We could not let this week go by without mentioning that both of our dear fathers served in the armed forces, Robin’s father in The United States Marine and Jackie’s father in The Royal Canadian Air Force. We are so grateful to them both for having served ….
….grateful not only to them, but to all of the people around the world who have fought for freedom.
Marine tradition holds that the Corps was formed in a bar. The story dates to late-November 1775, when newly commissioned Captains Samuel Nicholas and Robert Mullan supposedly organized the first Marine Corps muster at Tun Tavern, a popular watering hole in Philadelphia. The two officers are said to have lured potential Marines with mugs of beer and the promise of adventure on the high seas, and their recruits later made up the first five companies that served aboard Continental Navy ships. While there’s little hard evidence to back up the tavern tale—some historians maintain that a pub called the Conestoga Wagon was the more likely recruitment site—it remains a part of Marine lore to this day. The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia even contains a restaurant named “Tun Tavern.”
UNITED STATES – CIRCA 1900: Marine Corps Band in Front of steps to the Executive Office Building with Instruments (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images) Marine Corps Band, c.1900 (Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
First formed in 1798, the Marine Corps’ military band is famous for having performed at the inauguration of every American president since Thomas Jefferson in 1801. Jefferson nicknamed the Marine Band “The President’s Own,” and since then, its main purpose has been to provide music for the commander in chief at state dinners, parades and other functions. The band is best known for its marches—“The Stars and Stripes Forever” composer John Philip Sousa was once its director—but it has also played classical and opera music according to the tastes of the president and his guests. It once even performed a Scott Joplin ragtime tune at the request of Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter Alice.
405717 01: While a fire boat shoots water in the air, U.S. Navy sailors (in white) stand with U.S. Marines aboard the USS Iwo Jima May 22, 2002 as the ship passes the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor during the parade of ships to start “Fleet Week” celebrations. The Parade of Ships starts Fleet Week, an annual New York event on Memorial Day weekend . (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
While the Marine Corps is its own branch of the U.S. military, it falls under the administration of the Department of the Navy. This close working relationship dates back to the American Revolution and has been affirmed by several acts of Congress. Marines serve aboard Navy ships and often train alongside sailors, and many Marine officers attend the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. Marines have also operated under the authority of the Army, most famously during World War I, when the Fourth Marine Brigade was attached to the Second Infantry Division in Europe.
The Royal Canadian Air Force Band is a group of thirty-five fulltime professional musicians who routinely perform throughout Canada. Comprised of a number of diverse groups and ensembles, the Band’s role is to provide musical support to the Canadian Forces, all levels of government, and to a variety of public functions. TheRoyal Canadian Air Force Band also proudly represents Canada and the Canadian Forces around the globe. Military and public parades, ceremonial occasions, international tattoos, public and school concerts, official dinners, dances and receptions are all typical engagements for theRoyal Canadian Air Force Band and its varied ensembles.
Lorne Greene, the actor who played Ben Cartwright on the immensely popular television Western Bonanza, was born in Ontario, Canada in 1915. Greene’s rise to national stardom in Bonanza did not come until relatively late in his career. He first began acting as a student at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, where he abandoned his major in chemical engineering to follow the more exciting lure of the stage. For several years he worked in the theater in New York City, but he won his first major position in 1939 as an announcer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. His deep, warm voice soon earned Greene the title, “The Voice of Canada.” During World War II, he served as a flying officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force. When he returned to Canada, Greene began to win more acting roles in the fledgling Canadian television industry. In 1954, he made his big screen debut as the Apostle Peter in The Silver Chalice.
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force (CAF). In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and granted the royal title by the then King of England, His Royal Majesty, King George V.
Thank you, thank you! We feel sure that you can both feel our love and heartfelt thanks in Heaven.
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We can all be proud of our armed forces. My father was a captain in the army in WW !! and his sister was a marine. They didn’t talk about it unless asked. Such wonderful people have served their country. They deserve to be remembered.
We so agree, Lara. I know, our fathers did not talk about it unless asked and even then, very little.