The 328th and 372nd bands at Fort Banks, Boston, Ma.  Top row: Simms, Knowles, Halverson, Corbett, Copple, Engstead, Little, Kraus, Piper, and Snyder.  Bottom row: Bottom, Lopresti and Rosecup.

Fort Hamilton, New York

The old band barracks of Fort Hamilton, New York in 1948.  This is where Carl was stationed for the rest of his enlistment term the first time he was in the army.

The band is boarding the bus for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Battleship Missouri as seen over the costal batteries at Fort Hamilton.  Carl took the photo.

Some Fort Hamilton Band Stories and Photos

All photos are of Carl except the first who is Buck Sergeant Graves.  When roll call was taken, everyone except Graves would call back “Here!”.  Not Graves!  He’d call back “Wyman A Graves reporting!”  The rules were very relaxed in the band.  They got paid the first of each month and sometime after that Graves would take it into his head to party, so he’d spend all of his money.  He was smart enough to give his carfare to Carl before this, however, so he always got back to base OK.  Then he’d sell his clarinet to Carl, and Carl would put it under his bed.  If they needed it before the next payday, Carl would loan it to him.  Payday he’d buy it back again.  They would play for parades, for dances at the officer’s club and when the ships came in with the WWII dead.  Those ships would come in with their cargo doors wide-open exposing row upon row of coffins.  Those were touching moments that were hard to play for.  They also played for the dedication of the Gloucester memorial that honored the fishermen lost at sea.  Then they made it easier for the local fellows to enlist without taking basic.  That’s when a few Jewish boys came into their unit.  There were two Reformed Jewish fellows who joined and one Orthodox Jew.  Carl was the company clerk at that time and he noticed that Sammy, the Orthodox boy, was not eating in the mess hall.  So he discussed it with his superior who talked to the Chaplain.  Sammy had been bringing kosher sausage from home and was surviving on sandwiches from that.  The Chaplain took him aside and explained it was not necessary to eat kosher in the service so Sammy began to relax and eat with them in the mess hall after that.  Another problem met and solved, thanks to Carl.