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The purpose of this study was to chronicle the history of the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve Band (MCWRB) that existed from 15 November 1943 through 3 December 1945. Primary sources used to reconstruct the history of the band were correspondence between United States Marine Band members and Marine Corps Women’s Reserve Band members; military documents; military books; a personal diary; newspaper articles; concert programs; sound recordings; a movie; and photographs. In addition, forty-one members of the MCWRB were interviewed to obtain background information, demographic information, and identify sociological trends among the women in the band. The investigation revealed this was the only all-female band to exist in the history of the Marine Corps, and sixty years after World War II, the band members site this experience as one of the best in their lives. This research fills a gap in music education history by documenting women’s roles as military musicians.
Excerpt from the manuscript:
The first tour lasted thirty-four days and included fourteen concerts, twelve parades, eight color formations, five radio shows, five reviews, and one guard mount.63 Personal interviews revealed that one event from this tour was cited as the most important in the ensemble’s military band experience. The women were invited to replace the “Presidents Own”—the most prestigious Marine Band—in their weekly broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System. On 14 November 1944, the women’s band, performed a concert for the entire nation.64 Charles Owen, one of the band’s mentors, had the foresight to have the concert recorded by a local radio station. This day would become one of the most significant to the band members, as it was the only time they performed in the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C. and the only complete concert recording made of the band. After their month-long tour supporting the war effort, the band returned to Camp Lejeune where, on 18 December, they had the distinct honor of performing the “Marines’ Hymn” for President Roosevelt.65 The band’s first full year of performing together proved to be one of the most memorable and proudest for the women.
The following year also would be punctuated by several landmark events. First was a tour in May to Pennsylvania to help raise money for the Seventh War Loan Drive. The band’s first stop was in Pittsburgh on 14 May, where they led a two-mile bond parade and performed an evening concert.66 Rhoda Andersen, a bass drum player, wrote home to her parents about the concert:
I’m telling you, that was really a big day. After the parade . . . reported to play for a big Bond Rally at Forbes Field (the Pittsburgh Pirates home field). We played a short concert out there . . . There were over 40,000 people there that night—our largest crowd up to that time.67
Andersen described to her parents how the people of McKeesport, Pennsylvania reacted to one of the band’s concerts:
The crowd was really enthusiastic, and when we were ready to leave, they had to line policemen up on each side of the walk to let us through or the crowd would have torn off our clothes. Really, it was just as though we were the biggest band in the country! We signed autographs for about 10 minutes before we could leave.68
This would be the band’s traditional call to duty—performing either a parade or concert for each of the cities on the tour schedule. The women were treated as celebrities and on many occasions presented with the key to the city by the mayor.69 For all the concerts performed, people had to buy a war bond to attend; therefore, when the women drew a large audience the town benefited financially. Andersen wrote, “All of these places we played, people had to buy a bond to get in to hear us, so our sales were really growing all of the time.”70 |
Rhoda Anderson