The Vanished Army
by Kenneth J. Alford
Edited by Jennifer Delancy
The name Kenneth J. Alford is a pseudonym adopted by Maj. Fredrick Ricketts (1881-1945), known best for his famous march, Colonel Bogey. Because it was taboo for British officers of his day to pursue interests outside of the Armed services, Ricketts felt compelled to assume the monicker derived from the name of his first-born son and his Mother's maiden name.
Ricketts enlisted in the Royal Irish Regiment as a musician in 1895 and was commissioned into the Royal Marines as a Director of Music in 1927. He retired in 1944 at the rank of Major. Kenneth Alford is often tagged as "The British March King," the British counterpart to John Philip Sousa.
The Vanished Army, composed in 1918, is dedicated to the memory of the first 100,000 soldiers to perish in World War I. Alford included the subtitle, "They Never Die."
GRADE IV
3:15 Duration
$57.00