Tune-Dex Card Marines Hymn To Shores of Tripoli 1943 USMC Authorized WWII For Sale

This Tune-Dex card presents the “Marines’ Hymn (To The Shores Of Tripoli)” in its original August 1943 issue, placing it squarely within the World War II era. The card stock is an off-white cream tone, bearing the consistent light age-toning expected from an eighty-year-old paper item; all printed text, musical notation, and chord symbols remain fully legible with no tears, rips, or significant creases visible. The corners show slight softening from handling, but the structural integrity is sound, and the card presents as very good vintage condition.Printed by Tune-Dex Inc. at 1619 Broadway in New York City (New York County, New York), this was a specialized lead sheet format used by professional musicians, bandleaders, and radio stations for quick reference. The information side lists the writer as L.Z. Phillips, orchestration by Jerry Bittick, and a copyright date of 1932 owned by E.B. Marks Music Corp., whose address is the RCA Building in Radio City, also in New York County. The card is licensed through BMI, reflecting its intended professional use. A critical detail for military and music collectors is the explicit notation: “As approved and authorized by the United States Marine Corps.” This official endorsement suggests the card may have been distributed to service bands or official channels, markedly elevating its historical significance for those interested in USMC history or WWII-era military memorabilia. The original pricing—75¢ for orchestrated copies, 50¢ for piano copies—is preserved, along with a warning that the copy was for professional use only, a now-fascinating relic of copyright enforcement from the period.The music side displays the opening lines of the iconic hymn (“From the halls of Montezuma, To the shores of Tripoli”) set in the key of E-flat, marked “Tempo di March,” with chord symbols such as Eb, Bb7, Ab, and G7. As an authorized USMC version from the height of World War II, this card bridges music publishing history, military heritage, and the professional bandleader culture of the 1940s. It will appeal to collectors of vintage sheet music, WWII artifacts, Marine Corps memorabilia, and ephemera from the Tune-Dex system—a distinctive format that filed songs like index cards for quick access on the stand. No reproduction, this is an original 1943 printing that captures a precise moment in American musical and military history.