Bengal Lancers

The corps’ instructors all hailed from the Brassmen of New York: Director Alex Casella Sr., horn instructor High Dryser, drum instructors Jim Drost and John Otto, and M&M instructor Teddy Swarsenberg

Although the Lancers took the field in 1975, they were not yet very strong. By the next year, however, they had matured to the point that they were able to claim the World Open Class A Championships in Lynn, Massachusetts. As a result nearly all the membership returned in 1977.

In 1977 the Bengal Lancers became the first corps to win Class A one year and then compete in the Open Class finals the next year, where they finished a creditable eighth.

That same year, the Bengal's opener featured one bugler who played "Charge!," then collapsed flat on the field for the rest of the show, other corps members stepping over him. The bugler's bit was so convincing that a real ambulance rushed to his aid during one show, only to be convinced that the young man's horizontal posture was part of the act.

Membership declined after the Lancers’ Open Class season, and scores declined as well. When the Lancers disbanded, they may have been the last junior corps in the state of Connecticut.

[Jeffrey A. Amoroso; DCW, 2/04, p.3]

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