Last modified: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 8:02 PM EDT Marching on to glory BY TED NESI SUN CHRONICLE STAFF Every once in a while, we publish a story that strikes a chord with people. A good example was an article last Thanksgiving about the discovery and reinstatement of Mansfield High School's old fight song, "Clarissima." Quite a few former MHS band members wrote me afterwards to share their own memories of both the song and the marching band's glory days under its beloved former director, James Gallo, in the '50s and '60s. "I remember being on the football team and after a score, we heard that song," said Torri Pantaleon, a former Hornet. "Great, great motivator." My colleague Meredith Holford - today a reporter for the Mansfield News, back then a bass clarinet and cymbal player - recalls that the band would fill two buses when its 100 musicians traveled to march, "six tubas across." Barbara Kuzdzol said "the band was the bright light of my high school days." One alum, Mary Ritz Walling, related how, after she graduated from MHS, "Clarissima" followed her to college at Boston University; the song is BU's alma mater. Without a doubt, though, the best response came from James Gallo himself, who received a copy of the article in an e-mail from Walling. Gallo, who now lives in North Port, Fla., said he heard from dozens of former band members after the article was published. Like Walling, for him "Clarissima" is also tied to BU - Gallo knew the song from his days in the school's marching band, and got permission from BU to use it at Mansfield High when he took over the music program there. Gallo also shared two stories that are particularly appropriate this week, with St. Patrick's Day just around the corner. In 1957, the marching band took a trip to New York City to participate in the Big Apple's traditional St. Patrick's Day parade. The train to New York made a special stop in Mansfield to pick up the band, and the Foxboro band played them off, Barbara Kuzdzol recalled. Mansfield High led that year's parade, marching in front of New York's famous 69th Infantry Regiment - the "Fighting 69th" made famous in the old Jimmy Cagney movie. Gallo dug through his boxes of band photos down in Florida to find the photograph of the trip shown here, which was originally published in the defunct New York Herald Tribune newspaper. It shows the band's drum major, George Upper, greeting Francis Cardinal Spellman, the legendary archbishop of New York who led that city's Catholics from 1939 to 1967. Gallo also confirmed that Upper presented the cardinal with a box of candy from the chocolate factory in Mansfield, which Kuzdzol remembered, too. Ireland figured in another of Gallo's memories - of two decades later, when the Mansfield High marching band took off on a TWA 707 to visit Ireland to reciprocate three previous visits to Mansfield by Dublin's famous Artane Boys' Band. The August 1977 trip included parades, concerts, and was highlighted by a half-time field show at Croke Park in Dublin for an all-Ireland hurling final, Gallo said. The band also visited County Kerry, Galway, Limerick, and Bunratty Castle. And, to boot, the pilot of that TWA 707 they flew on was himself a Mansfield High graduate. Evidently, Gallo left a trove of memories for many Mansfield residents, past and present. "He was a truly wonderful teacher," Meredith Holford said simply. "He helped many a geeky musical kid find a niche." Mansfield Elks Lodge 2633 will host weekly Friday Night Fish Frys from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. through March 26. Fried and baked varieties of fish are offered as well as chicken fingers, hot dogs and clam chowder. A cash bar is available. The Mansfield Elks Lodge 2633 is located at 140 North Main St., Mansfield. TED NESI covers Mansfield for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at tnesi@thesunchronicle.com or 508-236-0434.