Thread: Proud to be an American!

Dear Folks, Have a safe and thoughtful Forth of July, Pat

Thanks Curious, you as well. I am proud to be an american and will always be!!!

Thanks Curiouspat. I was quite surprised to look down the street and see so many homes decorated in red, white and blue!

You betcha! I fly my flag daily!!!

A funny aside: my oldest daughter just told me that it's possible to have different rings on a cel phone, for each person who calls all the time, so you know who is calling without looking?!!

Didn't know that... anyway, she changed mine to "the Stars and Stripes Forever!" after I became active in our cause!!!

I told her I was honored!!!

I'am proud to be an American as well, my family immigrated here legally, my father served in the Army Air Corps during WWII and I served in the Marines in Nam.
I am proud of my Scottish heritage and wear the kilt of my family tartan. I was asked one time to wear it in a parade and I did so carrying the American flag!
I wish everyone here a very happy and safe fourth of July.

Happy 4th, I will be flying my flag high to, and probably mowing my own yard everyone please stay safe.

I'm wearing one today, my car and house are adorned.
I'm not taking them off after the holiday either!

Dixie

Bagpiping conjures magical music for 4th
The theme for Wheaton's 2006 July Fourth Parade is "Let the Magic Begin!" For lovers of bagpipe and drum bands, part of that magic will be a double portion of rousing Scottish music.


Since the 1980s, the Pipes and Drums of the Chicago Highlanders have been a part of the Wheaton celebration. Established in 1921, they are reputed to be the oldest continuous pipe and drum corps in the U.S.

But new to Wheaton's parade this year is the Tunes of Glory Pipes and Drums. Last year, they won the title of MidWest Pipe Band Association 2005 Grade V Champions Supreme. They also traveled to Glasgow, Scotland, to compete in the 2005 World Pipe Band Championship.

The band, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last October, will wear green plaid kilts, (called Hunting McInnes), and tan shirts. But even before they come into sight, you'll probably hear their drones wailing in the distance. In battle, the sound can strike fear in the hearts of the enemy. In a parade, it makes you want to join in.

Wheaton resident and president of the group, Gene Green said, "People either love bagpipes or hate them!"

It was almost 30 years ago when Gene and his wife, Deborah, were living in a small village outside Aberdeen, Scotland, for about three years. A farmer frequently played his bagpipes and the sound "came wafting through the trees." Green loved it. He wishes he'd started playing bagpipes then. But it's been only the last four years that he's followed his dream – "much to my regret," he added.

Now Green encourages people to start learning at a younger age than he did. The band is a good mix of men and women, boys and girls – from junior high age through those in their mid-60s.

"It's a wonderful thing for kids to be seen and treated as peers," Green said.

The bagpipe is not an easy instrument to master. The first step is to learn the fingering and the blowing technique using the practice chanter. There are only nine notes, but the music is enriched with embellishments such as grace notes and birls. Once the student has learned to play the chanter, he can move up to a set of pipes.

"Then it's almost like starting all over again," Green said with a chuckle.

Bagpipers have to keep their fingers moving, their bag full of air using the blow pipe, and squeeze the bag with just the right pressure to keep the drones and the chanter sounding. Of course, they have to march and play by memory.

The Tunes of Glory – 22 pipers, 12 drummers and several aspiring students – is based in Warrenville. Members come from Wheaton, Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Peotone.

"People will travel far because you just don't have a bagpipe band everywhere," Green said.

There are five grades of bagpipe bands, with Grade I being the best. Members of Tunes of Glory compete at two levels – Grade IV and Grade V, also as mini-bands and soloists. "The Chicago area doesn't have a Grade I band," Green said.

Most pipe and drum bands, Tunes of Glory included, have "a rigorous teaching program," Green said. "It's essential for the band's survival and growth."

So get ready for the likes of "Scotland the Brave," "The Battle's O'er" and "Bonnie Dundee."

Along with all the other entries, floats, clowns and marching bands, there's sure to be plenty of joy – so let the magic begin!


- Terry Jean Day has lived in Wheaton since 1967. Contact her by e-mailing tjd2006@sbcglobal.net.

06/30/06

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For you Mountaindog.....I plan on being there coz I love the bagpipes and I'm not even Scottish. Maybe it's from that tad of Irish in me.

Yep, got the house decked out in red/white/blue, got the flag up. We are good to go here.

stars + stripes.. I love it...everytime I see 'em flappin in the wind I feel a sense of pride and gratitude y'know... the place that stills affects and touches my patriotic senses the most is Gettysburg...everytime I'm walkin around that place I feel some dormant emotions rise..it's hard to articulate, but there's no place or event in American history that affects me more personally...I hope I can summon the spirit of the guys who served there, into my own civic duties..I'd be ashamed to have to face the guys who made the ultimate sacrifice & were left face down on the battlefield ..and try to explain, how casually we're allowing the American Union they loved so much, degenerate into a Third World country.