Verona Boy Scouts Troop No. 1

He thought that the troop should have a bugle and drum corps of its own, and he was able to acquire three snare drums and four bugles from the Kletzley-Egli Post. With this meager equipment, he organized the drum corps in January of 1929. George Milliken, a member of the troop committee, gave them another snare drum, and Paul Bealafeld bought the bass drum. Four of the boys bought their own bugles, for a total of eight bugles, four snare drums, and one bass drum.

The small Boy Scout Troop #1 Drum and Bugle Corps made its first public appearance on Memorial Day in 1929 with thirteen members. They needed some help to get ready for that Memorial Day parade, and Mr. Young asked George Milliken to take charge of the drums. Mr. Milliken in turn asked Charlie Acklin for assistance. Mr. Young also asked Jack Rader and Bill Luckock to assist in training the buglers.

Each spring through about 1937, George Milliken and Charlie Acklin worked with the buglers, until Vern Acklin became the instructor. Dale Davis was in charge of the buglers.

The scout uniform was used as the corps uniform until 1938. In that year, the corps' ranks had grown to about 30, and the uniform was changed to white duck trousers, white shirts, and blue and gold neckerchiefs.

When the corps began to attend firemen's parades, they realized that they needed more "thunder" to compete with the other corps that were drowning them out. During the summer of 1938, Mr. Young ran a small street fair which brought in $321.76 with which more equipment could be acquired, including two old drums from the Pioneer Fife and Drum Corps of Pittsburgh.

The group needed a better uniform if they were going to be competitive in parades, so Mr. Young enlisted Gus Peterson, chairman of the troop committee. Mr. Peterson campaigned to raise enough funds by March of 1930 to purchase capes and caps for the corps, at a cost of $343.00. Mr. Peterson also assisted with corps management for several years.

Lois Nellis was the group's first majorette, later followed by Ruth Kauffman. The corps first appeared with capes and majorettes on Memorial Day, 1939.

The Boy Scout Troop #1 Drum and Bugle Corps continued active until the outbreak of World War II, when most of its members left for military service. While the corps was abandoned for the war, Vern Acklin and Mr. Young gathered up the equipment and stored it in Young’s attic. After the boys returned, Mr. Young gave them permission to use the equipment, but he told them they were old enough to run the corps themselves; they did not need his management any longer.

Vern Acklin had agreed to instruct the corps as far as he was able, but he became ill and died in 1946 before he could do anything with it. Mr. Young suggested that the now-senior corps be called the Vern Acklin Memorial Corps in recognition of the work Vern had done in instructing the corps.

Vern had joined the boy scout troop in 1930 and became a member of the drum and bugle corps. He was a drummer until he took over the instruction of the group in 1936 or 1937.

John Gruphofer, Adam McCarrison, Charles M. Acklin; Encyclopedia of Drum and Bugle Corps, 1966