Who wrote the Army song?

• A. John Philip Sousa
• B. Edmund L. Gruber
• C. Irving Berlin
• D. Francis Scott Key

Answer: (B)

Edmund L. Gruber wrote the Army song’s lyrics. He penned the words in 1908, and while John Philip Sousa composed and arranged the march melody that accompanies it, Gruber is the one credited with the lyrics that people sing as the Army song. The tune itself became famous under Sousa’s marching style, and the piece was later adopted as the Army’s official song. Other well-known names listed—Sousa, Berlin, and Key—are associated with different works, not this lyric.