Military

Cheviot Hills Military Academy was a military school as the name suggests. All activities at school were structured under a military style. Uniforms had to be worn at all times. We had two uniforms, one for dress which you see in the picture of the school officers on the right and khaki for everyday use. These uniforms were purchased at Desmonds in Los Angeles. When a new student arrived at school, he stood out to the point of embarrassment because he was in civilian clothes waiting for his shipment from Desmonds which took about a month to six weeks.

Cadet Officers, 1952, in the picture on the right.

Notice the Sam Browne belts being worn by the officers. This was a throwback to World War I when regular military officers wore these belts. After entering the school, students or cadets as they were known would earn their way of the rank ladder similar to the standard military system. Private to PFC (one stripe) on up to master sergent with three stripes up and three down. Once a cadet was elevated to officer status, he wore insignia based upon the British System. A lieutenant at CHMA wore either a silver "pip" or a gold one rather than the bar used by the US. I suspect that the reason was to distinguish them from real military officers.

The student body was divided into three companies of two platoons each. Company I, K and L along with a cadet band represented the organization. Company I contained the oldest third of the students with L organized with the K-3rd grade. The three companies formed a battalion and our inspections were held in battalion formation. From there we marched either to class, the dining room or our barracks. We never walked anywhere but marched everywhere.

The picture on the left was Company I in 1952. And yes, the officers did carry swords on their belts. Being in the band, I carried a trombone instead.

The band leader was a Mr. Del Mano and he must have been good. Having never played in a band before, I had no reference point to compare but as I developed a reference point, I came to realize that this band was pretty darned good. When I entered high school, I can easily say that the high school band never sounded as good as this jr. high band. We marched in step, we played in tune and we sounded particularly good even before you consider that we were made up of 9th graders down to 6th graders. One member, Gary Ayers, could play the trumpet almost as well as Harry James. On the trombone I wasn't great but I was in tune. The drummers, younger kids, were terrific. They started me out on the base drum and I was happy to shrug that off for the trombone.

We practiced marching in step twice weekly in addition to marching to class, etc. After all this practice even the little kids got it right. The expectation was that everyone could do it well and everyone pretty well met those expectations. Take any group and expect high levels of performance, and you seem to get it. In this picture on the left, don't forget you are looking at 8th and 9th graders.

Picture on the left is of 8th. and 9th. graders honing their marching skills.

Cadet Captain Roger Burford wrote this summary of marching which appears in the 1952 yearbook:

Staccato commands ring out. Dress Parade is under way. The performance of the battalion and drill company sometimes amazes a certain portion of the spectators. In reality this is just a reproduction of the daily drill which constitutes a vital part of our weekly program. However, this is not the only military discipline displayed by the cadets. At home when we gather in the dining room we reflect the manners taught us here in our mess-hall. Daily inspections show us the usefulness of keeping a tidy room. These are regular everyday activities which come naturally with experience. Monday's O'Grady Game in which every cadet has an opportunity to participate requires both concentration and skill; and at the end of the year . . . General Inspection. This is an examination by the State of California and the cadets spend days preparing for this event. But in the final analysis the very best in our training is evidenced when we leave school, for then every boy no matter where he goes reflects something he has learned at Cheviot Hills.

This picture on the right in the dining room shows the cadets seated but at attention with arms folded straight out in front. Here is how the breakfast, lunch and dinner routines worked. We marched into the dining room under the strains of a Sousa march played on the PA system. Once we reached our assigned seats, we stood at attention behind the chair until someone was called to say grace. After this, we were given the command, seats, and we took our places but at attention as shown in the picture. This position was held until given, at ease. At this point, we would wait to be served from the adult staff member at the head of each table.

Notice we are wearing our regular everyday khaki uniforms in the dining room picture on the right.

For offenders of the system, discipline was dished out measured by demerits. Each demerit earned resulted in the loss of some privileges in addition to 15 minutes of standing at rigid attention facing a wall. Four demerits earned you an hour. Once a week we had candy call. The school handed out one candy bar provided from a fund supplied by the individual parent. If you had any demerits on your record, you didn't bother showing up for candy call. The same went for swimming. A few problem kids never went swimming nor candy call. There were also other privileges that were curtailed under this system. Plus the embarrassment of having your demerits read out loud during the evening meals.