The Ties That Bind

[onceuponatime]

I woke up today with a lot on my mind, all of it related to Memorial Day.

Several days ago I received the latest issue of Bob Bella Rosa’s Heritage

Magazine. There were two photos in that issue that reached a place deep within

my psyche. The first was a photo of the original Hawthorne Caballeros, all

recently returned from the war, all in their Navy bell-bottom uniforms. The

other was a photo of the original Gabarina corps, all recently returned home,

all in the uniforms of the various services. I looked, and for the first time I

think, I understood the deep, deep ties that today bind the members and alumni

of these two corps to the young men I was looking at in their uniforms from a

war fought so long ago, so far away. I was very young during that war, and it

took me all this time to begin to grasp the almost religious devotion the

members and alumni of the Caballeros and Gabarina have to their corps. I guess

that those younger than I, which at this point includes most of the people in my

world, will probably never fully understand the depth of this de

votion.

I thought also of my fellow Cadet Bob Bella Rosa and his period of service

guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington. I remembered, and for the first

time I think, I understood the deep sense of pride and devotion and privilege he

felt. I had often listened to his stories of his time at Arlington, and I was

fascinated and in awe, but I never really, truly saw things through his eyes.

Now I think do, at least to some small degree.

Most people don’t know that Holy Name actually began their life in 1917, but it

was a short-lived existence. World War I was just beginning, and the first

members of Holy Name were needed elsewhere. So the corps was disbanded, and our

young predecessors went off to foreign lands, some never to return.

I saw another photo not too long ago of the Cadets from the early 1940s posed on

the steps of The Church of the Most Holy Name in Garfield. All the Cadets in the

photo were very, very young. I had seen this photo before, but somehow I had

always missed the flag centered in the very top row of Cadets. It had a blue

star with the number 70 on it. During World War II if you had a member of your

family in the military you had a small flag you placed in the front window of

your house. One blue star for each family member. If the star was gold you knew

that someone in that house had made the supreme sacrifice. I don’t know why I

remember that one detail from my youngest years relative to the war. Probably

because in my Grandparent’s house, in their front window, there was a flag with

four blue stars on it.

The young Cadets in the photo I had seen so many times were young because the

older Cadets had gone off to fight for America in foreign lands, some never to

return. The 70 on that flag represented 70 Cadets. 70 members of our Cadet

family. 70 of us! I don’t know why it took me so long to notice it, or to

understand it. But I do now.

Those thoughts this morning brought back so many memories of Cadets I knew and

marched with. Cadets that after their years in maroon and gold, donned the

uniforms of the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard. Some of those too

went off to fight in foreign lands, some never to return. I think of them often.

I knew them. I shared a part of my life with them. My devotion to them, my

feelings for them, my pride in what they did was always something I understood.

This morning though it became something larger. It made me swell with pride. It

helped me to understand in a different way the many reasons for my very deep

and very personal feelings for The Cadets.

With all this on my mind I headed to Hawthorne this afternoon to watch their

Memorial Day Parade, and to participate in the pizza party the alumni had

planned after the parade for the 2008 Cadets. I opened my lawn chair and sat in

the shade surrounded by Cadet Alumni, and Caballero Alumni, and Gabarina Alumni;

and I felt good, because I thought I wasn’t there just to watch them perform…I

was there, at least in part, because I finally understood why it is all so

important to so many of us.

It was a great parade. It gets better every year, and both the Cabs Alumni and

the Gabarina Alumni were as good or better than I’ve ever seen them. They

stopped by the reviewing stand, right next to where I was seated, and each

played a short concert. They were great. I had heard most or all of their

musical selections a hundred times before, but this time it was different. This

time I was emotionally in tune with why these numbers I had heard played so

often were important, and why the Caballero Alumni and the Gabarina Alumni of

the here and now were tied to all the young men freshly returned from war who

preceded them.

I guess that experience prepared me for my own moment of immeasurable pride, and

devotion, and privilege; perhaps to some small degree not unlike what Bob Bella

Rosa had experienced during his many hours guarding that sacred tomb in

Arlington. I knew what was coming of course. I just wasn’t ready for it. I

looked to my left and moving up the street I saw the new young 2008 Cadets, the

inheritors of the great gift passed onto them by the Cadets of the 1917 WWI

corps, and the Cadets of the 1940s WWII corps, and the Cadets who fought in

Korea, and Vietnam, and Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Haiti, and Panama, and

Country after Country. The Cadets who were commissioned as officers at West

Point, and Annapolis, and The Air Force Academy; at V.M.I., The Citadel, and

Valley Forge.

Leading them up the street was Sr. DM Chris Castille, wearing once again the

white and gold uniform of so many Cadet Drum Majors before him. To me it was

like watching a dream materialize out of a distant cloud. As the Cadets passed

in front of me I saw the Holy Name Cadet patches on their tunic sleeves, and I

understood, finally and forever, the importance of the ties of our lives that

bind us. We can argue about many things in drum corps, and we do; but one moment

like I experienced today leads to an understanding of what is truly important,

and why this absurd little hobby called drum corps, has made us what we are.

Following the parade Cadet Alumni and the 2008 marching Cadets joined together

at the Hawthorne American Legion Post #199 to share refreshments and

restrengthen the bond that began so many, many years ago. The alumni

distributed the baseball caps to the Cadets as a symbolic gesture of pride and

solidarity. Then, the alumni went up on the stage and sang in tribute to our

newest Cadets, The Holy Name Hymn. The alumni on the stage represented 74 years

of Cadets who had gone before . They represented those 1917 Cadets, and those

1940s Cadets, and all the other Cadets who have brought us so much honor in the

way in which they lived their lives.

So that’s how I spent my Memorial Day; remembering, and at long last

understanding my past, and the reason why that past , and all of our pasts, were

and are, and always will be, important.

For Holy Name shall always be…

[scott414]

Excellent post..... One of DCP's finest!!!!!!!! thanks for writing this!

[Jocko the Wonder Llama]

One of the finest postings I have ever seen on the internet. Thank you for writting this.

[Puppet]

Thank you so much.

I am awe struck by the depth of your feelings.

Puppet

[Drumss]

Your post strikes a chord... and is right on the money. Many younger corps members today aren't aware of the roots of our activity... this post helps place it in perspective.

[skluyuk]

Just ... wow. Thank you for putting that into words. The genesis of drum and bugle corps should never be forgotten or dishonored.

[josh161]

Wow. Im a young one to drum corps. I marched my first season in 2007 and am taking the year off for 2008 ( im broke), and this really jsut makes so much sense to me. I knew that our little activity evolved from the military, but i was never really aware of the extent. Reading your post made me start to tear up. I think i am going to be going into the military as a musician, its thigns like this that make it that more important for me, knowing how closely drum corps ties us into those great americans lost their lives for what we have today. THey lost their lifes so we could still have drum corps, music, and all the things we love. They lsot their lives for the us all. One of the biggest universal rules in drum corps that ive noticed is respect. REspect for other corps, respect for yourself, respect for the living and the dead. All i can say is thank you for this post. Made me realize alot of things that i shouldve learned a long time ago. THank you