In a ground breaking milestone and what is believed to be the “Inaugural” calendar, John Michael – a professional photographer & military historian – has created and published “The Old Guard on Parade – 2009″ about US Army’s 3d Infantry Regiment – The OLD GUARD – the most historic and the oldest infantry regiment in the United States military.
Since 2000, John Michael has continually photographed this elite regiment while they executed their ceremonial missions. It was earlier this year while doing research on a book that he’s writing about a specialty platoon within the regiment that he concluded the need for this calendar. In speaking with men who had served in the 1950′s – 1960s – 1970s and to-date, none could recall that there was a calendar produced about the entire regiment.
John Michael poured over the thousands of photographs he had available and thought the theme of “The Old Guard on Parade” would be an appropriate one for 2009 in light of the upcoming Presidential Inauguration. The Old Guard will play a key role on Inauguration Day ushering in the new President, Barack Obama.
With a textual history included, the Calendar’s photographs feature the many specialty units within the Regiment including:
The Presidential Salute Battery,
The Caisson Platoon,
US Army Drill Team,
Commander in Chief’s Guard,
The Fife and Drum Corps,
The Continental Color Guard.
“It has been an honor to be able to photograph these fine troops and the work they do.” said John Michael “I’ve been blessed to observe and capture in photographs much of the work these soldiers do as part of their daily schedule. They are truly the finest and Americans should be proud to have such an outstanding treasure in the US Army.”
The US Army 3d Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard” has its origins dating back to 1784 when the United States was evolving from the colonies to a sovereign country. This US Army elite regiment (Escort to the President) has a dual responsibility of both the defense of the United States Capital area and the ceremonial missions it carries out.
These include Presidential Inaugurations, White House arrivals, State Funerals, the final honors support at Arlington National Cemetery – and only military unit who has continuously guarded the Tomb of the Unknowns, and More.
When John Michael previewed the calendar to a noted Washington DC based military historian, the response was “John Michael is an athlete with a natural talent for photography who over the years has honed and fine tuned his skills through experience. This calendar is another of his creative works packaged for the world to enjoy and appreciate.”
The calendar comes in three versions -
“THE STANDARD”,
“THE STANDARD with EXTRAS” and the
“PREMIUM”
All of the Calendars feature 12 months of photos from John Michael. The second version provides a brief history of the 3d Infantry Regiment and each of the specialty units featured in the calendar. The PREMIUM version of the calendar is a larger format and contains more descriptive information about the OLD GUARD.
John Michael will also offer the “PREMIUM COLLECTORS EDITION” – a limited “autographed” quantity of 250 which will be numbered.
The first version is available directly on line for purchase, the latter versions are available directly from Photography by John Michael.
When John Michael is asked why he’s devoted nearly the last ten years immersed in capturing, recording and presenting the work of the US military with a focus on the US Army, his reply is that he’s been given an on-going mission of “Preserving the memories so others will remember…” ™
John Michael continues his ongoing tradition of “giving back” – Proceeds from the sale of all the calendar’s versions will be donated to the 3d Infantry Regiment’s OLD GUARD LADIES ASSOCIATION to assist in their support of the active duty troops within the Regiment.
ABOUT John Michael – He resides in Alexandria, VA with many decades of photography experience. Since 2000 he has photographed the final honors at Arlington National Cemetery. photographed reunions of the Special Forces Association (Fayetteville, NC) the OSS Society (Arlington, VA), The Old Guard Association (TOGA). His creative talents have also resulted in an ever-growing assortment of military heraldry note cards, Christmas cards and greeting cards featuring scenes of Arlington National Cemetery. His book on the “Big Guns of the Old Guard” will be published in Spring of 2009.
Posted 3 years, 1 month ago at 6:03 am. Add a comment
I’m a regular contributor / volunteer for a website called FIND A GRAVE that has the largest collection of memorials to those who have passed on. My focus on Arlington National Cemetery has been augmented by participating in this activity.
I was on a mission today to capture a few of the photos of gravestones as requested by friends, family or interested parties. It was the end of the mission day when I arrived at ANC after trying to meet with a local card shop who originally had expressed interest in carrying a selection of my greeting cards / notecards. I was attempting to show off the new calendars that are being developed. But I digress.
Even after all these years of traversing the hallowed grounds of the United States’ shrine to it’s military heroes, I still need to get an orientation at times when I’m heading into a Section of the cemetery that I rarely frequent. My first direction was to head to Section 3, a very familiar place since that’s where I spend time with the Presidential Salute Battery when they execute their missions. When I saw one of the caisson teams slowly making their way back through the cemetery to the stables on Fort Meyer, I decided “to roll” along with them. The soldiers looked a bit tired, since their day began by showing up at 4:00 AM at the stables to go through their preparation for their four-plus missions that they probably participated in during the day. (They spend their entire day in the cemetery…)
I clicked off a few photos as I followed them up through the McClellan Gate (original entrance to Arlington National Cemetery) as they reached the intersection, the team and the section sergeant turned left towards the Tomb of the Unknowns…
The warm autumn sun, shone brightly this day as the sunbeams broke their way through the overhead trees. One of the last final honors of the day was still in progress as I headed along the road in front of the Tomb of the Unknowns. I had the pleasure of spending a bit of time with one of the ANC security guards as I waited for the ceremony to conclude.
Signs of the change of season were evident and the harbinger trees were already turning their fiery colors. I headed up the road that borders Section 3 and the Tomb of the Unknown and the sun dancing among the crimson leaves of a maple caught my eye.
After my Section 3 work was complete, I traversed to the opposite side of the cemetery and headed to Section 30 (The original layout of the cemetery followed no rhyme or reason as they assigned the numbers to the sections. Some layout within the sections are completely confusing to me also!)
When I reached Section 30, I decided to “take the walk” and paid my respects to MG G.M. Barnes, the visionary who’s forward thinking has led to many of the things we take for granted today. I’ve called the man “The Father of Modern Computers”, since he was instrumental in funding the ENIAC – the first computer (Pennsylvania University claims its theirs, but without the funding from the US Army, they would have had NADA!) General Barnes was the head of research and development within Ordnance of the US Army during WW II. Another distinction is that he is the “Father of the M5 Guns” – the artillery that the Presidential Salute Battery uses to fire salutes to the President, Heads of State/Countries, and salutes for wreath layings and final honors of Flag officers of the US Army, US Coast Guard, US Navy and US Marines.
The 3d wonder that I absorbed as I headed to the last photo of the day was a rare blooming of crocuses (they normally bloom in the Spring!) in front of a US Army’s CWO’s resting place.
Posted 3 years, 3 months ago at 6:57 pm. Add a comment
Yes it’s a presidential election year and they’re out there tossing mud at each other and among the Democrats, you have to wonder is “she” running or “he”.
However, there is a more significant list of “anniversaries” that are more important that will occur this year-
110 year Anniversary of the sinking of the USS Maine Battleship in Cuba
100 year Anniversary the first military flight at Fort Myer, Virginia
70 year Anniversary of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens becoming a US National Park
60 year Anniversary of the re-constitution of the 3d Infantry Regiment – “The Old Guard”
55 year Anniversary of the establishment of the Presidential Salute Battery – 3d Infantry Regiment – “The Old Guard”
50 year Anniversary of the laying to rest of the Korean War Unknown at ANC’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Timing is key when it comes to a lot of things — this is especially true with photography. It had snowed on Thursday and I wasn’t able to get to Section 33 of Arlington National Cemetery while it was. So I got there as soon as I could today. I did check the honors schedule and there on the schedule was a mid-day honors for a Major General Marine — so the Presidential Salute Battery was also in position.
After trudging around the snow covered Section 33 and capturing a few photos, I headed around to Section 4 where a favorite location is overlooking to Section 34 (the cemetery is not laid out in numeric sequence side-by-side but as the shrine grew, new section numbers were added — did you know in 1985, the cemetery included 612 acres. It’s much larger now with the new sections that have been added within the last few years).
I then went to where the GUNS were set up and watched / photographed the latest mission — Ocean Services — US Navy, US Marines, US Coast Guard have a special honors for Flag officers (Generals, Admirals, Commodores – A Flag Bearer in the final honors procession carries a Flag with the number of stars indicating the rank of the officer – one through four stars.
After the “In and Over” Honors for the laid to rest MG Marine, I headed off to the Tomb of the unknown Soldier and fortunately saw a soldier “walking the mat” who I knew. The last time I saw him he had completed 42 walks and this one was his 115th walk. Being a tomb guard sentinel is the highest honor of this land… paying respect to all those who have given their lives and their service to the United States of America.
In my travels today I saw Benton, a member of the 3d Infantry Regiment – “THE OLD GUARD” who had earlier this year volunteered to become a sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. The last time I saw him he was in preparation mode and was dilligently working on preparing the parts of his uniform to meet the ultra high standards of this very distinguished post of guarding the most respected United States of America memorial.
Well he’s completed all the training and during our brief conversation, he said he’s done nearly 40 sessions “walking the mat” to guard the Tomb since the beginning of November. As my schedule permits, I plan on capturing a few photos of this fine soldier.
His status as a sentinel is rather rare since only 20% of those who apply for this role actually make it through the rigorous training.
Congrats again Benton!
Posted 4 years, 2 months ago at 10:56 pm. Add a comment
John Michael is a professional photographer living in the Washington DC area, who over the last decade has evolved into a dual role as a US military historian/student of military heraldry.
One distinctive hallmark of his work has been the photography of the final honors at Arlington National Cemetery & preparing a memorial book for the family or next of kin.
