Singing America’s praises

All Michelle Duque ever wanted was to become an American.

As a child growing up in the Philippines, she yearned for a better life overseas, to belong to a country that she believed stood up for freedom and opportunity.

So when she immigrated to the United States three years ago, the young woman decided to give back to her adopted country: She enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.

On Tuesday, Duque’s dream of becoming an American finally came true. She not only became a U.S. citizen along with 41 others during a naturalization ceremony downtown, she also sang an emotional rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” for the large crowd gathered in the U.S. District Court courtroom.

“I love this country,” she said. “That’s why I’m in the military. … This (certificate of naturalization) means a lot to me.”

A senior airman in the U.S. Air Force, Duque was a member of Tops in Blue, a special Air Force unit made up of active-duty airmen who travel all over the world to perform for military personnel and their families. Thousands compete each year for a spot in this elite group of vocalists, musicians and dancers, but only 30 to 35 are chosen.

Duque – winner of this summer’s “Spokane Idol” – spent a year with Tops in Blue, singing and dancing for troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and dozens of other countries. When they were overseas, she and the cast traveled in KC-10s with literally tons of equipment that included instruments, costumes and speakers. They were their own roadies, she explained, spending hours preparing their own stage before actually getting on it to perform. Despite the 130-degree temperatures they endured in the Middle East and Central Asia, the performers went through at least eight costume changes per show and smiled as they sweated on stage.

“I went there for the purpose of giving a little bit of home to our troops,” said Duque, who performed a variety of songs from jazz and pop to Broadway favorites and patriotic classics. “I was overwhelmed to go out into the desert and meet people willing to die for their country.

“I’m proud to be part of that.”

Like many others at Tuesday’s ceremony above the U.S. Post Office, Duque left her native country seeking economic opportunity. The 23-year-old grew up on the Philippine island of Palawan, a paradise of white-sand beaches and waterfalls but with few jobs or hope for prosperity for the people who live there. In order to feed his family, Duque’s father, Dionisiyo, got a job as a civilian radio operator at Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian Ocean populated mostly by U.S. military. Since she was 9, Duque saw her dad for a month at a time, every one or two years.

“Life is hard over there,” said Duque, who recalled how she got a job as a cashier for a butcher but earned only $1 a day.

Three years ago, she and her mother, Phoebe, and little sister, Faye, got a visa to the United States and joined their relatives in the San Diego area. As a legal resident, she was able to enlist in the military.

Duque started singing when she was 3, said her mom, who traveled from California to attend the naturalization ceremony and visit her daughter. As a little girl, she memorized all the lyrics to Lionel Richie’s “Hello.” Her musical influences were Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and her own dad, who sang a lot of Kenny Rogers songs using the family’s karaoke machine.

“I’m so proud of her,” said Phoebe Duque.

Wearing her navy blue uniform, her medals and her jet black hair pulled back into a neat bun, Michelle Duque belted out the notes to the national anthem with lots of rubato as her expressive face conveyed the emotion in her heart. Something stirs inside whenever she sings “The Star Spangled Banner,” she said earlier in the day.

The crowd – including the new Americans who hail from more than a dozen countries including Jordan, Rwanda, Canada and the United Kingdom – burst into applause. Fellow airmen from Fairchild Air Force Base also attended the event.

Duque, who returned to her accounting duties at Fairchild after the ceremony, said she didn’t need a huge party to celebrate. The ceremony alone gave her enough joy.

She’s now a U.S. citizen. And America is no longer that far-away place that she once longed for.

“It means home to me,” she said. “This is where my troops come from. This is where my friends live.”