FAYETTEVILLE -- Bugle, cornet and trumpet players will stand beside veterans' graves today and sound taps -- the 24-note melody played to say goodbye, rest at ease.
"It's our way of giving back," said Loree Todd, a cornet player. "I want to honor these people. (Playing taps) is my way of saying 'thank you.'"
About taps
The 24-note melancholy bugle call known as taps is thought to be a revision of a French bugle signal called “tattoo.” The song notified soldiers to return to their garrisons and end the day. It was played during the Civil War as “lights out” music. It became the official Army bugle call after the war but was not given the name taps until 1874. Taps was played at the funeral of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson about 10 months after it was composed. By 1891, Army infantry regulations required playing taps at military funerals.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Memorial Day
Decoration Day was established in 1868 as a time to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers nationwide. The event was observed May 30. After World War I, the event expanded to honor veterans who died in all American wars. In 1971, Congress declared the event Memorial Day and established it as a national holiday observed the last Monday in May.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans and their family members say the song is like a prayer for veterans, a show of respect and an important part of Memorial Day. Ozark Mountains British Brass Band cornet players will sound taps during a 10 a.m. ceremony today at the Fayetteville National Cemetery, said Todd, a band member.
A growing number of volunteers in Northwest Arkansas play taps for veterans' funerals, dedications and events, said Greg Squirrel, a bugle and trumpet player who volunteers.
Squirrel is a U.S. Navy veteran. He estimated about 80 percent of the musicians who volunteer were or are in the military. Others, like Todd, have close family members who served.
Volunteers want veterans' families to know the musicians are available, Squirrel said. Players' names are given to funeral homes, color guards, veterans' groups and cemeteries, Squirrel said.
Some play independently, but others are part of a national group.
Squirrel is a member of Bugles Across America, a nonprofit organization started in 2000 dedicated to helping connect bugle, trumpet, flugelhorn and cornet players with families who want to hear taps played live at their veteran's funeral service, said Thomas Day, founder and president.
Day also is a bugler. He said last week he has played taps at 56 funerals this year.
"It's really an honor for us to play," Day said.
Playing the song live helps family members say farewell and brings dignity to those who served, Day said. The song brings closure, he said.
"It's our 24-note prayer, and that's how I consider it," Day said. "I'm the closer and sort of the guy who is known to make them cry."
There has been a national shortage of people who could play taps for military burials, Day said. His organization has helped the problem by creating a network of about 4,200 unpaid volunteers, said Howard T. Reitenbaugh, the organization's national coordinator and director for Pennsylvania.
Rural areas might struggle more to get players than metropolitan areas, Day said. In Arkansas, 42 volunteers are registered with the nonprofit organization statewide, Reitenbaugh said. About 31 are listed to play within a 100-mile radius of Fayetteville, according to the organization's records.
For comparison, Pennsylvania has 262 registered volunteers, Reitenbaugh said.
The organization receives at least 15 requests per day nationwide, Reitenbaugh said. They always need more volunteers, Day said.
More than 400,000 veterans are expected to die this year, according to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs population projection. That means more buglers will be needed, Day said.
"The shortage is never really over," he said.
Northwest Arkansas seems to have enough volunteers to meet demand currently, Squirrel said. Many are dedicated enough to travel four hours or more one way to play at a funeral, he said.
Squirrel has played at funerals in Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri and Texas, he said.
Squirrel started volunteering after attending a Vietnam veteran's funeral and hearing a recorded version of taps played, he said.
Veterans deserve more than that. Taps should be played live, Todd said.
"To me, it's about the respect," Todd said. "These guys served, they were in harm's way -- it's just not the same when they have the recordings."
At today's ceremony, taps will sound with one cornet at one side of the cemetery, then another cornet on the other side will pick up the song. The effect creates a beautiful "echo" but can be tricky to pull off, Todd said.
Squirrel said the song stirs emotions every time it is played live.
"It's bone-chilling," Squirrel said. "When you are standing there at the cemetery or the church or wherever it is, you start hearing that song and the little hairs on your arms stand up."
NW News on 05/30/2016