I want to welcome everyone to York, Pennsylvania and our reunion. Reunion means the reuniting of family and the coming together, and corps means a separate branch of the armed forces having a specialized function. Well, both of these definitions are well suited to this group. Yes, this corps was like a family.

I remember as a young, single rookie helping an off-base married cat move a refrigerator. Now I didn't know them, but it was one of our people. Also, the first flight back from a trip and the married guys were to land first, but didn't. The wives were waiting for them but when we single rookies piled off the aircraft one of those girls gave me a peck on the cheek and said, "welcome back." Man, that's family!

Speaking of family, you girls who were there in the beginning, we have a special salute for you and we love you. In fact, I feel sorry for you as I saw your men in their underware, I slept with them, ate with them, and yes, even faced death with them. But to really understand this corps of men, you need a history lesson.

The USAF Drum & Bugle Corps was formed in 1949 by Captain Herbert Gall or "Herbie" as we call him. From the beginning, the corps was an immediate hit. It was recorded that it was the only one of its kind in the world, (probably the only the military could handle). Its precision marching and intricate formations were considered the most exact ever designed, but then they didn't see the "scatter" and "bomb shell" after each guy had a nip from the champagne and wine in France).

The corps had its music men. First was Sig Norman, then Bobby Felder and finally Truman Crawford. We played music like "Conquest" (Captain From Castile), "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue", "Are You From Dixie", "West Side Story", "Americans We", and of course, "Mambo Jambo", and on and on it goes. With the leadership of Ed Dougherty (Mr. Peepers) and later CWO Lou Kriebel, the corps was a formidable force. The corps had special bass bugles that were built for them and this added a fifth voice along with the soprano, tenor, french horn and baritone bugles. If that doesn't make sense, just listen to our recordings.

Eventually bagpipes were added and taught by William Galloway, ex-pipe major of the Black Watch. They marched between the drums and bugles and later became a separate unit of their own wearing the full highland dress. Their highlight claim to fame was playing for the funeral of President John F. Kennedy. But it was as a unit that the drums, bugles and bagpipes entertained The World.

We marched and played for: The Royal Family of England, The President of Germany, The Mayor of Paris, The Sultan of Morocco, The Emperor of Japan, as well as many U. S. Presidents which included: Hoover, Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson. We played for Walt Disney, Ed Sullivan's "Show of Shows", Dave Garroway and the "Wide, Wide, World" (who can forget standing on a frozen lake in Minnesota for six hours?). There were Pro football games, Bowl Games including: Sugar, Rose, Gator, Cotten and many others.

There was the stage at Radio City Music Hall (who missed the elevator and came up with the Rockettes?) Soldier Field in Chicago, the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, the St. Paul Winter Carnival, San Jacinto Celebration, Texas State Fair, Cheyene Frontier Days, Pre-Olympic Games, National Orange Festival and the list goes on and on. We toured The World and the States, some of the most nmemorable being: Edinburgh Music Festival and Tattoo, White City Tattoo, the Woolich, Norwich and Bath Tattoos, from the Bastille Day parades in Morocco to the World's Fair in Brussels, Belgium.

We performed for millions of people and we were just as thrilled to be there. But it was "E'sprit de Corps" which means sense of pride and honor, and that's this corps. From our founding members like Joe College, Roger Quiron, Bob Meredith, Bill Jansen, Leroy Carroll, Howie Smith and to the "brotherhood" who followed me, making our corps even better. Although the corps moved to Colorado Springs and melted into the Cadet Corps, our fame will always be our name........