The six singers who are joining the All-American Choir in Normandy and Paris to commemorate D-Day this June: Cathy Hendricks, Laurie Henning, Brian Senner, Hank Zielinski, Dawn Cheney, Kelly Pence. (Submitted photo)

Six Bend singers will be joining the All-American Choir this June to commemorate D-Day, the American invasion of Nazi-held France that began the end of WWII, in Normandy and Paris.

The Central Oregon Mastersingers, an audition-only choir in Bend, was invited by Historic Productions to join, and artistic director Christian Clark sent the invitation on to other choirs in Bend. Roughly 50 singers from across the country are in the All-American Choir, and six of them are from Bend. Five of the singers are with the Central Oregon Mastersingers and one is with Opera Bend.

Singer Cathy Hendricks first learned about the invitation and helped organize the trip.

“My dad was career Air Force and he was a World War II vet. Even though he was in the South Pacific and not in Normandy, I’m sure I will see names from my hometown there. I’m from North Dakota and North Dakota and Oregon are always the first National Guard that they call up,” said Hendricks. “It’s pretty humbling to be able to do something like this…You really understand what it means to be an American, and as Americans we should have a united front, and always have another American’s back, just like those boys did having each other’s backs and helping liberate the French.”

The choir, along with a mass band, will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Hymn to the Fallen” at Utah Beach to commemorate D-Day. They will also visit the Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. The choir will also sing in Le Concert de Liberation, walk in the D-Day Memorial Parade in Sainte-Mere-Eglise and sing at the Sainte-Mere-Eglise Church chapel. Their final performance will be at the La Madeline Cathedral. There will be some sightseeing sprinkled in throughout the trip.

Two veterans are among the participating singers, Marine Brian Senner and Army/Navy veteran Hank Zielinski, who is a retired surgeon. Singer Dawn Cheney is also joining the choir from Bend.

Hendricks, 70, has been a singer all her life. She became an accountant, and moved to Central Oregon in 2000. She joined the Cascade Chorale and was asked to join the Mastersingers when it started in 2005. This is the organization’s 20th year, and the choir regularly takes international trips.

“We have a mission to bring quality music to the community and we work with the high schoolers to let them know there is music after high school,” she said.

Laurie Henning is looking forward to the experience of singing at Utah Beach and commemorating D-Day. She had three uncles who served and is bringing copies of their discharge papers with her. A few co-workers have asked her to bring back mementos.

“It combines things that I love, which is music and travel, meeting new people and experiencing different cultures,” said Henning, 68. “Because I was fairly new in the choir last year, the trip to Italy provided an opportunity for me to get to know people more intimately. I loved that and I’ve made some friends as a result, which has been wonderful.”

Henning has sung with the Mastersingers for nearly three years after moving to Central Oregon five years ago.

“I’m looking forward to the music and the singing. To me, music is a form of communicating and even a form of prayer for me,” she said. “The part that the United States played in helping World War II come to an end, and this was a really difficult battle. It seems like a lot of veterans come home and they don’t want to talk about it. I know that was true for my uncles … But I think it’s a way to honor family members and our country in the part we played in helping to prevent a longer war.”

Kelly Pence sings with Opera Bend and her church choir. She used to sing with Hendricks in Cascades Chorale and was brought on board by her after participating in a Mastersingers sing-along. She has always loved singing and was a history major in college so is excited to visit Normandy and Paris, especially with Senner and Zielinski.

“My dad was in the Navy, he did a tour in Vietnam, so just that with the veterans and D-Day and World War II is such a massive part of our history as a country. The fact that we’re still celebrating D-Day 80 years later,” said Pence, 41. “It’s going to be massively impactful to be there.”