This episode of “The Big Picture” dates to the 1961-1962 season. Filmed at Washington,. D.C . it shows the Army’s “Old Guard” – the 3rd Infantry Regiment – and the U.S. Army Band presenting its annual pageant of military skills and traditions. The 3rd United States Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the United States Army. It currently has three active battalions, and is readily identified by its nickname, “The Old Guard,” as well as “Escort to the President”. The regimental motto is Noli Me Tangere (from Latin: – “Touch me Not”).
In addition to the marching platoons, there are also elements of The Old Guard that serve special roles unique both to the regiment as well as the US Army. Among these include the sentinels of the Tomb of the Unknowns, maintaining a twenty-four hour watch over one of the nation’s most sacred sites; the Continental Color Guard, which presents the nation’s colors at special events across the Capitol Region; the Presidential Salute Battery, which renders honors to senior dignitaries at arrival and wreath ceremonies, reviews, and full honors funerals; and the US Army Caisson Platoon, which provides horses and riders to pull the caisson (the wagon that bears a casket) in military and state funerals.
The Old Guard’s Caisson Platoon at Arlington National Cemetery
The Caisson Platoon also provides the riderless horses used in full honors funerals and supports wounded warriors participating in the Therapeutic Riding Program. Other elements of The Old Guard include the Commander-in-Chief’s guard (Company A), replicating the personal guard of General George Washington; wearing Colonial blue uniforms, powdered wigs, and tricorn hats; and bearing Brown Bess muskets and halberds at ceremonies and special events; the US Army Drill Team, which demonstrates its skill and precision around the nation, and Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, which plays traditional arrangements of marching music, dating back to the time of the Continental Army. The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps marches in Colonial style red coated uniforms—to be “better seen through the smoke of battle”; the uniforms also include tricorn hats and white powdered wigs. The drum major of the Fife and Drum Corps traditionally bears an espontoon[8] (a historic pike-like weapon) in his right hand to direct and command his unit.[8] As such, he is the only soldier in all the U.S. Armed Forces authorized to bear a spontoon and to salute with the left hand[citation needed] (although U.S. Navy personnel are allowed to salute with the left hand under certain conditions).[9] Rounding out The Old Guard are the 289th Military Police Company, the 947th Military Working Dog Detachment, the 529th Regimental Support Company, two battalion headquarters companies, and the regimental headquarters company.
The regiment is the oldest active duty regiment in the US Army, having been first organized as the First American Regiment in 1784
“The Big Picture” was the Army’s ground-breaking television series. The half-hour weekly program featured famous or before-they-were-famous actors and actresses in top quality productions, filmed on the Astoria stages. In the 1950s the series was shot on 35mm black-and-white negative, but by the end of the 1960s, it was using 16mm color negative. The series covered a wide range of subjects, telling the Army’s story in history and in current events.
