Historic America Presents: John Philip Sousa

The newest entry in our Historic America Presents series has arrived! Today's video tells the story of John Philip Sousa, a native son of Washington, DC and America's march king.  

As a postscript to this video, two days after my father and I finished filming, we attended Sousa's November 6th birthday celebration at Congressional Cemetery.  What a terrific event.  It was full of enthusiasm, patriotism and most importantly music (and cake, don't forget that). We took a few snapshots...

First we listened to a few appropriate remarks from Sousa himselft.

Then the US Marine Bland played some familiar Sousa marches. 

The presentation of the colors.

The ever impassive drum major . 

The leader of the band lays a wreath at Sousa's grave and offers a salute.

Sousa's grave was looking sharp this day.