i watched a movie "we were soldiers" and every soldier going to battle would say "Gary Owen" before running in the battle field
Gary Owen is actually Garryowen…all one word… and it is the Regimental marching song of the famous 7th Cavalry.
Who is he? Well…it’s actually not a he…or even a person. Garryowen (all one word) comes from 2 different gaelic words (Garrai and Oein) that translate roughly to Owen’s garden. Garryowen is a town in County Limerick, Ireland. Thanks to a reputation as a rowdy, wild place it was immortalized in an Irish quickstep in around 1860.
As the story goes, one of the Irish troopers in Custer’s command was singing the song while having a wee bit o’ spirits one night around the fire. The song is a natural for the cavalry as the beat translates well to the rhythm of galloping horses. LTC Custer heard the song and liked it so much it soon became a favorite of the Regiment. It was the last tune played by the Regimental band as they rode out towards Little Big Horn.
The tune became the official “Air” of the Regiment in 1867 and actually became the official tune of the entire 1st Cavalry Division in 1981.
The significance of the tune in the Regiment’s history led to it being incorporated into the Regimental crest, along with the raised saber.
When Soldiers salute an officer, they also traditionally give the “greeting of the day” or the regimental motto. So when any soldier, anywhere, in the 7th Cav salutes, they sound off with “Garry Owen, Sir!” This will also occasionally be used the same way that “Hooah” is used throughout the Army or “OOORAH” is used in the Marine Corps. A good example of the emotion this can contain is a scene in We Were Soldiers where a young trooper is finally reunited with the unit after being cut off for the entire night. I can’t explain the emotion, you have to watch the movie I guess to know what I mean.
Anyway, it’s enough to say that the members of the 7th Cavalry take a lot of pride in this part of their history.