Newburgh’s All-Girl Band, posing on the steps of Newburgh Free Academy in an undated photo. Contact me if you recognize any of these girls.
By Mary McTamaney
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 973 held their centennial celebration a week ago, remembering a hundred years of service to fellow veterans and to the community as a whole.
The twentieth century, when the VFW was formed in Newburgh, was an era when thousands of military veterans lived in this city. They had served in the Spanish American War, World War I, then later the Korean War, World War II, the Vietnam War and the wars on terror that continue to this day. Clubhouses of the various veterans’ organizations were busy places. Vets socialized over dinner and game tables, they hosted fundraisers for charitable causes and they sponsored many youth programs. One activity was marching bands, clubs that young people flocked to compete in. These drum and bugle corps not only taught music and the athleticism of precision marching, but the pride and discipline of working together to win acclaim.
Newburgh, as a regional hub city at the intersection of all forms of transportation, used to attract the kinds of celebrations that included big parades. Our wide main avenue down the heart of the city as well as our busy retail and cultural corridors of Water Street, Grand Street and Liberty Street where stores and organizations decorated and offered open houses after patriotic events, made marching in Newburgh a big deal.
Fifty years ago, it wasn’t hard to muster sharp-looking contingents to march on every holiday, since America, and especially Newburgh, had so much more connection to its war casualties. Several veterans posts were headquartered here full of vigorous young members who each had a buddy they lost in war and whom they marched to honor. Stewart Air Force Base, on the edge of the city, had a squadron of airmen who could be counted on to march with their band playing too.
Sometimes, the parades went up Broadway instead of down or back and forth on Grand and Liberty, and often Colden, not using Broadway. Then there were regional firemen’s parades and parades sponsored by big fraternal organizations hosting conventions. Central to the success of Newburgh as one of the Hudson Valley’s parade capitals was its many marching bands and its reputation for having some of the best such bands in the state. Many of them won trophies all over the northeast.
None was more brilliant than the VFW’s All-Girl Band.
A group portrait of that celebrated band was found this year in the Walden Historical Society, which generously donated it to Newburgh. Looking sharp in crisp uniforms and caps, nearly three dozen Newburgh teens gathered for a portrait on the steps of Newburgh Free Academy. There are no stamps nor markings on the old photo, and today’s VFW Post 973 hopes someone can help to date the photo and name some of the young women standing so proudly. Perhaps even some stories will emerge from veterans of this marching band about the places they performed and experiences they recall.
Contact me at the number or e-mail listed here, if you recognize any of Newburgh’s celebrated All-Girl Band.