USNA: Drum and Bugle Corps • United States Naval Institute Proceedings 61:1492‑1493 (1935)

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This webpage reproduces an article in
Naval Institute Proceedings
Vol. 61 No. 10 (Oct. 1935), pp1492‑1493

The text is in the public domain,
the 1935 copyright not having been renewed in 1962 or 1963.

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p1492 Drum and Bugle Corps

By Midshipman E. A. Grantham, U. S. Navya

It is felt by many that the order reproduced below has been the cause of the formation of the drum and bugle corps in that it was further decided that all who played on bugles or "fish horns" be collected together and somewhat isolated as a whole. But in spite of the night practices which keep half the regiment awake and have earned it the name of "The Hell-Cats," the drum and bugle corps is far from a nuisance; it has important functions in the affairs of the regiment.

Certainly no noon or evening meal formation would be complete without the music of the corps as the regiment marches to dinner or supper. Equally important are the drum beats of the corps when the regiment goes to chapel. And at every dress parade, the drum and bugle corps alternates with the band in furnishing the cadence coming on the field and passing in review. At the football games away from home, the corps is the final faithful bit of the regiment to man the stands and it is the first triumphant portion of the regiment to march jubilantly through the streets of Annapolis when returning from a victory.

Wherever the regiment goes on exhibition, there the drum and bugle corps is too. It is as necessary a part of midshipman life and routine as study hour and classes.

Midshipman Thompson, the recipient of this missive, is none other than the late Colonel Robert Means Thompson, Naval Academy's eminent benefactor, in whose honor the Academy's Stadium is named.

[Transcribed:]

Oct. 25 1867.

Order

Midshipman Thompson (1st class) who plays so abominably on a fish horn will oblige me by going outside the limits when he wants to practice or he will find himself coming out of the little end of the horn.

David D. Porter
Vice Admiral
& Supt nl. a.

p1493

[image ALT: A military formation of men in naval uniforms, six abreast and eight deep, at attention and spaced somewhat farther apart than a regular marching unit; three leaders in front of them. The front men can be seen to be holding out to their right sides trumpets or similar instruments from which small flags fall. It is a photograph of the United States Naval Academy's Drum and Bugle Corps.]

The Drum and Bugle Corps

Always a colorful part of any parade, they come into their own at the Army-Navy Game.

[image ALT: A military formation of men in naval band uniforms, eight abreast and ten or sometimes only nine deep, at attention and spaced somewhat farther apart than a regular marching unit; a drum major (wearing a shake out) and another leader in front of them. It is a photograph of the United States Naval Academy's Band.]

The Naval Academy Band

These bandsmen are enlisted in the Navy for duty at the Naval Academy. They must be able to play in an orchestra as well as in the Band. Their morning concerts during the spring have cheered many a midshipman suffering from the long winter struggle with his studies.

Thayer's Note:

a Emery Arden Grantham, born in Albany, Texas on Dec. 4, 1914, would graduate third in the Class of 1937 and go on to serve as a naval constructor, receiving a Master's degree in naval architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He retired as Rear Admiral in 1974 and died in 1998, and is memorialized on the Heroes' Monument in his hometown.

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