| The most memorable taps that I have ever played occured probably within my first year as an Army Bandsman our of the SOM, in either 1990 or 91. I was sent on a long distance, overnight bugle job up in PA - I forget where.
The circumstance of this sad, sad funeral was that the soldier for whom I was playing had come home on leave, either to get married, or to attend the wedding of his only sibling, his brother.
Both were killed in an automobile accident. The only surviving next of kin was their father, who had become a widower about a year prior to that. He was a great big man, but under the intense grief of losing both of his children at the same time, I witnessed this great man break down as I played taps, and I almost couldn't finish it.
I experienced situations similar to yours when I played the funerals for many of the members of the 14th Quartermaster Detachment out of Greensburg, PA, that were killed when the barracks they were in got hit by parts of a SCUD missile during Desert Storm.
In the course of my Army Band career, I played Taps at hundreds of funerals and I always tried to never lose sight of the fact that even though it may have been routine for me, just another bugle job, it certainly wasn't routine for the survivors of the deceased, and I always, ALWAYS, did my very best to play the best Taps I could out of respect for them and their loved ones.
__________________ Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius |