Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps

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Crossmen

Location	San Antonio, Texas
Division	Division I
Founded	1975
Director	Mark Chambers
Championship Titles
Corps Uniform	Black jacket with red Maltese Cross and shoulder accents, black pants, black aussie with red Maltese Cross and band, black plume

The Crossmen are a Division I drum and bugle corps sponsored by Youth Education in the Arts. Founded in 1975, they are a current member of Drum Corps International. The Crossmen have had various homes in the southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley areas since their inception, including long-time stays in West Chester, Pennsylvania and Newark, Delaware. The corps was created as a merger between two suburban Philadelphia drum corps, the Keystone Regiment and the 507 Hornets. The name "Crossmen" was chosen by the members of the newly created corps, and can be traced back to American Legion Post 507, which was named in honor of war veteran John Welsey Cross.

In the winter of 1996, the corps became an official program offering of Youth Education in the Arts, an umbrella organization which also includes the Cadets drum corps and the United States Scholastic Band Association.

In addition to numerous Eastern States Circuit Championships, the 1977 American Legion Championship, and the 1981 VFW National Championship, the Crossmen have been consistent finalists in the Drum Corps International circuit, and are consistent crowd-pleasers as well. Corps repertoires often include jazz and big band pieces, and thus the Crossmen have associated themselves with those genres. However, they have also enjoyed success playing classical music, pop, latin, Broadway and movie soundtracks. Their official corps song is Russian Christmas Music by Alfred Reed.

Part of the mystique surrounding the Crossmen are references to "Bones." Both a mascot and apparent fan of the corps, Bones appears at the top of the back stands or in other prominent places to help inspire the Crossmen before a big performance. Dressed in a 1970's Crossmen uniform with ankle-length red cape and a skull mask, Bones arrives in time for the start of the show, spreads his cape to audience approval, and then vanishes once the Crossmen take the field.

In September of 2006, it was announced that the corps operations would be moving to San Antonio, Texas for the 2007 season and beyond, with the goal of attaining independent operating status from YEA within two years.

The corps director is Mark Chambers, who is also the band director at Ronald Reagan HS in San Antonio, where the corps will now rehearse.