Mt. Carmel Boys

The Mt. Carmel Boys, formed in 1928, was a parade junior drum corps based in Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania. The Boys claim the title of the largest drum corps in history, 640 members at one point. In an early panoramic picture, most of these members appear to be under age 15.

The group was formed by Robert Snedden and Red Jones. Each new Boy was asked to buy his own uniform and instrument. This wasn't a great hardship, since bugles at that time sold for $5.50, drums $7.75.

A special memory of historian Joseph A. Wydra was a 1930 parade in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in which 40 members carried a large American flag for spectators to throw money into. He remembers that it took two pickup trucks to haul all the loot to the bank when the corps got home.

On another occasion, when a thunderstorm broke up a parade at the capitol in Harrisburg, the crowd of 640 boys had a hard time all finding shelter.

The Mt. Carmel Boys performed for the world when Pathe News captured the group on parade and distributed the newsreel to movie theaters.

The Mt. Carmel Boys organization fielded a senior corps of about 70 members from 1934 until most members entered World War II. After the war, a corps named the Gavinaires was created by Mr. Wydra and others; this corps lasted until 1958.

[DCW, 6/8/90, p.14]

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