Friday Five: U.S. Marines

On November 10, 1775, the Continental Marines were founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia; that organization would later become the United States Marine Corps. Over the past 237 years, many have worn the Eagle, Globe and Anchor; here are a few who also happened to be involved in country music.

5. Jamey Johnson

Johnson spent eight years in the Marine Corps Reserves. Guess his long hair and beard now are making up for all those years of sporting a high and tight.

4. The Everly Brothers

Both Phil and Don Everly enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves in 1961. Here they are in their dress blues on The Ed Sullivan Show, playing their hit “Crying in the Rain.”

 

3. Bob Ferguson

Ferguson, who wrote “Wings of a Dove,” “Carroll County Accident,” and produced several hit records, was a Drill Instructor at one point in his Marine Corps Reserve career.

2. Ray Price

Price served for three years during World War II. From Don Cusic’s The Cowboy in Country Music: After basic, Ray was assigned to a naval base in Norman, Oklahoma, where he was in training to become a machinist mate. But on the obstacle course, Ray had an accident. “I fell about 25 feet and landed on my back,” he remembers. “I spent about a year in the naval hospital in Oklahoma but they never could find out what was wrong.” Due to his injury, Price stayed in the U.S. during the war while his division went overseas. Only three made it back.

1. George Jones

Jones briefly writes about his military service in his autobiography, I Lived to Tell It All. He spent three years in the Marine Corps during the early 1950s; while stationed in California, he’d make a few extra bucks on the side with his Saturday night singing gigs.