European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Today s crossword . Marine Bend performs for Washington s summer crowd fit photo big show at the Marine Barracks by Michael Kernan Washington Post hey come sailing onto the Parade ground 150 marines in White and Navy Blue marching with an eerie floating ceremonial stride. As one they halt and wheel. In a single movement they present arms. And then in perfect unison 150 Rifle Butts strike the Cement. Crack Damn whispers a Man in the audience. There Are 5,000 people in the stands at the Marine Barracks watching the Friday evening Parade. The two hour ceremony has been going on. Or 26 Summers now and it is one of Washington s great free shows. The audience has been arriving for an hour the women escorted to their seats on the arms of Marine Ushers. The guests Are dressed in everything from business suits and gowns to cutoffs and to shirts. Now the Marine band in Whites and Scarlet jackets takes seats for a concert. Elgar Gershwin Cole Porter and of course Sousa. At the end a team of marines removes the chairs and stands. Even this is done with style and precision. No crashing of chairs Here. Then two marines March like automatons to the podium Bend in unison pick it up and March off. They get a big hand. Dusk has finally faded into night and spotlights Range across the Green flashing off sword Blades and brass Flagstaff finials and playing with the shadows made by rows of marching men. A full Moon hangs Over the comings and goings. Indecipherable orders Are shouted and the ranks respond like the machine they Are supposed to resemble. The band swings past its drum major glorious in Bearskin Busby. The Mascot is brought out an English bulldog named pfc. Chesty Viii Luke to his friends. Lights Are on in every window of the commandant s House at the far end of the Field. It is said to be the oldest Washington Public building in continuous use dating from 1806. The Barracks itself is the oldest Post in the corps and has been the Home of the Marine band for 185 years. Everyone stands As the colors come Down to the Star spangled Banner and the mind goes Back to Francis Scott key in another Century so anxiously watching another Flag at another fort not 50 Miles from Here. It is time for the silent Drill. For 10 minutes without a word spoken or an order barked this elite platoon performs what amounts to a Ballet with their m-1 rifles flinging them this Way and that in perfect unison All the while marching in close order Drill. They do about everything you can do with a gun Short of shooting it. These men have practice 25 hours a week for three months and it shows. At the Climax a stylized Rifle inspection two men flip their 10-Pound weapons into the air like Batons and catch them. In perfect unison. This is what the audience came for. Flashbulbs Flicker Over the Field like heat lightning. The drum and Bugle corps moves into position and gives a Quick concert featuring two xylophones in a dueling banjos number and a Snappy deafening version of the Battle hymn of the Republic. People especially those sitting on bleachers Are beginning to shift hips. Finally the two companies pass in review before the special guest this evening assistant defense Secretary Chapman b. Cox and March off. As the last ranks swing by the band strikes up the marines hymn As you knew it would and the solemn slim Young men try to look taller than their 6 feet. 10 15. The lights go out. On the battlement across Tho Way a single bugler is spotlighted. He plays taps the Light gradually fading As he lingers on the final note. A hush follows As it always does and you remember How Confederate soldiers hearing those lonely but somehow Healing notes from the Union Camp across a civil War Battlefield liked the Call so much they started using it themselves. It became a Bond of sorts Between the enemy armies. The evening Parade is superbly done smooth and effortless. Like any other ritual it has its own inexorable order its own logic its own time Frame. Madison Avenue could t make a better commercial. .,.__tuurno by Eugene Sheffer across 40 british1 actor Colony Buchholz abbr. 6 Chimney 42 make worker Over 11 gondolier s 43 Knock Home 44" i m 12 court Adam goings on 46 Sticky 14 Region of stuff Spain 4720 in geriatrics question concern category 16 trip part 49 stand in 52 actor Weaver 58 Hinderman rifled buttons Donlo Nihls 2 old catapult 3 equip4 Highlander 5 belief 17 entice ruler19 London s 51 source of big danger possible game23 walk heavily 24 Day i Hollywood 26 Rabbit Homes 28 Cor helping 30 salary31 malign 35 Energy Type 39 gun s sub ordinates yesterday s answer 8-16 10 Park Birds Legott note13 Broad cast18 beastly mouth21 bearings 23 comic Richard z5 Bluem Headland 29 feast 81 Varo Oolep 8s gave for awhile 33 tyrolean Miteen Cumber 36 Folk story37 handsome ont88 Haley Best seller 41 poets 44 Spike club 45 convene48 porch item 50 wildebeest 8-18 Hubert Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday August 16,1986