County dedicates music wing to former Tuskegee airman

Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007

County dedicates music wing to former Tuskegee airman

Leroy Battle launched music school at Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro

by Andrea Noble | Staff Writer

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Bryan Haynes⁄The Gazette

LeRoy ‘‘Boots” Battle (left), former Frederick Douglass High School music teacher and Tuskegee Airman, is congratulated by Douglass alumna Joan Johnson of the District during a ceremony in which the school’s music wing was dedicated to Battle on Saturday.

In 1950, the Prince George’s County school system hired LeRoy ‘‘Boots” Battle to lead a band at Frederick Douglass High School that did not yet exist. But as his former students attested Saturday at a ceremony to dedicate the school’s music wing in his honor, Battle did a phenomenal job once the band was put together.

‘‘I told the parents, if you let me teach your child to blow a horn, I guarantee they will never blow a safe,” said Battle, 85, recalling how he worked to earn parents’ trust.

Battle came to Douglass, in Upper Marlboro, after serving as a Tuskegee airman and earning his bachelor’s degree in instrumental music at Morgan State College through the G.I. Bill. It was the dedication and discipline he learned in the armed forces that pushed his marching bands at Douglass to win 60 first-place trophies in various competitions during his 18-year leadership.

‘‘We had to be buttoned up when we stepped off that bus,” former drum major Silverene Johnson recalled. ‘‘And the boys couldn’t curse. We had to be role models.”

Battle recruited 12 students and began practices in September 1950. Two months later, Battle took them to their first march at the Morgan State University homecoming parade. Years later in 1965, a band of 100 students participated in the World’s Fair in New York City.

As the current Douglass band director, Schwanda Smith said she is inspired by Battle’s successes. This year, Smith hopes to increase the number of students in the band, which currently has 70.

The band lost several musicians to Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School, which opened in Upper Marlboro in 2006.

‘‘I hope to follow in his footsteps,” Smith said. ‘‘I want to put [the band] back into that higher quality that he established.”

More than 100 friends, former students, teachers, Tuskegee airmen and dignitaries attended the dedication.

‘‘Never in my life had I seen the pride and the smiles that people have when they start talking about you and your band,” state Del. James E. Proctor Jr. (D-Dist. 27A) of Accokeek told Battle.

Proctor said he had heard much over the years about Battle as his wife, Susie, was a majorette with the band for three years.

‘‘You had to play an instrument, and I didn’t play one, so I studied the clarinet for a whole year before he let me become a majorette,” Susie Proctor said.

Students also remembered Battle for his kindness and commitment to their education.

‘‘My family didn’t even have running water and we couldn’t afford private [music] lessons, but [Battle] made arrangements so we could,” said former majorette Phyllis Evans, who received a music scholarship for college.

Even after Battle left Douglass and went on to serve as a guidance counselor and vice principal at several schools in Prince George’s County, he continued to encourage students through music.

‘‘Wherever I was stationed, I would sit in with the band and help the band director if they needed it,” Battle said.