Thousands will pause at 3 p.m. Monday to sound a well-known bugle call in honor of those who gave their lives in service to the United States. "Taps Across America" began as an effort to bring people together during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has since expanded and is encouraging musicians other than buglers and trumpeters to participate during the nation's 250th anniversary year.
Retired zookeeper Val Nastold plays trumpet with the University of Cincinnati Alumni Band and various community bands. He tells WVXU he'll be busy on Memorial Day, sounding taps at multiple venues ahead of the 3 p.m. event.
"I never was in the military, but it's important to show respect for the men and women who sacrificed the ultimate by giving their lives for our freedoms, so it's a pleasure and an honor, really, to do it," he says.
Nastold will start the day by joining the UC Bearcat Bands and Alumni Band at the annual Memorial Day commemoration held by Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 10 in Eden Park at 10 a.m. Then he'll be in Mt. Storm Park to sound taps at noon, followed by a pair of ceremonies at cemeteries near Oxford, before concluding with the 3 p.m. communal event.
Taps Across America organizers encourage everyone to participate, whether by playing an instrument or observing a moment of silence.
"Taps is only 24 notes, but it speaks for a grateful nation," says Mark Paradis, executive director of Taps for Veterans in a release. "At 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day, we invite every community to pause and remember — whether you play one instrument or simply stand quietly in respect. This moment belongs to everyone."
Over the years, fewer people have kept up the tradition of playing taps. Some cemeteries and organizations have taken to purchasing a digital bugle that plays taps through a speaker and doesn't require a musician who can play a bugle or trumpet. Nastold says he doesn't like groups to have to use that option.
"There's recordings that you can use, but there's nothing like having someone sounding taps right at the grave site or wherever it might be. It is very important to do that, and it only takes a few moments of your time to give back," he says.
Nastold has sounded the bugle call numerous times, and each feels special, he says. He says it was particularly moving to join others at Arlington National Cemetery in playing a four-part trumpet version of taps composed by taps historian Jari Villanueva.
"It's just awe-inspiring when you're standing on these grave sites or in the cemeteries, and knowing that somebody out there has given their life, so you can have a three-day weekend."
Taps is not a song, though various words have been set to it over the years. Rather, it is a bugle call, and like other bugle calls, per the U.S. Army — which follows The Associated Press Stylebook — is not capitalized because it is a signal meant to convey information, not a song or composition.
The use of the bugle call dates to 1862 when Union Brig. Gen. Daniel Butterfield worked with bugler Cpl. Oliver W. Norton to revise an earlier military tattoo to signal "lights out" across the camp.
It became an official bugle call in 1874 and is sounded between 10-11 p.m. on most U.S. military installations, according to the U.S. Army. The Army says the first instance of taps being used during a funeral was by a Union commanding officer who had it played during the burial of a soldier rather than a gun salute that might alert the enemy.
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