In is appropriate that one of the great contributors to the Marine Corps was himself born just a few days before the Marine Corps birthday. On this day, November 6th back in 1854 in Washington, D.C. Antonio, a young member of the Marine Corps band received a wonderful gift from his wife, a new baby son.
Growing up around his musical father, the son also took interest in both music and the Marine Corps. When he was just 26, that young son became the 17th Director of “The President’s Own” Among many marches, he wrote the national march, “Stars and Stripes Forever” as well as the march of the Marine Corps, “Semper Fidelis.”