For July 4th, Eight Uniforms & Eight Marches
The Marches of ALL the U.S. Uniformed Services (plus one extra service!)
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As a special favor, it would mean a great deal to me if you would share this particular article with friends and loved ones who have served in any of America’s eight uniformed services—along with my sincere thanks for their service and sacrifice.
Thanks, this Fourth of July, to all of America’s men and women in uniform.
On this occasion, Bastiat’s Window will take a break from complaining about economics, healthcare, eugenics, statistics, authoritarianism, censorship, racial discord, and cultural decay. Instead, here are eight videos, plucked from YouTube, presenting the official marches of the eight uniformed services that serve the American people. While four of the songs enjoy near-universal recognition, the other four are more obscure. For that matter, a couple of the uniformed services aren’t that well-known, either.
For those readers trying to count all eight services on their fingers, here’s the list: Of course, there are the six branches of the U.S. military—the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. In addition, the uniformed services include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps and the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
These eight marches have some interesting histories. Along with the videos, this article will provide a few bits and pieces of lore associated with each song, plumbed from the archives of the distinguished Faculty of Music at the University of Wikipedia. On rare occasion, members of that esteemed professoriate make errors and omissions, and so do I. So, corrections and additions are welcome in the comments section below. Additional lore about these services and their songs are also especially welcome.
[ADDENDUM, July 4, 2023: Several readers commented below and in emails that this article should have included, “Heave Ho! My Lads! Heave Ho!”—the official song of the U.S. Maritime Service (i.e., Song of the Merchant Marine). So far as I can tell, the USMS is not generally considered a uniformed service on par with the eight described above, but these readers offered some great reasons to include the song and the USMS here. So, I’ve added the song with a detailed explanation below. Given the facts presented by readers, I won’t worry one bit about whether the song technically should or shouldn’t be here. A belated thanks to the Merchant Marine, as well.]
Enjoy the music and stories, and, for those readers in the U.S., have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend. If you’re outside of the U.S., please enjoy this little musical celebration with us.
“The Army Goes Rolling Along” (U.S. Army)
Also known as “The Army Song,” this one has a history that surprised me. I assumed that this had been the Army’s official song forever, but it was only adopted in 1956. Edmund Gruber wrote “The Caissons Go Rolling Along” in 1908, and John Philip Sousa made it into a march in 1917, renaming it “U.S. Field Artillery March.” But, it was not the Army’s first choice for an official song. In 1948, there was a contest to pick a march to represent the Army, but none of the entries hit home. In 1952, the Secretary of the Army asked the music industry for submissions, and they received around 800. Officials chose “The Army’s Always There,” and it was featured at Dwight Eisenhower’s presidential inauguration. Soon, however, people began to notice that the song sounded far too much like the then-recent novelty song, “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts,” popularized by Merv Griffin and Danny Kaye. In 1956, the Army dusted off Sousa’s march, edited the melody a bit, changed the title to “The Army Goes Rolling Along,” and added a new set of lyrics by Harold W. (“Bud”) Arberg, including, “First to fight for the right, And to build the Nation’s might, And The Army Goes Rolling Along.”
The Marines’ Hymn (U.S. Marines)
This is the only one of the service marches written by a world-famous composer—the Frenchman Jacques Offenbach (e.g., “Can Can”). The melody began as the “Gendarmes’ Duet,” added in 1867 to Offenbach’s 1859 comic opera, Geneviève de Brabant. (You’ll likely be shocked to hear the original version at this link—and it couldn’t remind one less of the Marines.) The lyricist who penned the almost universally recognized lyrics (“From the halls of Montezuma, To the shores of Tripoli; …”) is unknown. The Marines officially adopted the march as their official song in 1929.
Anchors Aweigh (U.S. Navy)
Surprisingly, the Navy has never officially designated “Anchors Aweigh” as its official song, though it’s usually thought of as such. It was originally a fight song for United State Naval Academy (USNA) sports. In 1906, midshipman Alfred Hart Miles asked the Academy’s bandmaster, Charles A. Zimmerman, to help him write a song for the football team. Miles’s original lyrics, still used at USNA football games, are not the words known world-over today. Another midshipman, George D. Lottman, penned new lyrics in 1926, including the more familiar, “Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh,” amended in 1997 by Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Hagan to continue, “Farewell to foreign Shores, we sail at break of day, of day.”
The U.S. Air Force Song (U.S. Air Force)
Known familiarly as “Wild Blue Yonder,” this march went through several names on the way to its present title. Originally, it was called “Army Air Corps,” as the Air Force wasn’t an independent service branch until 1947. Robert MacArthur Crawford, who wrote the melody and first verse in 1939, had attempted to enlist as a flyer in World War I, until it was discovered that he was underage. He later became a pilot and and did fly in World War II. In 1941, the Army Air Corps was renamed the Army Air Forces, and the song’s title changed accordingly. With the establishment of the Air Force as a separate branch of the military, the song was renamed “The U.S. Air Force Song” and was adopted that year as the new branch’s official song. The first two lines are iconic (“Off we go into the wild blue yonder, climbing high into the sun.”) If you only watch one of these videos, watch this one, as it’s a complex, one-take, endlessly varying, splendidly joyful production.
Semper Supra (U.S. Space Force)
The U.S. Space Force became the newest branch of the U.S. military in 2019, and adopted its official march in 2022. The melody for “Semper Supra” was written by James Teachenor and Sean Nelson, with lyrics by Teachenor. (“Semper Supra,” Latin for “always above,” is the branch’s official motto.) Teachenor had served in the U.S. Air Force Academy Band. Nelson is music director for the United States Coast Guard Band.
Semper Paratus (U.S. Coast Guard)
Taking its title from the Coast Guard motto (Latin for “always ready”), Captain Francis Saltus Van Boskerck wrote the lyrics to “Semper Paratus” in 1922 and the melody in 1927. Additional lyrics were written by Coast Guardsmen Homer Smith and Walton Butterfield in 1943. The stirring opening is “From Aztec Shore to Arctic Zone, to Europe and Far East.”
Forward with NOAA (NOAA Corps)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps) has antecedents dating back to the administration of Thomas Jefferson. Their mission—monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions—is vital to the operations of the military services. However, lack of uniforms presented grave risks in time of war. In particular, during the Civil War, members of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps (a NOAA predecessor) could be executed as spies by Confederate forces. For this reason, in 1917, Congress established the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps, whose officers would be uniformed in time of war and, hence, not spies under the rules of war. The Survey Corps became the Environmental Science Services Administration in 1965 and then NOAA in 1970. “Forward with NOAA” was written in 1988 by Bob Arberg, whose father, Bud, had arranged the music and written the lyrics for “The Army Goes Rolling Along” a generation earlier. The NOAA Corps adopted Arberg’s song that same year.
Public Health Service March (PHSCC)
Like the NOAA Corps, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) is a non-military uniformed service that can be militarized upon presidential command. The predecessors of the PHSCC date back to the the Marine Hospital Fund in 1798, whose task was to care for sick and disabled Merchant Marines and pre-Coast Guardsmen around the world. The uniformed service itself officially dates back to 1889 and is headed by the Surgeon General. "Public Health Service March”—quite an impressive piece from a melodic standpoint, I think—was composed in 1989 by George King III, who was U.S. Coast Guard Chief Musician at the time. (And yes, I did a double-take on King’s name, as well.)
BONUS: Heave Ho! My Lads! Heave Ho! (U.S. Maritime Service)
[ADDENDUM, July 4, 2023] Several readers suggested in the comments below (and in emails) that I include this stirring march which, from a purely musical standpoint, is one of the best-crafted songs of the whole series. The U.S. Maritime Service largely exists today as faculty and administrators at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Merchant mariners are civilians, but, like the NOAA Corps and PHSCC, they can be militarized upon presidential order. According to one comment posted below, “U.S. merchant mariners suffered a higher casualty rate per capita in WWII than any of the armed services,” and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy “is the only federal academy to have sent its cadets or midshipmen into the conflict.” For this humble civilian, that’s good enough for me. “Heave Ho! My Lads! Heave Ho!” was composed in 1943 by USMS Lieutenant Junior Grade Jack Lawrence.
Lagniappe
As a musician and amateur composer, I bow humbly before those who have left the immortal songs shown above. However, I would like to offer my own small tribute to America’s military and patriotic traditions. Composed in 2020, my “Declaration” is accompanied by my wife’s red-white-and-blue artwork. A few weeks back, Bastiat’s Window offered an account of my father’s stateside World War II experiences (“A Father's Day Salute: Staving off the Imperial Japanese Navy in Central Virginia, and other WWII tales”). I dedicate this musical composition to my father, 1st Lt. Harold Graboyes, USA (1914-1998).
Robert F. Graboyes is president of RFG Counterpoint, LLC in Alexandria, Virginia. An economist, journalist, and musician, he holds five degrees, including a PhD in economics from Columbia University. An award-winning professor, in 2014, he received the Reason Foundation’s Bastiat Prize for Journalism. He publishes Bastiat’s Window, a Substack-based journal of economics, science, and culture. His music compositions are at YouTube.com/@RFGraboyes/videos
To artillerymen, it will always be "The Caissons Go Rolling Along"!
Merchant Marine anthem:
https://youtu.be/_aB3Nzktyww