Hymn No.2 on Corps Hit Parade

A directive from the Marine commandant isn’t music to the ears of some in the Corps. Gen. Alfred M. Gray Jr. has ordered that the Navy’s anthem be played before the “Marine Corps Hymn” at all Marine parades and ceremonies. “ ‘Anchors Aweigh’ is a nice song and all, but that’s the Navy,” complained one Marine officer, who wished to remain anonymous. “We don’t need to make our own song second-fiddle.” Gray’s decision to show deference to the Marines’ parent service is intended to reflect the “brotherhood in arms” between the services, the directive states. The news apparently hasn’t filtered through the ranks. A brass quintet from the Quantico, Va., Marine Base appeared at a ceremony in the Pentagon Tuesday marking the Corps’ 212th birthday. Even though the program stated that “Anchors Aweigh” and the “Marine Corps Hymn” would be played at the conclusion, the ceremony ended with the quintet immediately launching into the familiar Marine hymn, which starts, “From the halls of Montezuma . . . .” A Marine spokesman said it “was not uncommon” in past years for the Navy song to be played prior to the Marine one.

--A man who stole 1,320 returnable cans from a woman’s backyard in Redmond, Ore., returned the next day to repay her with the $66 deposit after learning the cans were collected to raise money for a leukemia patient. “I just thank God he had a heart,” said Veronica Patenode. She said the 1,320 cans, which were already bagged, were worth a nickel apiece. Patenode said one of the two men who took the bags came back to her home the day after the cans were stolen because he had heard her radio plea for the return of the cans. Patenode said authorities had already identified the thief after a clerk at the grocery store where the cans were cashed in became suspicious and wrote down his license plate number. However, Patenode decided not to press charges because the thief made restitution without knowing authorities were on his trail.

--Svetlana Alliluyeva, 61-year-old daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, is moving again. She has been given permission to resettle in Britain from the United States, the Home Office said. The decision means that Alliluyeva, who has switched homes between East and West several times since she first left the Soviet Union in 1967, will be able to rejoin her daughter, Olga, 15, who attends school in England. The Home Office said she had been given initial permission to go to Britain for 12 months. It will be Alliluyeva’s fifth move in 20 years among the Soviet Union, the United States and Britain.