Photos by Erin O’Donnell
The premier musical unit of the 40th Infantry Division Band, their Concert Band visited SLO during the Aug. 13 Thursday Night Farmer’s Market.
Training in the area during the week, the 40th is based out of the Joint Forces Training Command in Los Alamitos, Calif.
The 40th Infantry Division formed in 1917 and commands more than 10,000 soldiers stationed from Sacramento to the California-Mexico border. While its soldiers have seen action during World War I, WW II, the Korean War, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and a domestic deployment during the 1965 Watts Riots, the band kept it light this trip.
They’ve performed at concert halls, venues, and events throughout the U.S. and the South Pacific.
In SLO they preformed a variety of styles including a Disney theme tune from The Jungle Book, music by John Phillip Sousa and of course the patriotic Armed Forces standards from all branches of service.
