As the glow of the morning Sun illuminates and casts shadows pointing westward over our village, and precisely as the Smyrna Community Center clock starts its own musical tradition, readers of this magazine are awakened by a fusillade of brassy notes from beyond the northern horizon, the traditional bugler’s call known as Reveille.
Jaunty, peppy, perhaps more caffeinated than a human has a right to be at that hour, the instantly recognizable Reveille sails across the Marietta, Smyrna, and Vinings landscape from a trio of loudspeakers atop a very high pole, greatly amplified by equipment at half height, located five miles by car from Smyrna City Hall, or two miles as the cargo plane flies, to Dobbins US Air Reserve Base, home of the 94th US Air Lift Reserve, formerly Marietta Army Air base.
You are listening to the Giant Voice System, in service from the same location in one form or another, activated the previous century for broadcasting audio messages that must be communicated en masse.
This musical tradition, 44 seconds long in the key of D, has rustled soldiers out of their cots for centuries, the very name being from the French infinitive ‘reveiller’, to awaken. While civilians may be pouring the day’s first mug of coffee, those in uniform at Dobbins are saluting the flag as it ascends, civilians on the property have right hands over hearts, drivers in vehicles will stop, out of respect for the flag.
So common was this tune to soldiers of World War II, a film version, sung by the Andrews Sisters in 1941, is said to have reached #6 on the US pop singles chart. The reader is encouraged to download and listen to ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ for its iconic 1940’s swing, clever lyrics, and airtight harmony.
As our local version finishes, the Community Center clock informs us that 8am has arrived again. That’s 0800 to you, soldier, where the mission of the 94th is to develop Airmen able to meet Joint Force warfighting demands anywhere, at any time, regardless of the time of day, or bugler calls.
What the Giant Voice speaks, however, is not always exactly what our small ears hear. When the atmospherics are so inclined, and one is physically positioned between our town’s buildings and homes in just the right way, one can hear both the original bugler in one ear, and a second, slightly delayed perfectly mimicked second bugler in syncopated rondo, or what the French call rondeaux, in the other ear.
The illusion of two buglers is caused by an intriguingly named atmospheric phenomenon known as an acoustic shadow. The air we breathe plays tricks on our senses again, as it does for our eyes when we see shimmering pools of water on hot Georgia roads always just out of reach. The conditions for the audio version of this legerdemain are complex and transitory and therefore unpredictable, but the effect is entertaining and worth a break in our day to pause and enjoy.
While contemplating this acoustic phenomenon, residents have an opportunity to pay their own respects to the active-duty soldiers and airmen serving our country under the shadow of the Giant Voice System in general, and in particular to Capt. Andrew Dobbins of Marietta, who would certainly have awakened to the bugle call, danced to the Andrews Sister’s version, and who flew his distinctive and beautiful C-47, predecessor to the giant C-130H transport planes we see in our skies today, into combat near Sicily, not to return from his third and last mission, this month, that July day, in 1943.
“An acoustic shadow caused a cannonade during the Battle of Gettysburg to be heard 150 miles away, but not by citizens only ten miles away.” Major Amanda Russell,
Georgia Army National Guard