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A powerful spring break for Marquette Chorus

Members of the chorus as they were escorted to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Front row, students Andrew Mountin and Sarah Kikkert; second row, students Ross Treffert and Dan Statter. Below: Presenting Marquette's wreath.

For Marquette University Chorus director Greg Carpenter, respect for military veterans is a deeply personal issue. His father is a World War II veteran who was at the invasion at Normandy. When he and his father visited the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., last year, Carpenter was moved to tears. He vowed then that he would bring back the nearly 50 students in the university's chorus to Washington, D.C. to sing at the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, and that they would lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

It took months of planning and a stringent application process, but Carpenter's dream came true during spring break last week. At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, four members of the choir crossed a barrier that less than 1 percent of the nation will ever be allowed to cross. As chorus members lined both sides of the walkway, a soldier of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment escorted chorus president Andrew Mountin, treasurer Ross Treffert, and tour managers Dan Statter and Sarah Kikkert to lay a Marquette wreath.

"The students feel that the dedication, while done by members of the chorus, was done in the name of the entire university," Carpenter says.

The choir also sang at the feet of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial, facing both the Washington Monument and the World War II Memorial as they sang selections that included parts of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. "I reminded the singers that the location where we were singing that selection was no more than 10 feet from the place where Dr. King delivered his speech," Carpenter says. They later sang in the World War II Memorial songs about peace, dedication and a tribute to those who are honored there.

"These two singing events added to the wreath-laying became a three-way stop that is most momentous," Carpenter says. "Singers noted how many visitors at the memorials stopped to hear us sing, place their children in front of us to take pictures and sing along on the National Anthem."

While in D.C., the chorus performed eight concerts total, including at the Washington National Cathedral, where Helen Keller is buried. In her honor, the choir sang with their eyes closed. The moment was so powerful that many of the students wept.

See a video of the wreath-laying ceremony.