Drum & bugle corps wins music and and motion pageant
Summer 1966 was a good one for the Millstadt Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps.
The Long Grey Line, as they were known, included 15 members from O’Fallon and made the news in the Progress.
They won first place in the Belleville Shrine Club’s 12th annual Music in Motion Pageant, ending a 10-year domination by the Black Knights.
They went on to perform at the Illinois State Fair, defeating the 1965 national champion Chicago Royal-Airs in the preliminaries and placed third in the finals.
After that, the 75-member corps left for an 18-day East Coast tour on Aug. 14 which culminated in the Drum & Bugle Corps World Open competition held at the Manning Bowl in Lynn, Mass. on Aug. 20. They competed against 42 other corps and ended up placing eighth in the finals.
The Crusaders were active from 1946 to 1969. They still hold regular reunions.
75 years ago
Aug. 28, 1941
Eloise Carton, 16, and Aria Thompson, 13, of Charleston, Ill., reported to have run away from home were located in this city at 12:30 Sunday afternoon.
Chief of Police William Sanspeur received a description of the pair at noon and a half hour later took them into custody.
“We came to O’Fallon for the Home-Coming” the older of the two said.
Later she admitted they came to meet her solder friend stationed at Jefferson Barracks.
They were taken to the county jail by Deputy Sheriff Calvin Nesbit and then turned over to Cole County authorities.
50 years ago
Aug. 25, 1966
A drive to raise $1,000 to pay the cost of an ornamental entrance marker for the O’Fallon City Cemetery has been started by the City Cemetery Board.
Contributions may be made through any member of the board. President is L.E. Schwarz and other members are George Henken, William Harper, Howard Bode, Roy Smith, J.E. Hinchcliffe, Sr., Robert Bode and Ralph Keller who is cemetery lot salesman.
This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Drum & bugle corps wins music and and motion pageant."