Sixty-Eight Treated for Heat Exhaustion at Norwood Drum and Bugle Corps Competition-August 31, 1964

An evening of music and pageantry at the Norwood High School Field turned into a busy night for medical responders on Saturday when 68 individuals required treatment for heat exhaustion and various minor injuries during the Eastern Massachusetts Drum and Bugle Association competition. Despite the event running during the evening hours from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m., intense late-summer humidity took a heavy toll on performers and spectators alike.

An audience of approximately 2,000 spectators had gathered to enjoy performances by 17 competing drum and bugle units sponsored by the Norwood Debonnaires. However, organizers had wisely anticipated medical needs by setting up a Civil Defense treatment tent on the field prior to the start of the show.

Medical Response and Notable Transport Cases

Civil Defense Director Joseph McAuliffe directed operations from the field tent, assisted by four nurses and nearly a dozen stretcher bearers. Officials expressed amazement as a steady stream of minor mishaps and heat-related cases arrived at the tent in what field committee chairman Wallis Macdonald described as dropping “in chain reaction fashion in the high humidity.”

Beyond heat exhaustion, medical staff treated a variety of injuries, including leg cuts caused by uniform wire, twisted wrists, and a throat obstruction. Local police, assisted by Allied Ambulance Service, managed emergency runs transporting the most severe cases to Norwood Hospital. Among the eight individuals hospitalized and subsequently treated and released were Thomas Kelly Jr., 17, of 1673 Commercial Street, South Weymouth, and Judith Cormier, 15, of 139 Hayward Street, East Braintree.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger