Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 2, 1995                   TAG: 9504030079
SECTION: NATL/ITNL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: FORT MEADE, MD.                                LENGTH: Medium

TAPS SOUNDS FOR 1ST U.S. ARMY BAND

Drum Major Thomas Kratzer handed over his mace, the symbol of leadership, and his sash, which displays the band's battle honors, to waiting officers in front of the reviewing stand on McGlachlin Field at Fort Meade.

The officers draped a black cover over the bass drum, the heart of the band, to symbolize the end of its mission.

``Never thought it would happen,'' said Staff Sgt. James A. Scheddel, who has been in the band 11 years, longer than any of the others. ``We were always on top of things, but budget cuts got the best of us.''

At the far end of the empty parade field, the 389th Army Band from Aberdeen Proving Ground played a mournful rendition of ``Auld Lang Syne.''

The 1st U.S. Army Band was formed in 1861 from a battalion of the U.S. 11th Infantry. Its members provided security for 1st Army headquarters at St. Mihiel during World War I and at the invasion of Normandy during World War II. It was among the 1st Army units that crossed the Rhine River into Germany and linked up with Russian troops in 1945.

The band moved with 1st Army headquarters from New York to Fort Meade in 1966. Since then, it has provided music for post ceremonies and has traveled throughout the mid-Atlantic states to perform at colleges, high schools and summer concert series.

Buglers from the band played taps at funerals for soldiers killed in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. The entire band marched in the Desert Storm Welcome Home Parade in Washington, D.C., in 1991.

But the 40-member band couldn't survive the current series of military cutbacks. It is one of six bands that the Army will silence in the coming year, said Bandmaster David A. Ratliff. At its height during World War II, the Army had about 700 bands. Today there are about 35.

``How do you say goodbye to a unit that has touched us on so many occasions?'' Lt. Gen. John P. Otjen, 1st Army commander, asked a crowd of about 300 during the ceremony.