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Memorial Day Music: Eternal Father, Strong to Save

“The song known to United States Navy men and women as the “Navy Hymn,” is a musical benediction that long has had a special appeal to seafaring men, particularly in the American Navy and the royal navies of the British Commonwealth and which, in more recent years, has become a part of French naval tradition.

The original words were written as a hymn by a schoolmaster and clergyman of the Church of England, the Reverend William Whiting. Reverend Whiting (1825 — 1878) resided on the English coast near the sea and had once survived a furious storm in the Mediterranean. His experiences inspired him to pen the ode, Eternal Father, Strong to Save.

In the following year, 1861, the words were adapted to music by another English clergyman, the Reverend John B. Dykes (1823 — 1876), who had originally written the music as Melita (ancient name for the Mediterranean island of Malta)” via Naval History and Heritage Command.
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