The day of this writing, June 3rd, 2016 is the 88th birthday of USARD member and USARD 2016 Lifetime Achievement Awardee, Gerd Sommer.

In this video interview Gary Gillotti produced after this year's Memorial Day parade, Gerd mentions his time as a grammar school student as a student of the legendary drum teacher, J. Burns Moore.

Gerd is one of only two people I am aware of who was taught rudimental drumming by Moore. The other, another USARD member, is John Lester of Seattle, Washington.