On July 5, 1957, the first Evening Parade was presented at the Barracks.  To be precise, it was not called the "Evening Parade" at that time, but was instead referred to as the "Moonlight Parade." For many years, dating back at least to the 1920's, the Barracks held "Sunset Parades" on Friday evenings at 5:30 p.m., but never one at night.

The purpose of this discussion is to recall the background and history of the Evening Parade.  We are in the process of developing the facts from 50-year old memories of those who participated, and will record them here as we develop them.  Because a "generation gap" has occurred over the intervening years due to changes which have occurred, we will try to demonstrate to the reader the context in which the first Evening Parade should be viewed:

Life at the Barracks in 1957

While the "bricks and mortar" within the quadrangle of the buildings bordered by 8th and 9th, and by G and I Streets Southeast have the same appearance now as they did 50 years ago, life at the Barracks has undergone a profound change.

In 1957, there were no "off campus" buildings other than the old schoolhouse (a block away) which served as a storage facility (its original use was to house the Marine Corps Institute).  Within the quadrangle, every inch of space was being used to house the officers and troops, the Marine Band and Drum and Bugle Corps, a Post Exchange, mess hall, basketball court, barber shop, a "slopshute" and many offices needed for executing the mission of the Barracks.

Small by today's standards, the number of officers and enlisted in 1957 totaled less than 900.  They consisted of the Ceremonial Guard Company, MCI Company, Headquarters and Service Company, the U.S. Marine Band and the Drum and Bugle Corps.  The Barracks were fully occcupied, with MCI Company quartered in the upper deck in the Northern portion, H&S Company in the center, and Ceremonial Guard Company in the Southern portion.  Everything was geared to ceremonial considerations, such as stripes painted every 30" on the pavement in front of the offices under the arcade which were used to practice "perfect" strides.   Another example was the painted footprints of the basic "squads drill" movement described below, which was on the parking lot pavement near the gas pump.

At that time, the Ceremonial Guard Company had four platoons, each of which was a silent drill team, each having a separate drill routine, and one of the four platoons was always at Camp David, being rotated every week or two.  Each of the platoons was a "complete" ceremonial unit, and for funerals at Arlington Cemetery used its own personnel to serve as body bearers and firing parties.  MCI Company had three complete ceremonial platoons (with the same height requirements as the Ceremonial Company) which participated in all types of parades and ceremonies in funeral corteges.

Even the basic drill was totally different from today's. In 1957, we used the pre- World War II "squads drill" in which each squad consisted of two ranks of four, as opposed to toady's "FMF drill," in which each squad consists on one rank of 8 Marines.  A ceremonial platoon today appears as 3 ranks of 8 Marines, whereas in the "squads drill" the platoon appeared as two ranks of 12 Marines. The basic maneuver for each squad in the old drill was "squad right", in which the squad would move so as to face 90 degrees from their starting position in six counts.

As can be seen, this was no simple movement, as each man's movements were different from all others, and in a "squads left" movement, each man's movements were different from those he used in executing "squads right."

The effect of this drill on the Parade was awesome. At the "march-on," the platoons marched in a column of squads (4 abreast, six ranks deep), and when they arrived at their assigned locations and executed a "squads right" (in the case of CGC) or "squads left" (in the case of MCI Company), the entire companies moved into two ranks, 36 men abreast! The same effect was had when beginning the pass in "review" at the north end of the parade deck - each platoon marching in a column of squads, and using the 6-count "squads left" movement, became 2 ranks of 12 abreast. Having 12 abreast as they passed the reviewing officer was most impressive, and took hours of practice to keep perfect alignment.

Another essential movement was "right by squads" (used after passing in review just prior to reaching the south end of the parade deck) so as to change from 2 ranks of 12 to 6 ranks of 4 -- in this movement, the right squad stayed straight, while the other two executed "squads right" and an immediate "column left." In addition, the pre-World War II drill requirements were used for "parade rest" and "at ease" for both officers and enlisted.

And, of course, there was no night-lighting.

To Be Continued . . . .
Next . . . The reason for and planning
a night-time Parade

Te see it, click here.