WASHINGTON — President Bush witnessed cannons firing, guns flinging and heavy marching at a Marines parade Friday night while visiting their barracks.

The president and his wife, Laura, arrived at dusk at Marine Barracks Washington, the oldest active post of the Marine Corps, and sat front row at the football field-shaped pavilion. They and the 3,100-member audience watched lines of Marines stream onto the field in dark jackets and white pants, marching and pounding their steel-plated rifle butts on the concrete as they showed off their polished, synchronized movements.

Bush, sitting next to Gen. James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, also faced a semicircle of the U.S. Marine Band during the event as the musicians' horns and percussion instruments performed a series of marches and numbers. The roar of firing cannons filled the air after the band played "Ode to Joy."

Toward the show's end, the president heard "The Star-Spangled Banner" and then greeted Marines on the field. The Marines host a show every Friday night during the summer, with the president's visit coming on the last performance of the season.