William McClellan
(Giles Yellow Jackets/DesPlaines Vanguard)

I belive that 1965 was the last active year of the Yellow Jackets ...  The corps folded in April, 1965. Tommy Merchant, Al McCants, Al Jordan, Dorian Harper, John and I (those were the names that I remembered) went to the Jackson Raiders and marched the 1965 season with them. (If my memory serves me, Thurmond Turner was also in that corps) We left the Raiders after the Labor Day show. John and I joined Vanguard on October 1, 1965 and the rest is history.

The Yellow Jackets that were still "legal" (smile), went to Vanguard (me, John, Bojack, Al Jordan, Vincent Chancey, Michael Bonds), Royal Airs (Reggie and Kirkland Burke, Raymonde Lewis, Thurmond Turner) or Cavaliers (Elijah Mundy). If there was a Yellow Jackets after that, I do not remember.  In '67 all of us were involved in the "major" corps.

It is ironic that the break-up of the only All-Black (Negro), All-male corps was a major contributor to the integration of drum corps not only in Illinois but the entire nation.

Food for thought. Thanks for the web site. If I have forgotten anyone, it's been 40 years and my C.R.S. (Can't Remember S@#*) is terminal.

Bill McClellan