General Order No. 47 established the Precedence of Forces in Parades on 13 May 1935. The order of precedence in a parade of military and naval forces is:
- Cadets, United States Military Academy
- Midshipmen, United States Naval Academy
- Cadets, United States Coast Guard
- Regular Army
- United States Marines
- United States Navy
- United States Coast Guard
- National Guard organizations that have been federally recognized
- Marine Corps Reserve
- Naval Reserve
- Other organizations of the Organized Reserves, National Guard, Naval Militia, Reserve Officers Training Corps, and other training units in the order prescribed by the grand marshal of the parade
- Veterans and patriotic organizations in the order prescribed by the grand marshal of the parade
A joint-service color guard also reflects this order of precedence.
Although the Navy’s birthday is 13 October 1775, a loss of appropriations in 1785 temporarily ended the service’s existence until it was reestablished with the Naval Act of 1794. Because of this timeline lapse, the U.S. Marine Corps’ birthday on 10 November 1775 gives the Marines precedence in parades and joint-service color guards.
(Photo and narrative courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command at https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/customs-and-traditions0/precedence-forces-parades-redirect.html. Find more Naval history at website https://www.history.navy.mil/.)
Naval Order of the US - Northwest 