The Royal Thai Marines honor guard salutes
His Majesty the King on Marine Corps Day in Sattahip.
Patcharapol Panrak
Thailand’s Marine Corps marked its 54th anniversary with a Sattahip
ceremony recalling HM the King’s 1959 authorship of the division’s
anthem.
Vice Adm. Sonthaya Noichaya presided over the June 28 ceremony at Prince
Chumphon Camp. A marching band played the Marine Corps anthem while
about a thousand military personnel in attendance heard about the day HM
the King presented the song “The Birth” to Marine Corps founders.
Sonthaya said that on that day in 1959, Capt. Sanong
Nisalak, who would become the first corps commander, was a guard for HM
the King at Klaikangwon Palace in Hua Hin. His Majesty requested for
Sanong to sing a song about the marines who served in the Royal Thai
Navy, but there was no song. So Sangong sang the navy anthem.
HM the King then went downstairs and, after a rest, called for the guard
to come in, when he presented the song that became the Marine Corps
anthem, “March Ratchanawikyothin.”
Thus, June 28 was rebranded as Marine Corps Day.