"The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band
Published on May 9, 2025 at 11:11 am
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Duane King wore the elegant uniform of drum major for the “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band one last time Monday. The Jacksonville native then retired during a ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C.
King was the 40th Marine to hold the title of drum major since the Marine Band was created in 1798. He held the position for 11 years.
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King passed the mace used to signal commands to musicians to Master Sgt. Steven Williams during the ceremony Monday.
Now 48, King leaves behind a legacy that includes leading the Marine Corp band into the studio for the Late Show with David Letterman in 2017, and multiple presidential inauguration parades since 2014.
He admits that it has been “more than I ever imagined it would be” for a man who played trumpet for the Terry Parker High School band back in the 1990s.
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“You never knew what the next day would bring, looking back after 11 years of doing this, never in a million years thinking we would have the marching band in the studio of the David Letterman show, or perform for Pope Francis in 2015, or meet the last three presidents in person,” King said. “Every day has been great. And that’s just from a performance side. From a personnel side, the people that I have gotten to work with and grown to know and love over the past 11 years are truly, truly special people on this Earth.”
The man who led King’s high school band in the early 1990s is proud to have had a part in the Marine’s musical past.
“I have never been more proud of a student than I am of Duane,” said former Parker band director Ward Green, now leading three of the bands at The Villages retirement community. “When he was in the band, I knew his talent would take him far. I was impressed when I heard he was selected to be the drum major for the President’s Own Band in Washington, D. C. — what an honor! I know he will be hard to follow, and I wish him the best in his retirement.”
King began his musical training on trumpet at age 10 and continued when he went to Parker from 1990 to 1994, when he graduated. He enlisted in the Marine Corps, taking recruit training at Parris Island in Beaufort, South Carolina.
He continued musical training as a trumpet player at the Armed Forces School of Music in Little Creek, Virginia, then was assigned to the Marine Corps Band New Orleans in 1995.
He continued trumpeting with the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Band in California, then the back to Parris Island before returning to the New Orleans band as the drum major. He said he always remembered his high school dream: to join The President’s Own as a trumpet player, then study music at a conservatory after a few years as a Marine Corps trumpeter.
“Then magically, an audition for The President’s Own,” King said. “Life always takes us in directions that we don’t know we know to go in, but end up being the best thing for us. Amazingly enough, I ended up with The President’s Own anyway as their 40th drum major, and I wouldn’t change a thing. If I could go back to 1993, I would have the same dreams and follow the same path because it all worked out.”
King was selected in 2010 as assistant drum major of The President’s Own, then won the audition in 2014 to succeed 39th Drum Major William Browne, leading a band that performs music for the president as well as the Marine Corps commandant.
Other highlights of King’s time with the mace, baldric (sash) and bearskin headpiece include leading the Marine Band at 2023’s Mountbatten Festival of Music, where he met King Charles III. As drum major, he led the band for over 800 full honors funerals, five State Arrivals at the White House, numerous Patriotic Openers and hundreds of special ceremonies.
“What everybody knows about the Marine Corps is that we are the tip of the spear, first in combat. We are the nation’s 911 force,” he said. “The opposite end of that spear is the U.S. Marine band representing everything great about the Marine Corps and America, and making people fall in love with the Marine Corps and America, and help with recruiting efforts, with music education, with outreach.”
Relief and Appointment ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., on Monday, May 5, 2025. | U.S. Marine Corps
The last official ceremony was at Monday’s retirement. In it, Williams conducted John Philip Sousa’s march The Stars and Stripes Forever while King performed the march on trumpet, leaving him “sad, excited and relieved.”
“Sad that I was no longer to be in the position of drum major and able to lead this organization in the events around the world,” he said. “Excited for the opportunity to get back to Jacksonville where home is, be with my family and relax for a little while, and not putting so much wear and tear on my body.”
He said he is excited about his future, with plans to write a book on American military-style drum majoring and leadership. He also plans to work with high school and college students on “how to be a leader,” as well as ways to be better drum majors, he said.
Asked what advice he would give high schoolers deciding on a career, he said he launched his music and Marine Corps career after advice from his mother: ”Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
