Frank DeFilippo: General Assembly Faces the Music, Votes to Shame That Tune

Songs and war go together like John Philip Sousa and the Fourth of July. Boots marching in the street, jets screaming overhead, and all the ships awash at sea, songs accompany our troops wherever they’re sent in times of war and peace. “Follow Me,” “Those Caissons Go Rolling Along,” “Wild Blue Yonder,” “Anchors Away,” and “The Marines’ Hymn” – all uplifting anthems of pride and military might. Every service has its band – The Marine Band, the Navy Band, the Army Band (“Pershing’s Own”) and the U.S. Air Force Band. There is even a U.S. Navy School of Music, originally in Anacostia, now in Virginia Beach.