The U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band will kick off the season at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts with a free concert Saturday, Nov. 23, at 7 p.m.

The band was one of the original Army Air Corps bands, created by order of the Secretary of War on Oct. 1, 1941, and assigned to Barksdale Field in Louisiana. In June 1946, the band was transferred to what is now Joint Base Langley-Eustis, where it remains based.

The band represents the Air Force across the mid-Atlantic in live concerts and to the nation in televised events such as “The Today Show” and the Desert Storm National Victory Parade, as well as presidential inaugural events. The band has also performed ceremonies for U.S. presidents and foreign heads of state.

The mission of the Air Force bands is not purely entertainment. The Blue Aces were among the first groups to tour Southwest Asia and the Horn of Africa to support forces serving in the Global War on Terrorism, according to the band’s website.

The band has earned international critical acclaim and numerous honors, including eight Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards, five Air Force Organizational Excellence Awards, four Colonel George S. Howard Citations of Musical Excellence for Military Concert Band, North Carolina’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine, and countless state and municipal proclamations.