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Music Salutes WWII Battle

Andy Jones / Tampa Tribune

Fred Faulkner, right, and the Richey Concert Band practice Faulkner's composition, 'The Ardennes March.' Faulkner, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, wrote the tune to honor everyone who served in that battle.

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By GEOFF FOX, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 18, 2007

Audio Slide Show: Hear 'The Ardennes March'

TRINITY - Fred Faulkner thought he knew how to stay warm during the harshest winter.

The Chicago native learned otherwise after he volunteered to serve in World War II.

Faulkner was 17 in 1943, when anger over the war inspired him to join the Army. Less than two years later, he found himself in a mobile hut-like building in the Ardennes forest, where he helped intercept German radio transmissions during the infamous Battle of the Bulge.

The hut wasn't insulated and its thin walls offered minimal protection against the wind and snow.

Temperatures fell to minus-15 degrees.

"It was the coldest winter in Europe in 50 or 60 years," said Faulkner, 82, of Trinity. "The fighting kind of ramped down, but the cold never did. I never got over that cold. I got frostbite - everybody did. Mine wasn't bad enough to have a permanent injury, other than this pain I get when I'm in the cold. Some guys actually lost limbs.

"Once you get down to zero degrees, it doesn't make a difference. There's no place to hide. It was bad news."

Memories of that brutal winter are partly responsible for Faulkner's move to Florida in 1994. Those recollections also moved the longtime amateur musician to pen a march dedicated to U.S. troops who participated in the Battle of the Bulge, one of World War II's bloodiest battles.

A saxophone player with the Richey Concert Band, Faulkner said he didn't think that the battle had been immortalized musically. So, he sat down at his piano several months ago and got to work.

In June, he asked Henry Fletcher, director of the Richey Concert Band, to help him finish the piece.

"He just said, 'Take a look and see if it's worth doing,'

" said Fletcher, who has led the band for about 35 years. "I took it home and looked through it and it had some good melodies. I told him I'd try to make it into a march.

"I did not expect it to be as good as it was. A lot of times, you get people who send you a piece, and you can't figure it out. But in his case, the melodies made sense, and it was very well done."

Despite a vast musical knowledge, Fletcher said he didn't know of any songs written specifically about the battle, aside from a soundtrack for the 1965 film "Battle of the Bulge."

"If there is one, it's probably rare," he said. "I can't believe there isn't a piece. You name it, there's a song about it, down to all the Army units that did this, that and the other thing. But I've never heard of anything for the Battle of the Bulge. I can't find one, anyway."

The Richey Concert Band is expected to play the "Ardennes March" on Dec. 2 during a concert at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey. The band practiced the march for the first time this month.

The music moved one band member to tears, Fletcher said.

Although the band will practice the piece only four or five times before the concert, Fletcher is confident it will go smoothly at the show.

That would be good enough for Faulkner, who doesn't expect to get rich by writing the song. He doesn't even seem to care if it never gets recorded.

Personal glory isn't the point. "We had half a million people involved in that battle, and I thought it would be appropriate for a musical heritage, if you will," he said. "Hopefully, other bands will play it, assuming it's OK, and I think it is."

After the war, Faulkner moved back to Chicago and its comparatively mild winters.

For a while, he owned Graphics Arts Data Services and later worked in the computer industry. He has raised three children. Twice widowed, he is now married to wife Phyllis. The couple lives in a comfortable community south of State Road 54 with Mozart, their energetic Maltese.

On a recent weekday, Faulkner described how frostbite caused his fingertips to turn white during post-war Chicago winters, a painful reminder of his grim war service.

But, as long as Faulkner remembers the cold, he will also remember where his unit was when they learned that the war was over.

"I was in a little town in the valley, Recklinghausen, Germany. It was a great day," he said. "We celebrated mightily. Somebody in our unit or an adjacent unit stumbled onto a stash of cognac and wine. The Germans used to hide this stuff in mines.

"I don't know if civilians told the guys or what, but they went down into this mine shaft and found a whole level just full of booze. We put that to good use."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 948-4217 or gfox@tampatrib.com. Keyword: March to see and hear the "Ardennes March" practiced.

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