CCHS band, chorus students march in Pearl Harbor parade

Members of the Camden County High School Band and Chorus are honored to be in Hawaii this week and marched in the Pearl Harbor parade on Tuesday. 

Camden County students are the only students from Georgia who have been invited to participate in this historic event as the parade and ceremony memorialize the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Although rain canceled a luau that had been planned for the students, it meant that they were able to be at the hotel when Pearl Harbor veterans began arriving to participate in the ceremony.

Honored and humbled by the opportunity to be in the presence of these heroes, the students jumped to their feet to applaud and cheer the veterans. To the delight of a packed lobby, chorus director Lisa Wolfe organized the chorus in an impromptu tribute to the veterans.

When the chorus finished their beautiful songs, there was not a dry eye in the hotel, young or old, and our students were honored to meet the men and women who have served our country so bravely. While many of our students may have initially been drawn to this trip by the beautiful beaches, they will leave Hawaii with a greater appreciation for the generations of veterans who have served and sacrificed for our freedom. As Dr. Dean Slusser put it so well, “THIS is why we came to Hawaii.”

The students and school personnel have been raising funds and making preparations since last school year so that the group could make the trip and provide support from one Navy community to another on this important day in American history.