Auburndale Band Thrilled With Washington Trek

By Mrs. Bob Rawls
Star Staff Writer

The Auburndale Band returned from an extensive tour of our nation's capital on Monday. The ninety-two members of the group reported a well-planned trip that was accomplished without any difficulty.

After boarding the Seaboard's Silver Meteor on Thursday, April 5 at 1:30 p.m. the group arrived in Washington on Friday morning and immediately began the conducted tours that had been planned weeks in advance.

The FBI Building was first on he agenda with each phase of the work that is carried on, there explained by a guide, who was a student completing his course before becoming an agent.

The group was then transported by buses to the Marine Barracks and heard the Marine Band during a practice session.

Friday at noon the students and chaperones checked, into the Houston Hotel where rooms were assigned and then lunch in the cafeteria.

During Friday afternoon a conducted tour and lecture of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was made. On this particular day $10 bills were being printed, and the group witnessed the operation from blank paper to the finished bill. The next visit was to the Capitol Building for another lectured tour. Everyone was very much impressed by the color and grandeur of the building, many having visualized it as just an austere granite structure, both inside and outside. One group was privileged to visit the "President's Room," which is usually not on the guided tour. This contained furniture that was used during Lincoln's administration.

On Saturday morning, during intermittent showers the band traveled to the East Front of the Capitol Building and posed for pictures on the steps. Because of the rain the group was an hour late for the appointment and Congressman Haley was not able to wait to greet the band.

At 11 a.m. they were assembled on the mall, in the designated area, waiting to step into place for the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade down Constitution Avenue. The Auburndale Band was one of over 250 marching units that participated in the parade and required more than two hours to pass a given point.

Visits to the Lincoln Museum (Ford Theater), Archives Building, and Washington Monument were made on Saturday afternoon.

At 8 o'clock Saturday, night the group went aboard the S. S. Sea Belle of the Wilson Lines for the Coronation Ball and a cruise up the Potomac River.

The Smithsonian Institute was visited on Sunday morning during the rain. After spending a couple of hours and quickly seeing all that one was able to see in that time the group returned to the hotel for lunch before leaving at one o'clock for a bus tour to the Lincoln Memorial and to see the "Changing of the Guard" at the "Tomb of the Unknowns" at Arlington National Cemetery.

Other points of interest during the bus tour was the Curtis Lee Mansion and the Marine Memorial "Flag Raising at Iwo Jima". The tour continued along scenic Mount Vernon Highway through historic Alexandria, Va. passing the homes of many men prominently identified with the early history of the United States, then on to Mount Vernon where George and Martha Washington resided.

A visit through the historical house and surrounding gardens made the early history of the United States seem much more real to everyone.

Everyone returned to the hotel for dinner on Sunday evening and then left for the Washington Terminal Station to entrain for the return trip home, arriving in Auburndale at 12:25 on Monday afternoon.

A tired, and exhausted troop of students and chaperones piled off the train to be met by waiting parents and relatives and friends.