Following World War I, veterans’ organizations in Amsterdam established drum and bugle corps, with most members being veterans who had learned to march during their time in the Army. The top-performing groups were those from the James T. Bergen and John J. Wyszomirski American Legion posts.
During World War II, the number of drum corps in the area grew, attracting younger, teenaged members. Amsterdam’s two Polish neighborhoods, Reid Hill and Park Hill, each had their own drum corps. On Park Hill, the all-female St. John’s Fife and Drum Corps wore blue and gold uniforms, originally known as the Seventh Ward Fife and Drum Corps.
On Reid Hill, the co-ed Polish National Alliance (P.N.A.) Drum and Bugle Corps wore maroon and white uniforms. This group, based at the P.N.A. building on Reid and Church Streets, had many members who were parishioners of St. Stanislaus Church.
One notable P.N.A. member, young bugler Frank Ratka, eventually pursued a career as a business manager for symphony orchestras in Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma City, and Atlanta.
Sylvia Zimolka Stock, in a 2004 interview, explained why she joined St. John’s Fife and Drum Corps at the age of 11. “It was during the war, and it was something very patriotic at the time,” she said. She began as a flag bearer before playing drums. Frank Yazum, another interviewee from 2004, joined the P.N.A. corps in 1937 as a bugler.
Both Stock and Yazum recalled that their groups performed a mix of traditional marches and popular songs adapted to a martial tempo.
The St. John’s Fife and Drum Corps marched in a Polish-American parade in New York City and performed at Fort Smith near Peekskill, where Company G of the National Guard from Amsterdam was stationed.
Another prominent martial music group of the 1940s was the all-female Fort Johnson Fife and Drum Corps, known for their bright red uniforms.
Marge Vertucci Habla, a flag bearer for the Fort Johnson corps, recalled a humorous incident during a 1940s Memorial Day parade. Habla and majorette Grace Bender had received conflicting marching instructions. As Habla took a turn toward the Old Fort, soldiers saluted her along the way. However, the music behind her grew fainter—Bender had missed the turn and was leading the rest of the corps in the wrong direction.
The drum corps regularly competed against each other and out-of-town groups, both in appearance and performance. Competitions and inspections took place at Amsterdam’s Sanford Field (now Veterans Field on Locust Avenue). One notable group from Johnstown wore elegant black uniforms, while Troy’s Mighty Callahans were dressed in green.
After Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945, marking the Allied victory in Europe, Stock recalled how the St. John’s group “marched through the streets of Amsterdam because everybody was out celebrating.” Yazum, however, wasn’t sure if the P.N.A. corps participated in that parade but humorously added, “We just went around kissing all the girls.”
Eight drum corps participated in Amsterdam’s World War II victory parade on September 15, 1945. Half of the corps were from Amsterdam, while others came from Fort Johnson, Johnstown, Waterford, and Syracuse.
In 1947, an all-female drum corps in Fonda hosted a competition, and in 1949, the Fort Johnson corps performed at the opening of the Mohawk Theatre in Amsterdam.
Drum corps competitions continued in Amsterdam, Fonda, Fort Plain, and Johnstown for many years following the war.
In the years after, there were several attempts to repurpose the vacant Chalmers mill on Amsterdam’s South Side. After URI Kaufman’s unsuccessful attempt to convert the mill into an upscale housing project, another developer also failed to rehabilitate the building. The Chalmers building was eventually demolished in 2011 and 2012.
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