My grandfather was bivouacked in France with his U.S. Cavalry unit in WWI. During a raging blizzard, his horse broke loose, terrified. When he finally found her, he tied her lead to a short branch in the ground nearby. Under the next morning's blazing sun, the snow melted away, but he couldn't find his horse anywhere - until, hearing a distant whinny, he looked up to see her dangling from the village church spire.
 
Meet my grandfather, Arthur J. "Pop" Murphy. He was a fifer, a WWI US Cavalry veteran, a founding member of the Mount Vernon NY VFW Post 596 Drum Corps - and an inveterate teller of tall tales. I was a small child when Grandpa Murphy told me that story, and I wanted to believe him – he was my grandfather, after all, and the only thing I knew about France was that Madeline lived there. But even then, I knew full well that there were facts, and then there were stories. My family has many stories about Mount Vernon VFW Post 596, about the people and the music and especially about the drums. As it turns out, most of the stories - unlike the one about the cavalry horse - hold up pretty well to the facts.
The story of the drums is that they were made in 1934 by Sanford A. "Gus" Moeller and Edward A. "Pop" Classey together, who were both involved with Post 596 at the time. The two friends eventually fought so much that they never worked together again. Pop Classey, and later his son Ed Classey, went on to make drums in an on-again-off-again way, while Moeller drums became, well, Moeller drums.
This part of the story starts in 1930, when the Murphy family lived on the west side of Mount Vernon, just a few blocks away from Pop Classey and his family. Classey and Murphy were friends, members of the Emil Hubsch Mount Vernon VFW Post 596, and both were founding members in 1930 of the Post’s Bugle and Drum Corps.1 Gus Moeller lived in Long Island City in 1930.2. He taught drums at Landay Bros (among other places), which had a music school location in Mount Vernon near the Post. Pop Classey was one of Moeller’s drum students, but we don't know if Classey was a student at Landay’s.3
The corps made its first appearance in September 1930. The picture below was taken in 1931, just before they won the NY State VFW Championship in June.4 Gus Moeller is in the photo (left, in front of the flag and behind the drum major – a copy of this photo was given to the corps with a handwritten note from Moeller); at least one other photo of Gus Moeller also shows him in this uniform. This photo and others were in my grandfather’s possession - Moeller was first pointed out to me by my aunt. The story is that Pop Classey and Gus Moeller were friends (at least, they were then), and Moeller was part of the 596 corps from the beginning.  The 1931 championship gave the corps the distinction of being the official band of the New York State Department of the VFW.5
 
1932 was a busy year for the new powerhouse corps. Mt. Vernon's local newspaper enthused about the upcoming June 11th field day the corps would host as "the greatest bugle, fife and drum contest ever held in the eastern part of the country" and noted the "remarkable growth" of the corps, which had "won first award in every contest in which it has participated", except one.6 But after coming in second at the VFW State Encampment in 1932, the corps was determined to regain their first place championship in 1933.7 By April 1933, it was reported that the corps was practicing 3 nights a week under the leadership of “instructor Sergeant S. A. Moeller”, who that year had been appointed the Chief Musician of the New York State VFW. 8 The corps held a military ball/massing of colors as a fundraiser for the trip, featuring a snare drum exhibition by Moeller, who was also a member of the Post’s guest committee for the event.
 
In 1933, the VFW Post 596 Bugle, Fife and Drum Corps won the New York State Encampment Championship. 9 There were many other competitions in 1933, and many more trophies and accolades throughout the decade, but those stories are for another time. We’ll pick up the story of the corps in the next blog part, as it continues into 1934 with new rope tension snare drums, all under the guidance of VFW State Chief Musician and drum maker Gus Moeller.
As for Murphy and Classey, they remained in the Post 596 corps for many more years, appearing in newspaper articles from time to time that list competition appearances or Post obligations. Edward A. aged into “Pop” Classey, instructor for several corps; he was my father’s drum instructor at the Post following the end of WWII. Arthur J. aged into “Pop” or “Grandpa” Murphy, and while he stopped marching for health reasons, he continued to teach new fifers and transcribe corps music until he passed away in 1966.
 
1 Murphy family stories, Cooperman family stories, and “About Ed Classey”, Olsen, Ed. , Company of Fifers & Drummers, https://companyoffifeanddrum.org/news/from-the-archives/classey-jam-session
2Â 15th Census of the United States
3Â see footnote 1 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
4 ”All Set For Trip To Rochester”, Mount Vernon Argus, 6/24/31, p.8
5 “Veterans From Here Take First Prize In State Meet”, Mount Vernon Argus, 6/27/1931, p.1                                                                              Â
6  "Department of Public works Prepares City For Musical Invasion Of Veterans", Mount Vernon Argus, 6/6/1932, p.2                                       7 “Veterans To Hear About Convention”, Mount Vernon Argus, 6/28/1932, p. 7
8 “Corps Prepares For State Test”, Mount Vernon Argus, 4/27/1933, p.6
9 “Again, Congratulations”, Mount Vernon Argus, 7/10/1933, p.6.
Sources for newspaper articles pictured are posted under the image.
Notes on Names:
Edward A. “Pop” Classey was the father of Edward C. “Ed” Classey, who deserves an entire blog post of his own. They are often named in print as Ed Classey “Sr.” or “Jr.”, respectively, although that’s not strictly accurate.
The Post 596 corps variously appears in print as Mount Vernon VFW Post 596 Bugle and Drum, Fife, Drum and Bugle, Fife and Drum, or Field Music. Also as the Emil Hubsch Post Corps, and later, the Colonial Greens.
Arthur J. “Pop” or “Grandpa” Murphy was Patrick H. Cooperman’s father-in-law. His son Arthur J. Murphy Jr. was also in the 596 corps color guard at a later time.
