^^^^^which one is you? Oh, that’s right......
"And who's the shortest of 'em all," the captain asked....
The little engine that could.
I got photos from my time -- many of us do. Pentagon has a photograph office to include a section of 3 IF TOG. Today our photos go way back. Just choose among 'em and print 'em out. Back when and before computers we just took the photos we wuz in right out of the folders cause there easily were a dozen of each one. It wuz for any of us to do on our free time.
Try this one out if you might....
It was done four years before I arrived. There were still some of 'em there when I made my legendary grand entrance in 1966.
SFC Pete Holder shown in this as drillmaster of the Army Drill Team in 1962 wuz still at it when I arrived and he wuz still at it when I left in 1970. Pete defined what the Army Drill Team is given it was founded in 1957 -- by Pete Holder. SFC Holder was ptn/sgt of 1st ptn of Honor Guard Company (E) when his light bulb lit and we all thank him for it.
Muskets in Motion by A Alpha company of 3 IR TOG is led by its c.o. Capt. Shaffer who wuz still there too. The
dancing bears as we in TOG needled the specialized platoon of PT with rifles and Army music was drawn from the company as a whole. I liked the little guy who kept looking down into the camera mouth open gasping and struggling but doing it -- TOG always had a place for the little engine that could. We can thank SFC Richard Hughes and his infallible knack for spotting those
esprit de corps ones the moment they walked through the door for their initial screening interview.
Fife and Drum Corps had their own birthing pains and in this documentary they'd just survived the comptroller's axe at the Pentagon. F&D began as several grunts in Honor Guard Company who played instruments sitting around the barracks broke and playing music to include Army tunes. Word of their tunes got to the company c.o. who gave 'em a listen. Then came colonial red uniforms and some real fifes and drums. Comptroller of the Army said this is silly and terminated the initial $25k budget the company commander had finagled. Fife and Drummies got the idea to go to the home of the Army secretary on his birthday to play for him at dawn. Capt. Graves the c.o. ordered up the bus wink wink and the rest is history. SecArmy Wilbur Bruckner quadrupled the budget. The several original F&DC guys are in this performance documentary.
The Big Picture series produced entirely by Army ran Saturday mornings gratis on CBS, ABC and DuMont television networks 1951-1964 and there's no doubt this one in 1962 helped kill it
. On CBS
The Big Picture came on after
The Modern Farmer.
eace
The Tomb Guard in the final scene is Sp4 Richard Azzaro who went on to get a B.S. in physics, a law degree and recently completed a career at the Pentagon in nuclear weapons law. Many of us keep up with one another through the
Old Guard Association reunions at Ft. Myer sponsored by The Old Guard and Department of the Army.