Leatherneck Nation

Purple wrote:Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:40 am "Two of my eventual brothers-in-law are also in the trumpet line in all the performances I've linked to (one of whom is now a choral/vocal music education professor at Western). "

And your sister, too?


 

Right, my sister too...I keep getting the years mixed up between when we were in the Marching Leathernecks together and when we were in drum corps together. My sister would have also been in the trumpet line in videos from 1999 to at least 2001. For those that don't know (I know Purple Grandma knows, but for anyone else), she and I marched together in 1999 and 2000 with the Marching Leathernecks and we did drum and bugle corps together in the summer of 2000. She met her future husband (one of the previously mentioned brothers-in-law) in the trumpet line at WIU. I think there was maybe one person in their entire wedding party that wasn't a trumpet player.

And if we really want to dig into things, that brother-in-law's sister a few years later became the first (and so far only) female trumpet soloist for "Georgia". My wife also marched one year, another sister-in-law marched for at least 1, maybe 2 years, and another sister-in-law was the color guard/flag instructor for a couple of years.

So if you ever hear me say that the Marching Leathernecks are "family" to me...it's not an exaggeration.
 

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The WIU Marching Leathernecks are in Hawaii taking part in today's events commemorating this event in our nation's history.

The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. Hawaii time (8 p.m. CST), with the parade beginning at 6 p.m. Hawaii time (10 p.m. CST).

The events will be livestreamed at https://www.pearlharborparade.org/home/.