~ a personal essay by Mike Pekarek, U.S. Air Force, retired
My name is Mike Pekarek. I retired from the U.S. Air Force Bands after 22 years of service in 36 nations on four continents. While stationed in Germany, I traveled through Ukraine several times and met many people who became friends. The closest of these are the horn players of the Presidential Orchestra of Ukraine, a group similar to America’s “President’s Own” US Marine Corps Band. We rehearsed and performed many times together.
I have been supporting Ukrainian defenders, including some of my musician friends, with uniforms and boots since soon after Russia launched the full-scale invasion. I am continuing this work as a volunteer leader with Ukraine Defense Support. Please allow me to share some of my reflections and memories of my friends as they fight for their families, their homes, and their freedom.
After February 24, 2022, the Orchestra contacted several USAF musicians and sent us digitized copies of all the original Ukrainian music in their archive, including some from civilian orchestras. They were, and remain, under threat of having unique parts of their culture destroyed by Russian invaders, either through a stray missile or worse, and sending us copies will prevent their loss. Every time an American performs these works now, we remember how an entire culture can be snuffed out by violence.
The Orchestra was mobilized into an ad hoc infantry unit that fateful February, serving until May fighting and winning the Battle of Kyiv, hunting assassins and saboteurs, digging trenches, building barricades, blocking some streets and setting up others as ambush “kill zones”. Some of these brave musicians signed up for extended service and fight on Ukraine’s frontlines today.
The first time I performed with the Presidential Orchestra of Ukraine was in 2017, on Ukraine’s 26th Independence Day, only three years after the Maidan Revolution, the Revolution of Hope. This concert in Maidan Square, Kyiv, was for thousands, memory expressed through music where Ukrainians had perished in 2014, under the shadow of a building burned out by pro-Russian officials.
After winning the Battle of Kyiv, Gregory (top left in the horns photo) recorded this original song, “Cranes.” Anyone with farm experience was ordered to help plant crops in the Summer of 2022 so Ukraine could eat during winter. Reporting to his father’s farm near Poltava, he had left all his instruments in Kyiv and all he had on the farm was his old broken guitar from his teenage years. “Cranes” is about a Russian artillery strike on a civilian bus, recorded on his father’s farm after nine weeks of combat. Cranes have a metaphorical meaning in Ukraine, symbolizing the souls of the departed. One line in the song is “Look at the Cranes as they fly away. They saw a nation on fire, a twisted lump of metal, and iron dust on the trees.”
One of my other horn-player friends, Maksym, is one of Ukraine’s many heroes. Maksym was activated from reserve into his unit, the now-legendary 1st Tanks out of Chernihiv. They engaged a Russian force ten times their size in the Battle of Kyiv and won. In the successful Ukrainian counter-offensive of Summer 2022, he was part of the breakthrough unit that rushed behind Russian lines to hasten their retreat. He liberated many villages and was one of the first into Izyum, where he found a mass grave, filled with victims of Russian war crimes. It has been my task to outfit many soldiers, often with my own gear. Maksym in the picture is wearing my uniform, the one I wore while deployed in Afghanistan, a tie between American servicemembers and Ukraine as so many Americans veterans have donated their gear to Ukraine. He died with his tank a few weeks later. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, Maksym like so many others gave the last, full measure of devotion to Ukraine.
My good friend Gregory, who recorded his original song, “Cranes.”“, was performing as principal Horn of Kyiv’s Operetta Orchestra when he was recalled to service in May 2024, and I love this photo of him. He’s with his son upon completion of basic military training just this past June. He has fought in the Bakhmut and Dontestk directions since then.
My last musical performance in Ukraine was with retired Master Sergeant Tom Salyers, a wonderful trumpet player. He wrote this piece for my Air Force retirement. It’s a weaving of the Ukrainian and American national anthems. This is the brass quintet from the Presidential Orchestra’s recording. Every one of these musicians is a combat veteran. Sasha on horn is a wonderful player.
https://youtu.be/0zsfm_1A5Jc?si=Oe5ZGHCdT-L5il9H
To close with an overture, this classic piece of Ukrainian high art music was sent to the US Air Force Bands in February 2022. Mykola Lysenko’s Overture to his opera “Taras Bulba,” performed by the USAF Band of Mid America, was a tribute to Ukraine and a way to communicate Ukrainian spirit to audiences in the USA. There are five musicians on this recording that traveled through Ukraine with me, including the conductor. More still donated uniforms and gear for me to deliver. I am playing principal horn: https://youtu.be/0QbxbQD5WCs?si=jaV5zGwxfYH_fV0F
