Serving for Thee (The United States Marine Corps Hymn) 4-Part - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1465866

The History of the United States Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Hymn

On November 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution to establish the Continental Marines. is marked the formation of the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps was provided two battalions with a fleet. But the Treaty of Paris in April 1783 ended the Marine Corps along with the Revolutionary War. It was later permanently re-established on July 11, 1798.

Since then the United States Marine Corps has been involved in the War of 1812, defending Washington in Bladensburg, Maryland, fighting for Andrew Jackson against the British in New Orleans, and fighting in the Mexican War (1846-1848) in which US Marines fought all the way to the "Halls of Montezuma," Mexico City. The Marines served in the Civil War (1861-1865), the Spanish-American War (1898), the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902), the Boxer Rebellion in China (1900), and World War I.

The Marines were later involved in World War II, the Korean conflict beginning in 1950, and the Vietnam conflict, beginning in 1965. By the 1970s, the Marines were securing NATO, and later were involved in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm (1990s), Somalia (1992), Operation Enduring Freedom (2001), the Global War on Terrorism and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2002), and in various conflicts since then. Since the inception of the Marine Corps in 1775,about 70,000 Marines have been killed in action.

James Linzey served as a chaplain for the Marines in training at Fort Lee, Virginia, and as a contract chaplain at the Airman-Marine Memorial Chapel at MCAS Miramar from 2016-2019. While at Miramar, he gave leadership seminars to the Marines on the Battle of Midway. He is one of ten children of World War II hero, the late Navy Captain Stanford E. Linzey, Jr., CHC, USN (Ret.), who survived the sinking of the USS Yorktown (CV-5) in the Battle of Midway as a sailor, and later served with the Marines in Okinawa as a chaplain.

Since the Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy, it has used the Navy hymn in chapel services. What is called “The Marine’s Hymn” cannot be sung in chapel services, because it is not a song of praise. As a fighting march, its author called it a hymn in name only. So, in commemoration of the United States Marine Corps, hymn writer James F. Linzey wrote the United States Marine Corps Hymn, “Serving for Thee.” He set it to the tune of Bethany, which was written by Lowell Mason in 1841.