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Which reminds me of one of my favorite corps stories: (from corpsreps)

Harvey Seeds American Legion Post 29 Miami Rebels Drum & Bugle Corps

On January 8, 1959, Fidel Castro’s Cuban rebel forces entered Havana and drove the dictatorship Batista regime from the capital and island after many years of jungle-based struggle. Fidel’s staff made the Havana Hilton (now named Hotel Tryp Habana Libre) their provisional headquarters. To celebrate the new power-structure, Fidel declared that the Mardi Gras at the end of February 1959 would highlight the liberation and new government.

Several American newspaper article and columns, magazine photo spreads, and television dramas of that time, featured and romanticized the Cuban freedom fighters, including Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, and his lieutenant Che Guevara.

The new Cuban government invited the American Legion Drum Corps to be an honored part of the upcoming Mardi Gras parade.

They provided air fare and lodging at the Havana Hilton. The first evening, the Drum Corps enjoyed the hotel casino and floorshow plus duty-free shop (mostly rum and other alcoholic beverages, same as today).

The next morning, the Drum Corps practiced their stadium maneuvers in the main square in front of the reviewing stand where they would play and march for Fidel Castro and his guests. Along the parade route to and from the square, the Drum Corps observed young men (guessed at an average of about 14 years old) stationed on each and every street corner, armed with Thompson submachine guns. During one rapid wheel of the drum-line during its practice in the square, the bass drummer rolled over the top of a Cuban guard who had previously been asked to move and warned that he was in the line of march (however, he had just conquered a country, defeated an army, and was not about to be ordered by anyone). When he regained his feet, his gun was at the ready and only some fast talking by his officer and some fast marching by the Drum Corps saved bloodshed.

The subject photo was taken in front of the Hilton Hotel and Casino early on the day of the February 1959 Havana Mardi Gras parade. (pic in corpreps)

The parade began at 6pm and it was the longest ever experienced by any of the Drum Corps members, ending past midnight. Each and every unit of the parade performed their full routine in the square in order to curry favor from Fidel. The Drum Corps played for the cheering and appreciative crowds all along the parade route. After the Drum Corps entered the square and performed, everything stopped while Fidel Castro gave a very, very long speech (something for which he was and remains famous). Some men in the Drum Corps understood what was being said in Spanish, whereupon the Drum Corps ordered its color guard to sheaf its colors, and the Drum Corps marched in close-order back to the hotel. The men quickly packed their bags, some called home to Miami, so that all the families could meet the returning airplane, and the Drum Corps boarded their buses which returned to the airport with a Cuban military-police escort to protect them from the frenzied crowds.

That was one of the last times the American flag was welcomed and proudly displayed in Havana’s streets. (Five months later another American corps, the Miami Crusaders, marched in Havana.)

When the plane landed in Miami, the airport was filled with the first wave of Cuban refugees from Castro’s Cuba. The radio and television news was filled with the observed dislocations in Cuba. We were very relieved to greet our father and the rest of the Drum Corps.

Beginning May 1959, Cuba began land reform, including appropriating all foreign land ownership, and forging closer ties with the Soviet Union. Over these passing months, Castro repeatedly denied that he was a communist. In April 1960, American-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process Soviet crude oil and were nationalized by the Castro regime, and on May 1, 1960, during Havana’s May Day celebration (the traditional communist holiday), Fidel declared that he was and always had been a communist. Subsequently, Fidel addressed the United Nations in New York City in 1960 (at which time, Fidel‘s group was rejected by their downtown hotel and they relocated to a Harlem hotel); in 1961, Fidel’s forces defeated anti-revolutionary forces at The Bay of Pigs; in 1962, the world experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro resigned as Cuban Prime Minister in 2008 based on health.

Separately, this parade and photo were the last appearance of many of these men in the Harvey Seeds uniforms. In 1959, The Goldcoasters Drum & Bugle Corps was sponsored by the City of Miami Fraternal Order of Police and the director, drum line, and leading buglers all became the core of that organization. In 1960, The Goldcoasters competed in the American Legion Drum & Bugle Corps national event in Miami and in 1961 it progressed to the AL Drum & Bugle Corps finals in Denver, placing third (3rd).

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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OK, JetBlue was one of the first to fly to Havana over 3 years ago, although to date, only charter flights.

When I got out of the USAF, because of my Top Secret Clearance and the fact that I had been flying in Spy Planes, the State Department put a lifetime ban on travel to Communist Countries, not including Cambridge Massachusetts.

I'm guessing that that went away years ago, but I really don't know.

In general I'm still ###### off at Communists for trying to shoot me down all the time. I get that they're probably still ###### off at me for helping coordinate bombing missions and air strikes, but as my mom always said, "if they can't take a joke, f*ck 'em"

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OK, back from sunny Puerto Rico, red like a balloon, and figured I'd get caught up on everything I missed on "Guess Who"...

OK, I'm caught up now.

Anyone going to the Renegades Chinese New Years Parade?

I'm thinking about it as I fly free and I want to catch one of my daughter's Blue Devils Winter Guard shows this year before she gives up the activity (as if she ever will).

OK, that's all for me - shoveling snow tomorrow for the first time in my 60s - that might not be true - I was 60 when I moved to Texas in April 2012 so I probably shoveled before I moved, but my memory allows me to make unsupported statements all the time.

One of those "The older I get, the better I was" sort of deals.

Donna and I would like to make the "Renegades for a Day" festivities not sure about Donna being able to get out of work with her new management position...

We are looking into how much $ we'll need to amke that happen as well. I don't remember, do you know when the deadline is to be able to go?

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OK, JetBlue was one of the first to fly to Havana over 3 years ago, although to date, only charter flights.

When I got out of the USAF, because of my Top Secret Clearance and the fact that I had been flying in Spy Planes, the State Department put a lifetime ban on travel to Communist Countries, not including Cambridge Massachusetts.

I'm guessing that that went away years ago, but I really don't know.

In general I'm still ###### off at Communists for trying to shoot me down all the time. I get that they're probably still ###### off at me for helping coordinate bombing missions and air strikes, but as my mom always said, "if they can't take a joke, f*ck 'em"

I knew the "commie" hook would upset you ... and all that I can say is that I was one of those nun-riddled, parochial Eastern European waywards who was taught to "hide under your desk" should a BOMB happen to hit ... SH|T! ... my father's Czechoslovakia doesn't even exist anymore! ... anyway ... commie ... salami ... let's get an I&E show going in Havana ... JetBlue can be a sponsor ... and like Hyman Roth said in the Godfather: "... we'll be bigger than US Steel" ...

:-)

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Speaking of rum drinks....LOL...

Brenda and I each had a "Dark and Stormy" last weekend at a local restaurant.

Gosling's dark rum mixed with Gosling's ginger beer. It's a big drink in Bermuda.

It was the first time we tried it... I am normally not a mixed-drink guy, only once in a while (like once every few years...LOL) ... and it was delicious!!!

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Speaking of rum drinks....LOL...

Fran ... Ray doesn't drink anymore ... to balance things out, I don't drink any less ... try to join me at Sky's I&E on March 21st and I'll introduce you to a whole new realm of announcing ... I'll even let you man the Buy Bucky a Beer Memorial Booth ... it will provide you the opportunity to see the world as Bucky did ... but ... you'll most likely need a ride home ...

:-)

Edited by ajlisko
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Donna and I would like to make the "Renegades for a Day" festivities not sure about Donna being able to get out of work with her new management position...

We are looking into how much $ we'll need to amke that happen as well. I don't remember, do you know when the deadline is to be able to go?

Nah TW - just saw it on one of the other threads I don't read.

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I knew the "commie" hook would upset you ... and all that I can say is that I was one of those nun-riddled, parochial Eastern European waywards who was taught to "hide under your desk" should a BOMB happen to hit ... SH|T! ... my father's Czechoslovakia doesn't even exist anymore! ... anyway ... commie ... salami ... let's get an I&E show going in Havana ... JetBlue can be a sponsor ... and like Hyman Roth said in the Godfather: "... we'll be bigger than US Steel" ...

:-

Leave the gun...

Take the cannolis.

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Fran ... Ray doesn't drink anymore ... to balance things out, I don't drink any less ... try to join me at Sky's I&E on March 21st and I'll introduce you to a whole new realm of announcing ... I'll even let you man the Buy Bucky a Beer Memorial Booth ... it will provide you the opportunity to see the world as Bucky did ... but ... you'll most likely need a ride home ...

:-)

Why don't we designate one of these BHoF I&E shows an official Guess Who Union. (I think we would need a first Union in order to have a Re-Union later).???

Sky's would be fun - Boston is kind of far for many - of course Bridgeport is close to everything everywhere.

Or we could just all go to all of them.

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Which reminds me of one of my favorite corps stories: (from corpsreps)

Harvey Seeds American Legion Post 29 Miami Rebels Drum & Bugle Corps

On January 8, 1959, Fidel Castro’s Cuban rebel forces entered Havana and drove the dictatorship Batista regime from the capital and island after many years of jungle-based struggle. Fidel’s staff made the Havana Hilton (now named Hotel Tryp Habana Libre) their provisional headquarters. To celebrate the new power-structure, Fidel declared that the Mardi Gras at the end of February 1959 would highlight the liberation and new government.

Several American newspaper article and columns, magazine photo spreads, and television dramas of that time, featured and romanticized the Cuban freedom fighters, including Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, and his lieutenant Che Guevara.

The new Cuban government invited the American Legion Drum Corps to be an honored part of the upcoming Mardi Gras parade.

They provided air fare and lodging at the Havana Hilton. The first evening, the Drum Corps enjoyed the hotel casino and floorshow plus duty-free shop (mostly rum and other alcoholic beverages, same as today).

The next morning, the Drum Corps practiced their stadium maneuvers in the main square in front of the reviewing stand where they would play and march for Fidel Castro and his guests. Along the parade route to and from the square, the Drum Corps observed young men (guessed at an average of about 14 years old) stationed on each and every street corner, armed with Thompson submachine guns. During one rapid wheel of the drum-line during its practice in the square, the bass drummer rolled over the top of a Cuban guard who had previously been asked to move and warned that he was in the line of march (however, he had just conquered a country, defeated an army, and was not about to be ordered by anyone). When he regained his feet, his gun was at the ready and only some fast talking by his officer and some fast marching by the Drum Corps saved bloodshed.

The subject photo was taken in front of the Hilton Hotel and Casino early on the day of the February 1959 Havana Mardi Gras parade. (pic in corpreps)

The parade began at 6pm and it was the longest ever experienced by any of the Drum Corps members, ending past midnight. Each and every unit of the parade performed their full routine in the square in order to curry favor from Fidel. The Drum Corps played for the cheering and appreciative crowds all along the parade route. After the Drum Corps entered the square and performed, everything stopped while Fidel Castro gave a very, very long speech (something for which he was and remains famous). Some men in the Drum Corps understood what was being said in Spanish, whereupon the Drum Corps ordered its color guard to sheaf its colors, and the Drum Corps marched in close-order back to the hotel. The men quickly packed their bags, some called home to Miami, so that all the families could meet the returning airplane, and the Drum Corps boarded their buses which returned to the airport with a Cuban military-police escort to protect them from the frenzied crowds.

That was one of the last times the American flag was welcomed and proudly displayed in Havana’s streets. (Five months later another American corps, the Miami Crusaders, marched in Havana.)

When the plane landed in Miami, the airport was filled with the first wave of Cuban refugees from Castro’s Cuba. The radio and television news was filled with the observed dislocations in Cuba. We were very relieved to greet our father and the rest of the Drum Corps.

Beginning May 1959, Cuba began land reform, including appropriating all foreign land ownership, and forging closer ties with the Soviet Union. Over these passing months, Castro repeatedly denied that he was a communist. In April 1960, American-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process Soviet crude oil and were nationalized by the Castro regime, and on May 1, 1960, during Havana’s May Day celebration (the traditional communist holiday), Fidel declared that he was and always had been a communist. Subsequently, Fidel addressed the United Nations in New York City in 1960 (at which time, Fidel‘s group was rejected by their downtown hotel and they relocated to a Harlem hotel); in 1961, Fidel’s forces defeated anti-revolutionary forces at The Bay of Pigs; in 1962, the world experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro resigned as Cuban Prime Minister in 2008 based on health.

Separately, this parade and photo were the last appearance of many of these men in the Harvey Seeds uniforms. In 1959, The Goldcoasters Drum & Bugle Corps was sponsored by the City of Miami Fraternal Order of Police and the director, drum line, and leading buglers all became the core of that organization. In 1960, The Goldcoasters competed in the American Legion Drum & Bugle Corps national event in Miami and in 1961 it progressed to the AL Drum & Bugle Corps finals in Denver, placing third (3rd).

How did I miss this post? it was longer than "The Old Man and the Sea" which is the only thing I know about Cuba except that they tried to scare the #### out of us all when we were 10 or so.

Commie ########.

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