The army’s old official march Celer Paratus Callidus, which is Latin for “quick, clever and ready,” was adopted in 1968 when the army was merged with the air force and navy, and renamed Land Force Command.
Despite being the official march for 45 years, was considered neither particularly tuneful nor easily recognizable, and thus did not become embedded in the army’s culture.
When the Canadian federal government restored the army’s old name in August 2011, commanders saw it as an ideal opportunity to clearly identify a new army march.
The Great Little Army was written by renowned British Army bandmaster and composer Frederick Joseph Ricketts in 1916 under the pen name “Kenneth J. Alford.”
The Great Little Army is also the official march for the 2nd battalion of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, and there simply was no currently written Canadian march that was equally compelling.
