The Racine American Legion Post 76 Drum and Bugle Corps: The World War I Veteran Years 1916 – 1946

Ever wonder what the drum and bugle corps activity was like prior to 1946? This book, “The Racine American Legion Post 76 Drum and Bugle Corps: The World War I Veteran Years 1916 – 1946” presents the remarkable account of the birth and development of one of the American Legion’s greatest drum and bugle corps. Also known as the Boys of 76 Drum and Bugle Corps, in competition from 1916 through 1946 they were often a winner and always a contender! Read about their annual trips to the American Legion national convention including their trip to Paris, France in 1927, about playing at NFL football games during the early 1920s, about the Chicagoland Music Festival competitions in the 1930s and about the annual Wisconsin American Legion state convention competitions. Presented scrapbook history style, this meticulously researched book also offers readers a rare glimpse at the formative years of today’s drum and bugle corps activity. The thirty years from 1916 through 1946 was an era of tremendous growth and rapid devolvement for the drum and bugle corps activity. It was truly the beginning of the modern drum and bugle corps activity as we know it today. We owe everything to those returning World War I veterans and their newly organized American Legion. Taking a cue from other fraternal and veteran’s organizations such as the G.A.R., Elks, Eagles and the Knights of Pythias; the American Legion staged a parade during its first convention at Minneapolis, MN, in November 1919. At first, awards were given for the best drum and bugle corps in the parade, but by the middle 1920s the American Legion’s “Big Parade” contained so many drum and bugle corps that the judges started having tremendous difficulty deciding who the best one in the parade was. To solve this problem these American Legion drum and bugle corps moved to the football stadium for field competitions. Rules, judging criteria and equipment quickly were developed by the American Legion and they have been evolving from this point ever since. This book chronicles the evolution of the American Legion’s drum and bugle corps activity from 1916 through 1946. Without a doubt the drum and bugle corps that sparked the rapid growth of the American Legion drum and bugle corps movement was Racine’s American Legion Post 76 Drum and Bugle Corps.