Stannard, William John

William Jennings Stannard (1893-1950), a native of Guilford, Connecticut, was the first person appointed to the position of Leader of the U.S. Army Band. Stannard's entire career was spent as an Army musician, from his first enlistment with the Tenth Band of the Coast Artillery Corps in 1901, through his years on scholarship at the Army Music Training School, the Institute of Musical Arts in New York City, and appointment as Leader of the newly formed Army Band in 1923, to his retirement in 1935. He was a member of the Army Officers Reserve Corps until July 11, 1942. He died July 12, 1950 in Washington, D.C., survived by his wife Mary Frances Hook Stannard and son William H. Stannard.

Under Stannard's leadership, the Army Band played at the funerals of Presidents Harding and Taft, led the inaugural parades of Presidents Coolidge, Hoover, and Roosevelt, and was the first band to be broadcast over a coast-to-coast network of radio stations while playing at a reception given by President Coolidge for Charles Lindbergh. Stannard conducted the Army Band as the official band of the 1926 Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition commemorating the founding of the United States, and in 1929 represented the Pan-American Union at two expositions in Spain, introducing Latin American music to the United States and Europe.

From the guide to the William J. Stannard Papers, 1904-1950, 1923-1942, (Special Collections in Performing Arts)