Military Musicians - Bands, Buglers, Drummers - Post them here

[Ranger-1972]

Staff Sergeant Frank Witchey, 3rd Cavalry Regiment Bugler, playing at Arlington National Cemtery. 

 

[Ranger-1972]

11 minutes ago, Ranger-1972 said:

Former U.S. Army Training & Doctrine Command, stationed at Ft. Monroe, VA. Photo from 2016.

 

 

TRADOC Band at Ft. Monroe (not dated).

 

[Ranger-1972]

Army Ground Forces Band, Veterans' Day Parade, Southern Pines, NC - 2015

 

[Ranger-1972]

Army Ground Forces Band Herald Trumpets in Raleigh in 2012 -- wearing enlisted mess jackets instead of blue dress uniforms.

 

 

[Ranger-1972]

Womens Army Corps Band at Ft. McClellan, AL.

 

[Ranger-1972]

From an October 2024 press release from the Army:

 

The 11th Airborne Division Band in Alaska was inactivated in June, followed by the U.S. Army Japan Band in August. This month, the 399th Army Band at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and the 77th Army Band at Fort Sill, Okla., closed operations.

Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/branches/army/2024-10-24/army-bands-soldiers-musicians-wars-recruitment-15614539.html
Source - Stars and Stripes

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gear Fanatic]

anyone have a photo of the/a 3rd MarDiv. Band 1943-1946? I have a uniform to a clarinet player from that timeframe.

[easterneagle87]

Catching up on this topic , I see some of the latest posts have images of bugle banners, which reminded me of a recent lot on ebay I saw that has a 2nd INF DIV bugle banner contained within it. 
 

[AnEagleT]

Found this topic and figured I'd contribute with something I used to have in the collection: a close-up shot of a herald trumpet tabard from the US Army Band.

[Ranger-1972]

8 hours ago, Gear Fanatic said:

anyone have a photo of the/a 3rd MarDiv. Band 1943-1946? I have a uniform to a clarinet player from that timeframe.

 

The USMC history of the 3rd MarDiv (https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/The 3D Marine Division and its Regiments PCN 19000317400.pdf) shows the following as the division's composition when it was initially formed (presume that if there was a division band, it was in the Headquarters Battalion -- but I cannot find any reference to divisional bands):

 

THE 3D MARINE DIVISION, officially activated 16 September 1942, at Camp Elliott, San Diego, California, was built around the 9th Marines. Major General Charles D. Barrett became the first commanding general of the division. As the year drew to a close, the 3d Division, still in the process of training and organization, consisted of three infantry regiments, the 9th, 21st, and 23d Marines; an artillery regiment, the 12th Marines; an engineer regiment, the 19th Marines; special troops composed of the 3d Headquarters Battalion, the 3d Parachute Battalion, the 3d Tank Battalion, and the 3d Special Weapons Battalion; the 3d Service Battalion; the 3d. Medical Battalion; and the 3d Amphibian Tractor Battalion. All of these units were located at Camp Elliott, except the 21st and 23d Marines, which were at New River, North Carolina.

 

Below is a photo of a USMC Band during a ceremony at Camp Elliott -- but there is no date on the image.

 

During WWII, the USMC apparently disestablished the pre-war regimental bands (like the Army did -- to utilize all available personnel to create new battalions and regiments as new divisions were being established) and left three bands at the recruit depots / training centers to which I can find reference:

  - Marine Band Parris Island, SC

  - Marine Band Quantico, VA

  - Marine Band San Diego, CA

 

This is a 1942 movie short "Leathernecks on Parade" (filmed in San Diego) showing a USMC Band (at 0:34, it shows the band during a ceremony on the parade deck at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego; at 4:16, it shows the band in khakis and pith helmets, playing while recruits do calisthenics; at 9:29, it shows the band in khakis leading a parade of recruits (perhaps the 3rd Marine Division ??) through town; at 10:10, the band is playing while the Marines board ships to head to the Pacific):  

 

 

 

This is likely the Marine Band San Diego sometime early in the war.

 

  

 

This is the Marine Band from San Diego playing at the Shrine football game in Balboa, CA in August 1943, after the 3rd MARDIV had shipped out:

 

 

This is a 1943 postcard showing the Marine Band San Diego:

 

 

Here is a description of the history of the 1st MARDIV Band during WWII (from the current website for that band) -- which indicates that divisional bands existed:

During the early stages of World War II, the 1st Marine Division launched the first land offensive against Japan, and the band laid its instruments aside to become front line troops for the four months of the campaign. With the Division was relieved at Guadalcanal and sent to Australia for rest and rehabilitation, the band again resumed its duties in the realm of music. Playing concerts at Melbourne, Sidney, and other principal cities of Australia, the band was met with enthusiastic acclaim and was soon unofficially adopted as "Australia's Own." The song Waltzing Matilda, an Australian icon, was adopted as the official song of the 1st Marine Division, after it was played for George Washington’s birthday in February 1943. With the surrender of Japan and war's end, the band returned to the United States.

 

Here is a description of the 2nd MARDIV Band during WWII (from the current website for that band) -- which states that it was formed from the regimental bands of the infantry regiments that formed the division:

The 2nd Marine Division Band - "The Division's Own" - was formed from elements of the 2nd, 6th, and 8th Marine Regiment Bands. They assembled for the first time in Wellington, New Zealand during World War II. Members of this band fought on Tarawa, Tinian, Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Saipan. 

 

Back in 1978, the 3rd MARDIV Band and the 3rd MAW Band merged to become the III MEF Band. Their website has no information on the history of the two original bands.

On October 1, 1978, the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing Band of Iwakuni, Japan merged with the 3rd Marine Division Band of Okinawa to create the III Marine Amphibious Force Band. It was assigned to Camp Foster on December 1, 1978, and later re-designated as the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) Band

 

Since the regiments that comprised the 3rd MARDIV were reactivated or created in 1942, they may never have had regimental bands (for example, the history of the 3rd, 9th, 19th, and 21st  Marine Regiments -- each of which were part of the 3rd MARDIV during WWII -- make no reference to a regimental band). See, for example:  

https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/A Brief History of the 3D Marines PCN 19000245700.pdf

http://www.hqco9thmarines.com/History/A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 9th MARINES.pdf

 

This photo shows U.S. Marines marching through Melbourne, Australia on 22 February 1942, the anniversary of Washington's Birthday in 1942 -- led by a band.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C12940  This may be a Marine Regiment (before regimental bands were disbanded).  By early 1942, there were nearly 30,000 U.S. military personnel in Melbourne (mostly Army and Army Air Corps). 

 

 

And this photo shows U.S. Marines marching through Melbourne, Australia on 16 March 1943 -- led by a band (though by this time, it may be an Australian military band - the resolution of the image is not such that I can make out the uniforms).  By 1943, there were 250,000 Americans stationed in Melbourne.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C15920

 

[Gear Fanatic]

I knew that regimental bands were disbanded, he was in SF, Partis Island, and camp Elliot all between 1943 and 44 he shipped out in February of 1945 and then participated in occupation. His uniform is marked Band POCT if that makes any difference. Thanks for the info.

[stbryson]

Hello,

 

Augusta Melody Cruisers

U.S.S. Augusta, Flagship, U.S. Asiatic Fleet

Circa 1936

 

Take care,

 

Steve Bryson

[Ranger-1972]

An 'unauthorized' regimental band (in this case, the 16th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division) which was reformed in Czechoslovakia in June 1945.

https://16thinfassn.org/history/historical-galleries/cold-war-1/

 

 

The band after the regiment relocated to Bamberg, Germany in the fall of 1945.  For a period of time, the 1st Infantry Division and the Constabulary were the only U.S. combat forces in Germany (due to the demobilization of virtually every unit that had been there at the end of WWII).

 

 

Later, the 1st Battalion / 16th Infantry Regiment was stationed in Vienna.  The 2nd Battalion was stationed at Camp Glasenbach.  And the 3rd Battalion was stationed in Berlin.

 

This is a very sharp 1SG of one of the 3rd Battalion companies in Berlin.  That battalion was the only U.S. Army infantry unit to get awarded for their participation in the Berlin Airlift. The soldiers of the 16th Infantry Regiment served as guards during the Nuremberg Trials in 1948.

 

 

 

In 1952, most of the 16th Infantry Regiment was stationed at Ledward Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. This is the 'unauthorized' regimental band during a parade at that location sometime in the 1950s.

 

 

By 1958, the 16th Infantry was part of the 1st Battle Group (during the Army's PENTOMIC reorganization phase), stationed at Smith Barracks in Baumholder, Germany. Here is a photo of the regimental band.

 

 

This is the 1st Battle Group (16th Regimental) band marching through the village of Ozweiler, Germany on Easter Sunday 1960.

 

[Ranger-1972]

298th Army Ground Forces Band, stationed in Berlin in 1946.  The 298th Army Band remained in Berlin until the reunification of Germany and withdrawal of the Berlin Brigade.

 

http://www.theberlinobserver.com/archive/1946V2/1946_65_oct18.pdf