Marines Corps' performance units wow students at Beth-Center

[thedrifter]

Marines Corps' performance units wow students at Beth-Center

BY BRANDON CARPER

THE OBSERVER-REPORTER

newsroom@observer-reporter.com


Students gasped as bayonet blades sliced the air inches from the U.S. Marines' faces.

It was all for show as the 36-man Silent Drill Platoon performed at Bethlehem-Center High School Wednesday. Performing with the platoon was the U.S. Marines Drum and Bugle Corps, also called The Commandant's Own.

Capt. Peter Pace, in his ninth month as Silent Drill Platoon commander, said he enjoys working with the Marines. He grew up around them because his father, Gen. Peter Pace, is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the nation's second-highest ranking military officer.

"Traveling with these guys is like any high school football team," said Pace. "It's fun to watch the group dynamic."

During Pace's tenure with the platoon, it has performed at all major Marine Corps installations, and at halftime shows for the Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles. The platoon will be performing in France next week.

During performances, platoon members silently twirl, pass and thrust their 10.5-pound M-1 rifles. With bayonets affixed to the ends of their rifles for part of the routine, the Marines brandish their weapons toward each other from less than a foot away. The platoon keeps rhythm despite having no oral cadence.

"It's just awesome how they didn't have any verbal command," said Charlie Gess, a senior. "They were all together, and I didn't see any mistakes at all."

Pace said perfecting the routine requires three months' training in which the platoon practices 10 to 12 hours a day, five days a week. Of Pace's original 62 platoon members, 26 quit during training.

The Commandant's Own performed after the Silent Drill Platoon. Their selections included "All that Jazz," from the musical "Chicago," "The Bugle Call Rag" and Eric Copeland's "Hoedown."

The two Marine units came to Beth-Center at the request of Frank Mazeppa, American government teacher and adviser of the school's Youth Traffic Safety Council. Mazeppa noted that the Marines usually perform for free, but because all military aircraft was in use, the school had to bear the cost to transport the Marines by bus. Beth-Center split the $5,000 cost with Hempfield High School in Westmoreland County, where the Marines also are performing.

Grant McClelland, a senior and president of the Safety Council, said the Marines were brought to Beth-Center to unify the school in patriotism and to honor the U.S. armed forces.

Sempers,

Roger