I joined Osmond in September of 1947,after the Corps  returned from Cleveland. Pat Roach helped me learn the 2nd horn parts in the basement of my house in Olney.

Being measured for the cool new uniforms with the Bibs instead of  Cross straps.

1948 - Pittsburgh VFW State Championship, waking up in the Armory, everybody had soot on their forehead, just between the eyebrows from the smog. Shining horns for Lock Haven Sr Corps for a quart of beer. Winning the contest. Swiping banners for souvenirs.

 1948 - St Louis VFW Nationals, Singing Corps songs most of the trip, Wolfie checking all the girls on the bus for belly- button lint, Bob Llana agitating the local rednecks. Watching the Princemen practicing in the park for hours. Winning the Championship, Vinnies lining up and applauding us. Swiping more banners, Winning the Parade Contest, we even beat the Princemen (General Omar Bradley, saying we were the best marching unit he had ever seen, including West Point)

1949 - Jan 20 Marching in the Inaugural Parade (Harry Truman) in Washington DC, It was unbelievably cold and snowing, Talking with the Princemen at the VFW Inaugural Ball.

1949 - July 4th Winning the show in Allentown. We had appeared in 2 parades and an exhibition, and Hymie, knowing we were tired and hungry, wanted to cancel. Wolfie and some of the older guys talked him into going anyway. He agreed but only after stopping to eat first. He called Allentown and told them we'd be their but probably late. Of course this got us really charged up. We arrived as the last Corps left the field. We got off the bus and straight onto the inspection line. The Upper Darby 214 Corps thought they had won the show, and were pissed when we showed up. We put on our best performance of the year, and even with the 2 point penalty for being late, won the contest by a huge margin.  

!949 - July 8th Winning our 4th State title in Philadelphia, the only contest my Mom ever attended. 

1949 - July 10th First Dream Contest - Jersey City - Roosevelt Stadium. We came in 3rd after Holy Name and Ballentine. After all this was North Jersey.

1949 - Aug 19 Left for VFW Nationals in Miami, Fla. Another great bus trip, laughing and singing all the way. Arrived in Miami ( This is the only place I've ever been, that turned out exactly as I had imagined, Tropical, Palm trees, Coconuts, etc.) and stayed at the Kent Hotel in Miami Beach, right on the beachfront!   You could go outside and on just about every corner find a vendor selling fresh pineapple slices, fruit juices etc. Coconuts were laying everywhere, a tropical paradise. Swimming in the ocean was something else, the water was very warm and clear blue, you could be in up to your chest and see your toes! Some of the guys got pretty sunburned, Hymie was upset and told them if they couldn't march in the parade, he was throwing them out of the Corps. They all marched (somehow) Tom Ward was really sunburned and that drum sling hurt! We came in second in the parade, only the Princemen beat us. I'll never forget competing in the Orange Bowl, one step over the line and it was like magic! I only remember playing the finale, and it was over. I knew we won! At Retreat, waiting for the scores to be announced, I kidded our guide-on Joan Kurz, saying if we won she had to kiss every guy in our rank,1 Her reply was "I'm saving my kisses for McAllister. We were announced as the winners and had a hard time maintaining our military bearing. National Champs again! The hurricane was another story, some of us decided to do as the natives and hold a hurricane party (See Pat Roaches "Recollections") And managed to do some celebrating despite Hymies best efforts. Names withheld to protect the guilty. I remember one of our bus drivers who had a few drinks, trying to swim, but always being swept back in by the high surf. It was a little scary but when you're young everything is fun. The next morning the lobby was flooded, about knee deep! Outside there was debris all over, palms, coconuts etc and down the street a car had been picked up and thrown thru the top of a Quonset type of storm garage! Because the roads were blocked it took a couple more days till we were able to leave for home. Of course we were all brokenhearted, Yeah, Right!  On the way home we stopped to eat either in Georgia or South Carolina,  The waitresses wouldn't wait on us because we were from the North. We went outside and sang "Battle hymn of the Republic" then quickly got back on the bus. We got home without any further incidents and were hailed as hero's by our parents and friends. It was because of this trip that we became "The Osmond Hurricanes".

1949 - Dec 7 The entire Corps was invited to a Military Ball and Banquet in Bayonne, NJ by the St Vincent's Cadets Organization. What a show of good sportsmanship, that used to be the essence of Real Drum corps. We had a great time, and a Vinnies guy by the unlikely name of Angel (He was the only non Catholic member of the Corps) gave us a tour of their facilities, wow, what an operation. It made me even prouder to think what we, a bunch of neighborhood kids had accomplished, thanks to Hymie, Lee and many many others.

1950 - Aug 25 - Sept 3 VFW Nationals, Chicago, Ill  Another long, but good bus ride, singing and joking all the way. After Inspection, Jim Meehan told me he had a cold and asked me to take his place in the Individuals for Soprano Bugle, I wasn't really ready, but agreed. My required segment playing Tatoo went well, but when I went to play my solo, my mouth went dry, and I barely finished it. I took 4th out 4. Oh, well! We went to the lakefront park and hung out. A couple of Chicago policemen asked us what we were doing there, and where we were from. We told them we were with the convention and pointed to our Osmond caps. They said "Take them off so we don't dent them" and told us to leave the park! Not too friendly.      The contest was rained out and held the following night. No one noticed that the sidelines had washed out. We did a great show, Played "Slaughter on 10th ave". The crowd loved it. After the concert formation, we heard the gun go off three times, we did'nt know what had happened! (We had a centered drill, the Color guard, not seeing the sidelines, went out of bounds three times) we finished the show not knowing what had happened. When we left the field, the guys from Vinnies ran over and commiserated with our misfortune, saying "We wanted to beat you, but not this way" They had put on a fantastic show as well,  we said "If we have to lose, at least it was to a great corps. We were announced as coming in 3rd after Vinnies and Bell Post. We were given 6 points in penalties (Later changed to 2 points, the gun should only have been fired the first time we went over the sidelines) and we wound up taking 2nd place. without the penalty we would have won by more than a point. You can't win them all, but it sure would have been nice.                                               Bud Harrel and a couple of other guys had met some girls from a small all girls corps ( I think from Indiana) and talked them into going to the park and drinking some beer. I guess the girls were not used to drinking and didn't take too long untill they were smashed, a couple of them passed out! the guys decided they better carry them back to their Hotel, couldn't leave them in the park. Of course their people saw the Osmond jackets and caps, and were really angry.  They got in touch with Hymie and gave him another migraine.    After going to Eaton Rapids, Michigan for the VFW National Veterans Home Dedication, We left for home, a little more subdued at first, but then back to normal, singing and laughing, another great adventure.

1950 - Dec 28 - Departed for Montgomery, Alabama to put on the Halftime show at the Blue-Gray game. We had two private coaches on the train, for us this was really luxury. When we arrived Jack Keenan asked "Where's the Forty Thieves?" I said What Forty Thieves?, He replied "You know, Alabama and The Forty Thieves." After we arrived at our Hotel and unpacked our equipment, someone suggested we do a street parade in our regular clothes. Hymie gave us the OK.  We grabbed horns and drums, Jeanne Nagle and some of the girls decided to join us. We paraded down the street about four or five blocks and wound up in front of the State Capitol. We went up on the stairs and formed a concert formation. We played Alabamy Bound and our concert "Slaughter on 10th Ave. The local people applauded and  cheered all along the parade route. We got a great write-up in the local newspapers. I remember a bunch of us going to Woolworths, trying to make out with the young girls working there, they teased us by using heavy southern accents, while giggling like crazy. At the Blue-Gray game, we put on a fantastic halftime show, The crowd went crazy, and we got another writeup in the local papers. We discovered that we could buy "White Lightning" almost everywhere and got pretty boozed up, and raised holy hell at the hotel. The morning after, Hymie called us all together, looking pretty grim, saying the hotel manager wanted to talk to us. We figured uh oh, we're in for it now! The man told us we were the nicest bunch of kids that ever stayed at the hotel, and he was inviting us all for a real southern fried chicken dinner. We all wondered who had stayed there in previous years. Maybe Cantrell's Raiders?

1951 - VFW National, New York City  For us this was almost a local contest, with the contest being held at Roosevelt Stadium. We had another fine corps, winning most of our local shows, except for VFW State, losing to Liberty Bell for the first time. (See Pat Roaches Recollections) and again not being able to do well against the North Jersey Corps under the All American Judges Association (Charlie Nabors and his bunch) We won most of the Individual Events, but came in 3rd to Vinnies and Liberty (Ugh) Bell. When Hymie gave us our individuals medals, we were ready to throw them in the river.  After the we did some drinking, mostly beer, did'nt make us feel much better, but at least I had a hell of a hangover. By the time we returned to Philly, we were back to being our normal selves, singing and having fun.  

1952 - This was an off year, We again lost the VFW State title to the hated Liberty Bell, VFW Nationals was held in Los Angeles and we couldn't afford to go. Again we had a fine Corps, winning most of our local shows, but not doing well in North Jersey (Big Surprise). We didn't seem to be quite as motivated as in past years, but I was still extremely proud of our corps.

1953 - I was drafted into the Army in February, and when I returned from Germany in Jan 1955, I ws over 21 and married.

The following items are Bits and Pieces I remember, but for the most part, can't fit to a particular date or year.

Getting knocked out during the football game against Tyson AC.

Football game in Atlantic City against the Atlantic City Seahorses drum corps, don't remember who won, but do remember having a great spaghetti dinner and drinking lots of beer, and staying at the lodge.

Parties at "Gloomy Gulch"

City Individuals Championship in 1951?, Willie Curlotte breaking the head on his rope drum during his solo, the place was silent as he went behind the curtain to get another drum, We could all hear him say "You lousy F***ing piece of S***. Then calmly coming out and winning the contest anyway.

Cleaning and painting our old drums at Osmond Post, during the week, and sneaking beer from the post refrigerator when the custodian went out for lunch.

Sitting in at other corps rehearsals, at McCall, Yearsley, Archie, Reilly and Imhoff.

Keenan and me watching Reilly and Archie practice at night in Hunting Park near Roosevelt Boulevard and Broad Street. What a great thrill!

Riding up to West Readings Military Ball in Kitty and Bob Cwalino's convertible.

West Readings Contest   After rehearsal in the afternoon, Don Mundt and some of the other guys decided to carry Bob Adair on their shoulders as if he were a corpse, they put a flower in his hand and we paraded around West Reading singing funeral chants. The locals thought we were nuts.

We had a parade in Alexandria, Va. We had stopped for a moment, when all of a sudden we heard a Corps playing Coke and Who! We ran to see who it was, being angry that someone would steal our music. It turned out to be the Kenwood Cavaliers, who seeing who we were broke ranks and greeted us saying we were their Idols, they had no one to arrange their music, so their instructor copied Lee's arrangements, figuring we would never run into them. They were a great bunch of guys, and we invited them to play along with us as we played our routine!

One year, I think it was 1952, about five of us, including myself, Jack Keenan and Dick McDonald were asked by Frank McCormack of Imhoff, to fill in for them in a Senior Contest in South Jersey. It was against Association rules to compete with a Sr Corps while in Jr corps. We decided that it was far enough away that no one would find out. We attended about 3 M&M rehearsals and went to the Contest. All went well until we left the field. Turned out Hymie was a guest at the show and thought he recognized some of us, I remember him hollering," I'll throw you all out of the corps" We ran like hell, changed into street clothes and got out of there. I can't even recall who won the show.

I remember just the rehearsal before a show, we made changes in a Company front, going toward the end of the field and doing then a full corps "to the rear" . We shortened it by about 4 counts. During the show I was so engrossed in the show, I forgot about the change. I looked next to me, and their was no one there! I did a "to the rear" and squeezed into my spot which had almost closed up. We did win the show, and the score sheets had no mention of my blunder!

I remember one of our wild "Off Season" parties at Willie Curlottes house in Atlantic City. We had about four or five cases of beer, that we put into the bathtub with blocks of ice to keep them cold. In a little while some guys figured they better take a couple of bottles and hide them before we ran out. It seems everyone had the same idea and soon there was no beer in the bathtub, but no matter where you reached, there was a beer! What a party, guys singing, 20 people drumming on the kitchen table, you could here the noise 3 blocks away. Keenan was going down the stairs to the yard, slipped and fell through the screen door. I said "Jack are you hurt?" He replied "No I just strained myself" Tom Ward threw up in Ted Lockers shoes, Ted was pissed and chased Tom around, saying I'll kill you, Chuckie Ward ran after him saying I'll help you, I'll help you. Someone decided to get the goldfish drunk too, and poured in some beer, of course it killed them. Tom Freidel kept going out to bring back containers of beer from the local bar, after a while he went back with a bucket, they threw him out! Next day after we recovered somewhat from our hangovers, we all helped Willie clean up the house. What a party!

Hymie - In 1952, I was in deep trouble with my mom, I had lost my job and she told me she was making me quit the corps. He took the time to talk to her, and got me a job with The Blackman Syrup Co. where Hymie worked as a salesman. It was a hot tough job, working on the bottle washer, No air conditioning here, unloading and loading trucks throwing around 50 lb sacks of sugar, and loading cartons with four five gallon bottles of fountain syrup. The point is I got to stay in the Corps due to Hymies efforts.

Feb 1952 - My last party in Osmond. My Dad agreed to let us have a party in his house in Feasterville, to commemorate my going into the Army. We got a Keg of beer and set up in the garage. We started with only about 25 people, since there was a big CG contest that same night. My Dads only rules were no hard liquor. We were having a ball as usual, by midnight we wound up with over 80 people, they all came after the show. My Dad thought it was a great bunch of kids, and it was my last great time till I got out of the service.

Osmond was a fantastic bunch of people, whom I have never forgotten. 

If  I recall more stories, I'll add them.

If you folks send in your stories, I'd love to add them.        

Bill