Comments on: Valley Forge Regimental Band

By: Dick Buxbaum 56 Band

Dick Buxbaum 56 Band — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 23:46:45 +0000

At the news of VF closing the Academy , and with JC in doubt, as a former Bandie from 52-56 in the Academy I was arguably the youngest to have been accepted at least until then. I was privileged to play under DK Feltham for all my time at VF; including a couple years prior in the Band summmer camp. I served under four Band Captains, starting with John Dodson, whose exec officer was Geo Newell . Many memories: a few: like when we went to Washington to play in Eisenhowe’s first innaugural, and I had to wear pinned up trou as my roommate forgot to send them along (I was in the infirmary right before with the flu), so the truth is I spent more time marching and praying then playing my clarinet! I also remember a time when Feltham was so upset with our practice concentration that he threw his baton down and walked out of practice leaving the practice to Dodson the Band Captain to finish. Feltham did not return for about a week. I remember our performing in Hershey Hotel when the new chimes collapsed at the end of the 1812 Overature and the red steaming look on Feltham’s face. Just a few of my memories I felt y’all might like to hear. Very sad to hear of the school’s demise. Dick, ’56 Band (First Sergeant, as I recall).

By: Egor Babaev

Egor Babaev — Tue, 13 May 2025 06:01:34 +0000

Update on the bandmaster list.

Vincent Demarro 2017-2022

Kathleen Dougherty 2022- present

By: Dan Wolfe

Dan Wolfe — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 21:38:57 +0000

Here’s another note about that concert in Baltimore that John Rapp describes.

I remember it well. The week before that particular television appearance, nearly the whole band was sidelined with a particularly nasty flu bug. I remember this because I was patient zero — I was sick with it and from me it spread through the Band over the course of a number of days.

When the time came to go, Duke said we’d not be able to go if we weren’t all well. Of course, we reported that we were all good to go. (I really was — I had recovered well over a week before the performance.)

Someone, presumably Col. Feltham, told us that if any of us had to vomit to get up from the stage and go do it.

So we get to the station and get set up and a couple people are feeling pretty awful, particularly Maurice Zimmerman, our tenor sax first chair. As a redhead, he was already pale, but he was REALLY pale that day.

We are well into the program and Maurice is feeling pretty bad. So he gets up, leaves the stage where we were taping and presumably barfs his guts out. Poor guy! We all felt bad for him because most of us had been there in the days prior.

Anyway, after the performance, we were gathered in a conference room to see the playback of the tape. We get to a particular point in the program and Maurice is there. Next time the camera pans the Band, he’s gone. No one on the stage — except for Maurice — even flinched and if one hadn’t known in advance that he got up in the middle of a number and left the stage, you’d never have noticed it.

Everyone performed magnificently that day in spite of a number of queasy stomachs! But it was a real mark of professionalism in the way that Maurice, the rest of the cadets and Col. Feltham handled it. No one was the wiser because of it.

That’s my memory of the event. And Maurice Zimmerman, a great guy to begin with, always has my undying respect for soldiering though a tough time.

Dan