European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1962, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Meet 7th Cav s a in ,. My � --,$3as$sji is a photos by Gene Bane an Irish pipe and drum croup in the us. Army playing Scot Tish bagpipes in  the carry Owen pipe Fanti drum corps a 13-Man outfit that s part of the7th, Cay s 2nd reconnaissance so. And it Trace its history Back in a round about Way to the St Irish horse meet of More than a Century ago. Hie group wears a modified uniform of the British army s Royal Irish brigade Complete with Kilts Beret and traditional hardware. To the uneducated Eye the group looks like a Scot outfit but the Kilts Are Plain no tartan and Rusty Brown. And no one wears spats part of the traditional scots Piper s  pipes Are scottish because they have a better tone and Are louder than Irish pipe sgt Richard Kirk and of Alameda calif., who directs the group Points out that irian pipes have two drones while the scots variety Baa three. The drones stick up from the bag and Over the player s left shoulder the croup is Irish because it traces its unit Alstor Back to Custer and the Little big Horn when 276 men including Custer were wiped out by some 6,000 indiana.carter1 outfit was about 80 per cent Irish Kirk and  troops had served in the St Irish horse beat and had come to the United state As immigrant and signed up to serve Frith ouster. They brought their tradition with them i Cludine the song Garry  adopted the Irish traditions As a part 01 the 7th Cav sop for Battles bar rooms and formal parades. And Garry Owen became the unit s theme song. I still is and it accounts Tor the Nam of the pipe group and Tor the fact themen Salute their officers with carry a Ocren  rather than the More usual6. Army greetings. _ the 7th Cav began organizing the pipe group is february to found some pipers trained of More of their own and Man aged to i ifs. Uniforms pipes and a special kind of Drums for the group. Much of the Money mme Frodo the carry Owen assn., a group of officer and men of the ,. Al Dow Jat our regular assign mrs in the Tori rings jul Oklend explains and we work As c band afternoons and any other time we can get together for re " these pipers have a repertoire of about35 piece now and they re working on just playing Battle music in t All the group does. There Are Retreat Cere Chaales Paradea and dancing All As close to the traditional ceremonies As it s pos sible to make them. We learn Only rom the British  explains. The British Are real great people to work with. They Are Al Way Walt tag to Elva us St a Nett. The Gerry Cowens traditional of were Northern Irish and the Rusty Brown kill is protestant Ulster rather than from whats now the Republic of Ireland. The group was first trained by the Royal inn Sottung Fusiliers at Wuppertal Germany a British army unit ada14c3 the group does dates backs Jaas be i �1ftackers Luton the a Wisti eted a of a town Long to for a Tantry troops cog to la Side the a in attn the rear Kirkl find say a. Sp4 Gerald Wailace. Of Tull of it is drum pm Vahur Tif the outfit dlr Fand Isdr Xun ii Jor a 4 1� dancing master. He learns dances tron the British army Pip ers and Feea leaches the rest of the group. Pipe major Fai pfc Michael a Erell. Of. Berkeley a split who also is the newest Anem Bei or the group. He joined it nearly two months ago. " ". To been playing the pipes five years Vereil Days 4tad i spent six months in pc a be Britain learning gaelic and playing the  he studied under British pipe major Donald s. Ramsey the babe Ruth of the pipe world who rates him As one of the Best pipers in North  the rating was Given in a letter of introduction ram sey gave Averell sp4 James Walun of los Angeles is pipe Corporal. He s one of the six Garry Owens from California. One is from Canada sp4 George March of Victoria who play the Tenor drum. None of the group is from Scotland Ireland or England. Most of the men Learned the pipes inthe eth a Ftp. A take a Man who has some knowledge of music and train him so he can play some of our tunes in a few months Kirk land says. It takes years to make a really professional Piper Averell Points out. Ideally you should work about a. Yea with the chanter the part on which the Melody 1$ played and then work on  to blow the pipes. But you can learn it faster if you work hard at  pipes Giese men will Tell you. Are no musical instruments in the usual  re War horns to be used in Battle. You can t play one sitting Down. It s physically impossible. The object is to keep the bag filled wit hair and to use it sort of As a third lung Averell explain. You press the bag wit your left Arm when you need More air and then you Stop the pressure and blow into the bag to keep it full. The bagpipe is Nirie Nate instrument so you can t play just anything. It has to be pipe music. We play More Irish numbers than any thing else Kirk and asserts but we also play scots and German numbers f eople sort of expect to hear some of the scots favourites ant we have a few German num Bers for when we perform for  rest of the group s pipe Section includes sp4 Michael spritzer of Denver pfc Gerald Biggs of Long Beach. Calif. Pfc Stephen Kendall of san Francisco pfc Theodore Anspack of Santa Catalina calif., pfc Lawrence Jasud of new York andsp4 Stephen Smolczynski of Philadelphia. March plays the Tenor drum while pfc Joseph bless of Detroit is leading snare drummer and is the group s interpreter when playing to German groups. He was born in Hamburg. Wallace Puisys the Bass drum. And pfc Daniel , of Troy,n.y., plays snare. The Drums Are made of brass for better tone and the drum Heads Are held onto the brass by rope. This menus that after every seven or eight performances the Drums have to come apart and be retie to preserve the right tension. The Bass and Tenor drummers Wear ocelot skins a tradition acquired from the eth Cav mexican duty. Pipers in this group tire Alt drummers but the drummers Aren t expected to substitute for pipers. Kirk and himself not Piper explains. It s just too difficult to play the pipes to expect anybody to do i who does t play every Day. Kirkla Iod was drum major for 6th army at the Presidio in san Francisco and wore Kilts there. The heavy Wool garments Are much newer to other members of the  group Hopes to go to London july $29 for it Totton at Earl s court. They Veblen invited by the North Irish brigade Kirk and says. But their performances Are usually closer to Home. The London invitation is the first time As tar As we know that the . Army has been invited to participate in the Lon Don Tattoo he asserts. Kirkland s wife loves pipe music he says but in t a musician herself. Their three youngsters Aren t so sure they enjoy it Thi stars and stapes drum to or sgt Richard Kirk Fand Boris out order. Garry Owen perform done from the Middle a  tradition at Irish done requires fancy footwork