Once Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida finished laying a wreath before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on April 9, 2024, Sgt. 1st Class Sidonie McCray played muffled ruffles on her drum, signaling that the Army bugler was about to sound Taps. It was an important moment for both. Kishida paid homage to his American ally’s history of sacrifice, while McCray served for the first time as the Special Drummer for a head-of-state ceremony.
McCray, a percussionist with the U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own,” is the band’s first female Special Drummer. She has served in the Army for 11 years and has played the drums for more than 2,200 ceremonies and events. Yet the moment with the Japanese prime minister was not lost on her. “What a great moment in history,” she said after the ceremony. “It’s an exciting time, especially with the cherry blossoms here.”
Yet with all the officials and general officers listening to her performance, she focused on her job. “They must feel a sense of awe, too,” she added. “I just trust that my body and hands know what to do.”
McCray had been rehearsing her role since 6 a.m. that morning when she arrived at the Tomb, in time to see the sun rise. Her job began well before the prime minister arrived. With honor guards from each military service assembled below the Memorial Plaza, she marched out and stood at attention at the top of the steps on the east side of the Tomb. She then began playing a drum cadence on her drum, which made a muffled, somber sound.
She kept a perfectly steady cadence as two columns of uniformed service members marched up each side of the steps and the joint color guards stationed themselves on either side of the Tomb. When the service platoons reached their positions on the steps and halted, she stopped playing and marched to the north side of the amphitheater where she joined the bugler and wreath bearer. The three then marched back to the Plaza where she played muffled ruffles for the prime minister.
After the bugler sounded Taps, the prime minister and his party headed into the Memorial Amphitheater, but McCray’s duties were not over. She returned to the center of the Plaza, joining Capt. Andrew Guay, the honor guard company commander, and tapped out the cadence again as the troops turned and headed down the stairs. Once the area was clear, the two about-faced, saluted the tomb, and marched back to the amphitheater.
McCray’s performance impressed Guay. “She did an outstanding job,” he said after the ceremony. “She knows what she’s doing.”
Born in Hawaii, McCray grew up on the island of Kwajalein in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, where her father worked for the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site. Her family then moved to Melbourne, Florida. McCray eventually earned a Bachelor of Music from Florida State University and a Masters of Music from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. As graduation neared, she looked into different music careers. “I had no idea the Department of Defense is the number one employer of musicians in the world,” she said. “I wanted to hop on that train.”
She auditioned for a position as a percussionist with the Army’s Ceremonial Band, earning her selection. After graduating from basic training, she joined the band at Fort Myer, Virginia, in 2013. Since then, she has played the drums in all kinds of weather and at different venues. “It’s hard if you can’t feel your hands in the cold,” she said, “the uniform call often includes gloves which makes it even harder to feel the sticks.”
Early in her career, with the ongoing war in Afghanistan, McCray played the drums at several funeral services in ANC’s Section 60. “Seeing families with young kids was absolutely heartbreaking,” she recalled. “It reminded me why we’re out there.” Yet her music, and that of the band, brought comfort to grieving families. “I had never before in my musical career seen people be so moved by music,” she said.
In 2022, McCray took some time off from ceremonies to give birth to a daughter. She hopes that her daughter will come to the cemetery someday to watch her play her drum. “I would love to stay in the Army for at least 20 years,” she said. McCray has enjoyed the opportunities the Army Band has given her and the importance of providing music for grieving families and visiting dignitaries. “I’ve played with many different groups and it’s wonderful,” she explained, “but the Ceremonial Band mission has an extra special touch that I’ve never experienced in any other job.”