The Caisson Song, written by Lieutenant Edmund L. Gruber, was adopted by all six regiments of the U. S. Field Artillery Corps in the Spanish American War. Later, John Phillip Sousa incorporated it into one of his compositions which was popular in WW I.

In 1948 H. W. Arberg arranged the original Caisson Song and it was renamed The Army Goes Rolling Along.

The Marines' Hymn is possibly the oldest military music. According to tradition the melody was taken from an aria in an opera written by a Frenchman. The first verse was composed by an officer on duty in the Mexican War (1846-1848). The first official use of the song was in 1929.

In 1906 Lieutenant Charles A. Zimmerman, bandmaster at the U. S. Naval Academy from 1887 to 1916, and Midshipman Alfred Miles wrote Anchors Aweigh to be used as a football marching song. The march was later adopted as the official Navy song.

In 1938, a score written by Robert Crawford was selected by the Army Air Corps in a contest sponsored by Liberty Magazine. It was introduced at the Cleveland Air Races in 1939. The name was changed to U. S. Air Force in 1947 when the Army Air Corps became a separate branch of the military.

The original first page was carried into space aboard the Endeavor and broadcast to the world as a tribute to Crawford and the U. S. Air Force.

The official U.S. Coast Guard song was composed by Captain Francis S. Van Boskerck in 1922.

Since 1910 Semper Paratus or "always ready" has been the official motto. Today it is the proud standard and song of the United States Coast Guard.