oldAKbroad

Unfortuntately, we received the DCI flag, not the trophy at the show in '92. The trophy was kept in the basement of DCI for years, and in recent attempts to have it sent to us, was told it never existed. Well, it did exist. I saw it, and I touched it at the ceremony at the Chicago Marriott in 1982 when those wonderful replica trophies were presented to all the DCI champions thus far, minus the Kingsmen. DCI didn't present ours to any representative that night because in their minds, we didn't really have a director in 1972. Mr. Porter had left under duress, and the leadership at the time wasn't considered worthy (a good decision.) Anyhow, apparently over the ensuing 25 years, the trophy has disappeared, and is probably hidden in someone's home. Oh well, we have our memories. The trophy would be nice though... I know this is almost seven months after the fact, but thank you SO MUCH to all the wonderful people who stayed to watch and support the KAC on August 10th. Believe me when I tell you that your energy and enthusiasm was an enormous part of our total experience. A note too, about our "Alumni" corps fielding non-Kingsmen alumni. Our journey and ultimate experience was all the richer for having these fantastic people with us. They brought their stories, good humor, kindness, friendship and dedication and made us all the better for it. The lines blurred long ago about who is a Kingsmen alum and who isn't. At the end, who cares? When we all hit the field for our final grueling week of work and the payoff on August 10th, every single person who wore the blue cadet was a Kingsmen. Finally, for those folks who might still be interested in purchasing a DVD of the performance, you can do so by going to: www.xkingsmen.com there is a tiny link to it right there on the first page.

Truer words were never said. When we first started out, our hope was to march 100% alumni, but that wasn't realistic since the Kingsmen had been bye-bye for many years. Folks from other corps (even people from our "arch enemies" ), started joining and before you knew it, we had a full-fledged drum corps. The lines have blurred so much now, that nobody cares where our members originated. With all the blood, sweat and tears that have been poured into our little endeavor by everyone, it's just impossible not to consider each and every member a Kingsmen. And, after we all strapped on our new blue cadets last Saturday night, that became fact preserved forever in our memories.

1974 And will again in '07 (as the oldest rifle in the line - yikes!)

To all our friends from the 27th Lancers Alumni Corps, it's in large part because of you, that the Kingsmen Alumni Corps is on the field today. Way back in June of 2005, we had a little reunion at which we watched a DVD of your "Once More in '94" performance at DCI. There wasn't a dry eye in the room, and we pretty much at that point said, "we can do this too". So, for your inspiration, I say, Thank You!