
The artists, along with military musicians, offered songs on love and loss, most having been written in a time of war.
Blige came back on to perform U2’s “One,” and after the President again thanked everyone, Nelson closed with his signature “On the Road Again,” joined briefly by Obama.
The program is the latest edition in the PBS series “In Performance at the White House.” It was taped inside of a large tent on the South Lawn with a view of “back” of the White House, and was attended by first lady Michelle Obama, Cabinet secretaries and several hundred servicemembers, veterans and families.
Following the show, the attendees were treated to a reception inside the White House, wandering the “State Floor,” with the famous portraits of the presidents, while a Marine Corps jazz ensemble played.
Obama regularly touts administration efforts to cut the staggering backlog of disability claims filed by veterans, reduce homelessness among them and help veterans, their spouses and children pursue higher education under the post-9/11 GI bill.
The Obamas also have pushed the federal government and private employers to make hiring veterans and their spouses a priority.
The concert will be shown on American Forces Network on Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. Central European and Japan-Korea time.
AFN is airing military-themed programming all month, including:
AFN|spectrum airs National Geographic Channel’s “American War Generals” gathers the nation’s leading generals for an unprecedented look at 50 years of military history, from the Vietnam War to America’s war on Al-Qaida; it airs Nov. 11 at 9 a.m. CET/JKT.
A concert from the National Mall which begins at 7 p.m. Veterans Day will air live on AFN Nov. 12 at 1 a.m. CET/ 9 a.m. JKT.
“The Concert for Valor” is an HBO special, and will feature Eminem, Jamie Foxx, Dave Grohl, Metallica, John Oliver, Rihanna, Bruce Springsteen and Carrie Underwood.
Every Tuesday, AFN|movie will air a mix of newer military-themed movies and classics, including “Cold Mountain” Nov. 18 at 9 a.m. CET/JKT; “Saving Private Ryan” on Nov. 18 at 11 p.m. CET/JKT; and “Home of the Brave,” Nov. 25 at 9 p.m. CET/JKT.
dickson.patrick@stripes.com
Twitter: @StripesDCchief
No comments:
Post a Comment