Glenn’s Trumpet Notes

When the bugler faded-away the last of the 24 notes in “Taps” and lowered his bugle, the football crowd roared, the same way they do after hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before kickoff. It was the first step in the “Salute to Service” halftime ceremony on 9 November, two days before Veterans Day and 50 years after the end of the Vietnam War. Glenn Ledbetter, 85, is a Navy veteran of that war. Wearing his VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard uniform and sitting on the seat of his walker, he was aware that, to those watching, he symbolized the wounded warrior, although his infirmity was simply a damaged nerve in his lower back in old age. He was proud he had served and proud to represent the other soldiers and sailors who wore their nation’s uniforms and fought that war.

Here he was on the 50-yard line of Lumen Field during the game between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals—a dream come true! And only a year and a half ago, he had sounded “Taps” at a baseball game at T-Mobile Stadium between the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros—the first such dream to come true! The Seahawks dream grew out of the Mariners dream.

It all started with a referral to the Mariners event-planning staff by Monica McNeal, a Gold Star Mother. They wanted a bugler for the ceremony they were planning for Memorial Day in 2024. She recommended Glenn after hearing him sound “Echo Taps” at the dedication ceremony for the new Gold Star Mothers Families Memorial Monument in Veterans Park in downtown Lynnwood on 24 September 2023. Monica also contacted the Seahawks in 2024—if they were planning a program at a Seahawks game around Veterans Day, she recommended Glenn to sound “Taps”—but it did not happen.

So, three huge dominoes fell in succession—in 2023, 2024, 2025. Then, last July, Glenn sent an email to the Seahawks, volunteering to sound “Taps” at the game on 9 November, two days before Veterans Day. They agreed to consider it. In early October, he wrote again and was told it was unlikely. Then, on 30 October, he got an email from the Seahawks: “Sorry for the late ask but any chance you’re available to play Taps for us during our Salute to Service halftime ceremony next Sunday (11/9)?” He immediately replied, “Yes, I’m thrilled to accept your invitation!” The next day, Halloween, the Seahawks sent another invitation: could he play “Taps” pre-game in the Ticketmaster Tailgate area at 11:45? Yes, of course. And he dropped practically everything else.

Here is Glenn’s timeline on game day:

• 6:00 a.m.          Alarm says, “Wake up, Get up.”
• 7:00                     Depart for Lumen Field. Park in NE parking lot.
• 8:30                     Pass through security at NE entrance, meet Escort.
• 9:00                     Sound check on the 50-yard line in stadium.
• 9:20                     Sound check in the Ticketmaster Tailgate room.
• 9:40                     Wait in private “Green Room.”
• 11:45                   Sound “Taps” at Ticketmaster Tailgate.
• 12:00                   Arrive at guest seat in stadium to watch game.
• 1:05 p.m.          Kickoff—Seahawks vs Cardinals.
• ~2:00                   Halftime score: Seahawks 38, Cardinals 7.
• ~2:00                  Sound “Taps” to begin Salute to Service ceremony.
• ~:2:30                 Exit stadium rather than watch game to the end.
• ~3:15                   Arrive home. Watch 4^th quarter on CBS-TV. Seahawks won, 44-22.
• 5:00                     Toast the day with Prosecco and have dinner with wife.

After he sounded “Taps” at halftime, the crowd immediately roared. He was surprised and happy. Then he sat on the field’s sideline and watched the ceremony. When it ended, he walked with his escort behind the endzone toward the southwest exit tunnel. Suddenly, he heard nearby fans cheering loudly. He looked up to his left and saw them yelling and waving. Who, me, pointing at himself? They pointed back, Yes, you, cheering and clapping. He waved, blew a kiss, and walked on. Then a second group did the same, and so did he. That’s what “Taps” can do—make people cry, make people cheer!

Inside the tunnel, several other members of the ceremony and Seahawks staff congratulated him. Glenn asked his chief contact among the Seahawks staff if he knows Monica, a Seahawks volunteer. “Yes,” he said with a quizzical look in his eyes. “She’s my ‘in’,” Glenn said. “Monica’s everybody’s ‘in’,” he said. Soon, Glenn told his escort, “I’d like to go home.”

People began to post on Facebook. So did the Seahawks and Lumen Field. Likes, comments, and re-posts multiplied. It went on for two-three days before fading out, as time marches on.

Recall that Andy Warhol was quoted in Time magazine in 1967 as saying that in the future, with the rise of mass media, “Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.”

You could say that without modern medicine and three stints in his heart arteries, Glenn wouldn’t have been at Lumen Field that day. None of his male ancestors, going back through his family branch to the first Ledbetter immigrant to America from England in the 1640s, ever lived past age 78.

And without the referrals of Monica McNeal, he wouldn’t have been there either. She is the Gold Star mother of Lance Corporal Eric L. Ward, who tragically died in Afghanistan in 2010, may he rest in peace.

And if he were a young man, confidently out to make his mark in the world, Glenn might have said to himself, “I did it.” Even now, after sounding “Taps” 248 times in the past 14 years, he might be tempted say the same thing.

It’s certainly true that all those things vitally factored into his performance at Lumen Field. But today, at age 85, having recovered from being a broken man in 1994, he now gratefully says, “God granted my 15 minutes of fame.”

The official attendance was 68,723. The game broadcast was by CBS-TV. Glenn used his Getzen Field Trumpet (please see blog post of 4 May 2015, “My New Getzen Bugle!”). The Getzen website is https://www.getzen.com/trumpets/field-trumpets/. A relative of Glenn’s found a fan’s video of the “Taps” performance (absent the first three notes) on You-Tube: https://youtube.com/shorts/_9pHKNe-u1c?si=fK2OcbRqe8SBrvuG (~35 secs).

Photos are by Seahawks, Monica McNeal, Lynnwood Today, and Glenn Ledbetter. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.