Many of the regiments of the Army have distinctive marches which are played when passing in review but no distinctive march has ever been adopted for the Army as a whole. The march usually played by the bands of the sailor regiments of the Navy when passing in review is “A Life on the Ocean Wave,” and that played by the bands of the Marine Corps under the same circumstances is “Semper Fidelis,” the title of the march being the motto of the Marine Corps. THE NATIONAL ANTHEM “THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER” Written by Francis Scott Key while a prisoner on board the British Ship _Surprise_ during the bombardment of Fort McHenry near Baltimore during the War of 1812. Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming. Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep, Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes. What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam. In full glory reflected now shines on the stream; ’Tis the star-spangled banner; oh, long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave! And where is the band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion A home and a country should leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. Oh, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and wild war’s desolation; Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heaven-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: “In God is our Trust!” And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. THE END INDEX