If you love Sousa, see the real thing

Scene 1 on the DVD (immediately following the credits) is a “Pass In Review” a very old tradition of each of our military services (the Marines bill this particular summertime event as the “Evening Parade”). In the movie, Sousa is seen marching with the band, the color guard, and further back a platoon of Marines.

Since the early 1950s, for 50 years now every June, July, and August Friday evening commencing at 2100 (9:00pm) the Marines “show their stuff ” for a VIP guest and about 4,000 of general public. I’ve been attending one or more times most summers for the past thirteen years (health permitting). For Sousa fans, this is about the best you can get.

The band that Sousa is originally connected with is the United States Marine Band. This is the premier band of the Corps, stationed at Marine Barracks, 8th and I Streets, S.E., Washington DC – “the oldest post in the Corps”. This band is known as “The President’s Own”. At this Post is also the official residence of the Commandant of the Corps. The other band which joins together is the “The Commandant's Own” The United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps. Additional important participants are the Marine Corps Color Guard, the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, Ceremonial Marchers, and Lance Corporal Chesty XIII, the official mascot of Marine Barracks Washington.

For a Sousa fan, this free event can be part of your visit to the Nation’s Capitol. Visit the URL of the Marine Barracks at
http://www.mbw.usmc.mil/parade_eveningdefault.asp
Use the link on that page for Online Reservation Request.

I might be there. I‘ll be an elderly naval officer, squeezed into his dress whites.

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