The contents of this page were written by Nancy Spoerke and RR, and are used with permission
May 30, 2008
Video of the Day
I am told "playing "Taps" is a job that nobody wants, but it is one that everybody volunteers for".
Today's video is one that was made by my son.
How well do you plan your future? My son recorded both parts of the version of echo "Taps", that you are about to hear. He made the recording before he deployed to Iraq. He stated if anything happened to him this piece had to be played the right way, it had to be played with the feelings he experiences every time he plays it for a fallen soldier, a veteran, a loved one. So, in case anything happened to him we were to use it, he didn't want just anyone playing the final notes or have a digital recording of it without the feeling he has and gives to every family...the feeling of honor.
I thank my son for allowing me to share it with you all.
- Nancy
Honoring America's Fallen
HONORING OUR FALLEN HEROES
Honoring our fallen Heroes is the most difficult aspect in one's life. It is very personal. It is very real.
Many of us have felt the loss of a soldier fallen in combat. Many of us have lost a special member of our family or cherished friend, or a comrade. It is only right that we honor our soldiers and their families for the sacrifice they have given. We thank them for giving us the chance and the privilege of waking up to Freedom each day.
One way to honor a fallen soldier is when a family requests a graveside military honor team with a live bugler performing "Taps". Yet, our country experienced a shortage of uniformed buglers, up through the year 2000. This was when "Bugles Across America" was founded.
Bugles Across America was founded by Tom Day in 2000, when Congress passed legislation stating that Veterans had a right to at least 2 uniformed military members to fold the flag and play taps on a CD player. Bugles Across America was started as they felt that every Veteran deserved a live rendition of "Taps" played by a live bugler.
Buglers Across America consists of over 5,000 bugler volunteers that are located in all 50 states and they are also growing overseas. Because it is expected that more than 1/2 million veterans will pass every year for the next 7 years, Buglers Across America is ALWAYS recruiting new volunteers. The volunteers can be male or female, represent every race, creed and color and any age can participate as long as they can play the 24 notes of "Taps" with an ease and style, that will do honor to both the Veterans, their families, and the burial detail performing the service. They can play a traditional bugle with no valves, or they can perform the ceremony on a Trumpet, Cornet, Flugelhorn, or a 1, 2 or 3 valved bugle.
The oldest volunteer in 2005 was Leonard "Rosie" Ross age 99 who then said he attended his own share of funerals for friends, but in most cases, it's not for a friend or loved one. Ross, in his American Legion uniform, would play "Taps" on his trumpet for fellow veterans that he never met. Ross thought that a recorded rendition of "Taps" playing from a boombox just didn't deliver the proper gravesite tribute to veterans who sacrificed for their country. These buglers volunteer their time, toting their instruments to gravesites across the country to play the soulful 24 notes know as "Taps" at veterans' funerals. Before Buglers Across America, with about 900 requests for buglers every day, and just 500 on duty buglers available for funeral duty as well as other events, there simply weren't enough live horn players available to meet the need. "Taps" was pre-recorded on a CD, other times it was played through a digital device inserted into the bugle that, although it looked more authentic, was still recorded.
The Origin of "Taps":
Up until the Civil War, the infantry call for "Lights Out" was the one set down in Silas Casey's "Tactics," which had been borrowed from the French. Union General Daniel Butterfield was not pleased with the call for "Lights Out," feeling that it was too formal to signal the day's end. General Butterfield, with the help of the brigade bugler, Oliver Willcox Norton created "Taps" to honor his men while in camp at Harrison's Landing, Virginia in July 1862, following the Seven Days' battle. The call, sounded that night and soon spread to other units of the Union Army and was even used by the Confederates. "Taps" was made an official bugle call after the war."Taps" is the most easily recognized military bugle call. The melody, which consists of only 24 notes, is both eloquent and haunting. It is unique to the United States military, as the call is sounded at funerals, wreath-laying, memorial services, military ceremonies, and other events. When you have a live horn, you have emotion. It tells the family that somebody came to their loved one's funeral to honor the veteran personally. It's a way to honor our Veterans and their families. It is a way to say thank you. There are no official words to the music, but here are a couple of the more popular verses.
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
Go to sleep, peaceful sleep,
May the soldier or sailor,
God keep.
On the land or the deep,
Safe in sleep.
MAY ALL OUR FALLEN HEROES REST IN PEACE
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