Songs of Service: How Music Has Marched With America’s Military
Long before streaming playlists and earbuds, a scratchy radio signal or a well-worn record could carry home across an ocean. On Veterans Day, we're tipping our hats to everyone who has served, and looking back at the surprising ways music has marched alongside America's military: as comfort, as a lifeline to home, and now and then as a weapon.
A Touch of Home on the Airwaves
The story begins on May 26, 1942, when the War Department created the Armed Forces Radio Service to keep troops informed and entertained. A little over a year later, on July 4, 1943, the American Forces Network made its first broadcast from London, borrowing BBC studios and sending its signal over phone lines to transmitters around Britain.
AFN followed the troops across Europe after D-Day, and it soon picked up an audience nobody had planned for. Through the 1950s and '60s, European stations rarely played American music, so curious civilians tuned in to the soldiers' station instead. Jazz, rock and roll, country and Motown reached generations of young European listeners this way, including future rock stars who later credited AFN with shaping their ears. Behind the Iron Curtain, it became a rare window to the West.
Today AFN still serves troops, civilians and families in well over 160 countries and aboard Navy ships at sea, by satellite and on streaming apps.
"Good Morning, Vietnam!"
By the Vietnam era, the network's stations there served an audience of more than 500,000 service members at their peak. One of its best-known voices was Adrian Cronauer, an Air Force sergeant whose booming morning greeting inspired the 1987 film Good Morning, Vietnam, starring Robin Williams. Cronauer was always quick to say the movie took plenty of creative license with his life. The rule-breaking rebel on screen was mostly Hollywood invention, but the joy he brought to homesick listeners was real. He died in 2018 at 79.
Records That Went to War
Music also shipped out on wax. From October 1943 to May 1949, the military's V-Disc program (the V stood for Victory) sent more than eight million 12-inch records to service members around the world. Top bandleaders and singers cut special performances just for the troops, often while a musicians' union recording ban kept them out of commercial studios. Because the discs were never meant to be sold, surviving V-Discs are prized finds for collectors today.
When the Volume Became a Weapon
Music's power cuts both ways. During the Vietnam War, U.S. psychological operations teams broadcast eerie recordings from helicopters over the jungle. The most famous, known as "Ghost Tape Number 10," mixed haunting music and voices meant to unsettle enemy fighters at night. And in the closing days of 1989, when Panama's Manuel Noriega took refuge inside the Vatican's embassy in Panama City, American troops surrounded the compound and blared rock music around the clock. Reported selections included Van Halen's "Panama" and Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." Noriega surrendered in early January 1990.
From the first crackle of AFN London to a sergeant's morning wake-up call in Saigon, music has always been part of military life. To every veteran reading this: thank you for your service.
Veterans, what song or radio station takes you right back to your time in uniform? Share it with us in the comments; we'd love to hear your stories.