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player ready...To the steady single beating of stick against drum, 55 members of the Marmion Academy concert band slowly move into their places on the gymnasium floor. A shout of “attention” is followed by the notes from one bugle, then from two.
A whistle is loudly shrilled and the group begins to play music as the remaining 300 members of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps march into their places, stopping at attention with their eyes staring into the bleachers in front of them.
“This is excellent,” said John McGrady. “It hasn’t changed. That first song was the same one we had 55 years ago.”
McGrady returned to Marmion Academy last week for the first time since his own graduation in 1940 to watch his grandson join other JROTC students in a special dress parade dedicated to grandparents. The day also included a special mass service and a tour of the grounds.
“It brings back memories. It makes me feel 20 years old or younger,” he said.
McGrady’s grandson, James Bennett III, is a freshman at the Catholic college-preparatory academy for boys on 325 acres in Aurora. Even after 50 years McGrady finds the academy’s style of education attractive.
The special event held meaning for both generations.
“This is a great idea,” said Morgan Ochsenschelager, grandfather of junior Adam. “It brings the `old people’ into the fold with the young.”
“I think it’s really nice since grandparents don’t get a chance to see it all the time,” said senior Dan Francis. “They can come in and be given a really nice special day.” Francis’ grandparents live in Wyoming and weren’t able to attend.
A battalion commander utters directions and then, left to right in what looks like a slow moving version of “the wave,” members of each of the 14 platoons salute, stand at ease or turn their heads.
Then with another loud whistle, music begins again and the platoons slowly march in front of the bleachers where 200 proud grandparents watch.
“It’s neat. These are the same kids who can’t clean up their own rooms yet they can do this,” said Gail Shaw, who watched with her mother, Rachel, as her son, Howard, a senior, proceeded past them.