Great Idea!

[subdjoe]

xeml.buglesacrossamerica.org/index.xeml

A friend just sent me this link, I thought I would pass it on.

[jgaffney]

First, learn to play a bugle.

[Mink]

That is a great idea!! My uncle, who fought in WWII, had a bugler at his funeral along with the 21 gun salute. This is a good cause for the vets to hear them while still living.

It's amazing the muscles used around the mouth to create a wonderful sound. Bravo!

[subdjoe]

GRUMBLE. It WASN'T a 21 gun salute. It was a 3 volly salute. Sorry, one of my many pet peeves. A 21 Gun salute is done by artillery, one piece at a time. If done by a ship entering a foreign harbor it may be returned gun for gun by a shore battery. Here are a few links that explain it a bit better:
www.arlingtoncemetery.net/customs.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-volley_salute

When my dads ashes were placed into the crypt the Corps provided a color guard, an honor guard, and a musician. The musician played Taps on a cornet rather than a bugle or trumpet. Damn, that was nice. But I had to explain to the SFC in charge of the detail that they were NOT firing a 21 gun salute, but the traditional 3 volly salute.

[JustMyOpinion]

My dad is heavily involved in the Marine Corp League and they play an instrument that has TAPS previously recorded so that they don't actually play the instrument (bugle).

See below:

articles.latimes.com/2003/sep/05/nation/na-bugle5

[subdjoe]

Thanks for the link, JMO. I think Bugles Across America is trying to get enough people so things like that are not necessary. I'm not sure how I feel about a "bugle" that plays a recording. It just seems very wrong to me. My opinion on it is that you might as well be honest and just use the CD player. Or, just fire the vollys and forget the music. Let the silence after the shots be the tribute.

[The Big Dog]

More on gun salutes and firing parties

Today, a 21-gun salute is rendered on the arrival and departure of the President of the United States; it is fired in concordance with four ruffles and flourishes, which is immediately followed by Hail to the Chief -- the actual gun salute begins with the first ruffle and flourish, and concludes after Hail to the Chief has ended. A 21-gun salute is also rendered to former U.S. Presidents, foreign Heads of State (or members of a reigning royal family), as well as to Presidents-elect. In such a ceremony, the national anthem of the visiting dignitary's country is played, following the salute.

A firing party of rifles (guns are on ships or get dragged around by truck, you know) may be any number of three up to seven. The significance is of the number of volleys, which is three. And that number is always fired regardless of the number of riflemen.

A gun salute is fired one tube at a time, never in volley.

There is, as well, an order of precedence in gun salutes in the United States, and many other countries as well.

[JustMyOpinion]

subdjoe, according to my parents (they are BOTH involved in the Marine Corp League) it isn't so much how TAPS is delivered, but the symbolic gesture, respect and nostalgia that it represents. My parents have told me on several occasions that before TAPS is finished playing there isn't a dry eye in the place. I realize it might mean more if a person were really playing, but I think for the most part the pseudo bugler works for most people who attend the memorials.

[The Big Dog]

According to some I know, perhaps the most eloquent and moving ceremonies involving a gun salute and Taps are done at Texas A & M university.

The first is "Silver Taps" to honor any and every member of the corps who dies during their period of enrollment.

Students who die while currently enrolled at Texas A&M are also honored at Silver Taps, a ceremony held, when necessary, on the first Tuesday of the month. This tradition began as a memorial for former Texas A&M president Lawrence Sullivan Ross. In the modern incarnation, on the morning of Silver Taps, a small card with the deceased student's name, class, major, and birthdate is placed as a notice at the base of the flagpole in Academic Plaza. At 10:15 p.m., all lights on campus are extinguished, and Albritton Tower begins to chime hymns. When the music begins, students gather in silence in front of the statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross at Academic Plaza. At 10:30 pm, the Ross Volunteers march into the plaza and fire a 21-gun salute. Buglers stationed at the top of the Academic Building then play a special rendition of Taps, known as Silver Taps. The song is played three times; once to the north, once to the south, and once to the west. It is never played to the east, "because the sun will never rise on that Aggie again." Once the buglers have finished their tribute, the crowd disperses. Generally, students remain silent until reaching their homes.

The other is Muster, which happens every April.

The largest Muster each year, with over 12,000 in attendance, is held in Reed Arena on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. This campus Muster is dedicated to the fifty-year reunion class of that year, demonstrating unity among Aggies. During the day a Camaraderie Barbecue is held at the Academic Plaza around noon to rekindle the spirit of the original Muster celebration. The evening Muster ceremony begins with a keynote speaker. Poems are read, and the room is darkened for the Roll Call of the Absent. This Roll Call honors Aggies who have died since the last Muster. As the names are called, a family member or friend answers "Here," and lights a candle in remembrance of that person.Following the Roll Call, the Ross Volunteers give a 21-gun salute, and buglers play Silver Taps, an especially evocative version of the military's mournful melody of farewell."

Smaller Musters are held in over 300 other locations, including in Kosovo, Germany, Istanbul, Seoul, and almost every county in Texas.

The keynote speaker in 2000 summed up the Aggie bond when he said, "'we're here (tonight) to pledge that none of you will be forgotten as long as there are two Aggies left in the world.'"

[bolverk]

My most honorable duty, while in the military, was to be on funeral detail. We were called into service, and I was one of the seven riflemen who gave the 21 gun salute. It was a solemn duty, which I exercised with great pride in honor of fallen soldiers.