thedrifter
10-12-06, 08:28 AM
Leatherneck Salutes Americans in Military
Former Marine sponsoring concert to show appreciation
10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, October 11, 2006
By JOE VARGO
The Press-Enterprise
The password is Troubadours.
A free concert Saturday to salute men and women in uniform can be had by calling the Riverside Municipal Auditorium box office and uttering the magic word, Ray Trosper said.
Trosper should know. The Norco resident planned the entire evening and is ponying up $50,000 to cover the costs.
"Sept. 11 stung a lot of people; it was this generation's Pearl Harbor," Trosper, 49, said from his home Wednesday. "I want our troops to know that five years later, there's still a lot of patriotism in America."
Festivities include appearances by Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force reserve units from throughout Southern California; a laser show; and plenty of red, white and blue patriotic songs.
The headline act, Nashville-based Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours, plays country and country-rock music and celebrates mobile-home living.
Trosper said Marines from Camp Pendleton, and members of Air Force Reserve and Naval Reserve units from March Air Reserve Base as well as Army troops from Fort Irwin will attend the show.
Trosper said show costs include $11,000 to rent the 1,800-seat auditorium, $15,000 for the band and its expenses, $15,000 for advertising and $3,500 for the laser show.
He believes it's money well spent.
"What's the cost of a guy who's dodging bullets in Iraq?" he said.
He said he knew Corona Army Sgt. Ryan Young personally and grieved when Young was killed in 2003.
Trosper served from 1975 to '78 in the Marine Corps, where he was assigned to Charlie Company, 3rd Assault Amphibious Battalion. The company is in Iraq.
Three Marines serving in the Camp Pendleton-based unit have been killed in action, while another six have received Purple Hearts for combat wounds.
Laura Froehlich, who heads a volunteer group that provides coffee and snacks for Marines departing to and returning from Iraq via March Air Reserve Base, said Trosper put on a similar show in March. Trosper's Charlie Company couldn't attend. It deployed to Iraq the day of the show.
"It was an excellent show," Froehlich said. "Everybody was really moved by it."
Trosper said military personnel are available to meet the public beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday at Gram's Mission Barbeque Palace, 3527 Main St., Riverside.
Reach Joe Vargo at 951-567-2407 or jvargo@PE.com
Ellie
Former Marine sponsoring concert to show appreciation
10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, October 11, 2006
By JOE VARGO
The Press-Enterprise
The password is Troubadours.
A free concert Saturday to salute men and women in uniform can be had by calling the Riverside Municipal Auditorium box office and uttering the magic word, Ray Trosper said.
Trosper should know. The Norco resident planned the entire evening and is ponying up $50,000 to cover the costs.
"Sept. 11 stung a lot of people; it was this generation's Pearl Harbor," Trosper, 49, said from his home Wednesday. "I want our troops to know that five years later, there's still a lot of patriotism in America."
Festivities include appearances by Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force reserve units from throughout Southern California; a laser show; and plenty of red, white and blue patriotic songs.
The headline act, Nashville-based Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours, plays country and country-rock music and celebrates mobile-home living.
Trosper said Marines from Camp Pendleton, and members of Air Force Reserve and Naval Reserve units from March Air Reserve Base as well as Army troops from Fort Irwin will attend the show.
Trosper said show costs include $11,000 to rent the 1,800-seat auditorium, $15,000 for the band and its expenses, $15,000 for advertising and $3,500 for the laser show.
He believes it's money well spent.
"What's the cost of a guy who's dodging bullets in Iraq?" he said.
He said he knew Corona Army Sgt. Ryan Young personally and grieved when Young was killed in 2003.
Trosper served from 1975 to '78 in the Marine Corps, where he was assigned to Charlie Company, 3rd Assault Amphibious Battalion. The company is in Iraq.
Three Marines serving in the Camp Pendleton-based unit have been killed in action, while another six have received Purple Hearts for combat wounds.
Laura Froehlich, who heads a volunteer group that provides coffee and snacks for Marines departing to and returning from Iraq via March Air Reserve Base, said Trosper put on a similar show in March. Trosper's Charlie Company couldn't attend. It deployed to Iraq the day of the show.
"It was an excellent show," Froehlich said. "Everybody was really moved by it."
Trosper said military personnel are available to meet the public beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday at Gram's Mission Barbeque Palace, 3527 Main St., Riverside.
Reach Joe Vargo at 951-567-2407 or jvargo@PE.com
Ellie