[.38sw]

I have a dumb question: can you explain "Gary Owen" to poor, uninformed me?

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

GARRY OWEN =

U.S. 7th Cavalry Anthem, assigned to it by its Commanding General ARMSTRONG CUSTER after hearing his Irish Cav Troopers singing it

He liked it, so...
He left it in.

See: http://www.lzxray.com


GARRY OWEN is now the Anthem for the entire 1st Cavalry Division.


.

[TET1968]

“Garry Owen was the unofficial marching song of the Seventh Cavalry. Gen. Custer reportedly heard the song among his Irish troop and liked it. The tune was then played so often the 7th became tied to it.
The tune is first documented as Auld Bessy in 1788. It was later (1800) in the opera Harlequin Amulet (the Majic of Mona). About that time it was attributed to “Jackson of Cork” by a book of Country Dances by William Campbell. It also appeared in part two (1802) of Nathaniel Gow’s four volume Complete Repository of the Original Scotch Slow Tunes.”
“They Died with Their Boots On” starring Errol Flyn as Custer has a scene in which the song was adopted by the 7th Cavalry. “Newspaper Illustrations” featured in the film glorifying the adventures of Custer were done for the film by The American Illustrator John Alan Maxwell. My father.