The Four Official Songs of the U.S. Military

When I recall 9/11/01, and consider the years which followed, one fact bears no equivocation. Beyond the initial victims, the ones who have borne the weight of the days since are the men and women of the U.S. Military. Therefore, I would like to hear the official songs of the four branches of our military. The army has its official song, “The Army Goes Rolling Along”, written by a young artilleryman and tuned to greatness by John Phillips Souza. The Navy has their anthem, “Anchors Aweigh”, which started as the Naval Academy’s fight song, and was slowly adopted by the fleet. The Air Force has the inspiring words, “off we go into the wild blue yonder”, though the song’s official name is simply “The Air Force Song”. And, of course, the Marines have a hymn. I wouldn’t play them all sequentially in some dutiful but simple tribute, but rather intersperse them with your other selections for the day. The order of play is unimportant, though as an ex-marine I would lead with the Marine Corps Hymn, perhaps followed by “Give Peace a Chance”.

Peter Bourke