Fifteen years ago in 2011, I sounded “Taps” for my first time on Veterans Day, 11 November, at the annual 11:00 a.m. ceremony, hosted by VFW Post 1040, at Veterans Park in downtown Lynnwood. And several years ago, we started sounding “Echo Taps” instead. Originally, I used some of my own private trumpet students to sound the “Echo” part. Then I recruited a few trumpeters from Inglemoor High School—I used to work for the band director there, Charlie Fix, when we were both at Skyview Middle School in Bothell. Recently, I’ve used trumpeters from Lynnwood High School, and this year, that’s where I found Liam O’Dell, a referral by his band director, Phil Onishi.

The weather was perfect, the crowd was large, and as usual, I sounded the bugle call, “Assembly,” to start the ceremony. Liam and I sounded “Echo Taps” at the close. He used his trumpet, and I used my Getzen bugle. That afternoon, I drove to Mountlake Terrace to perform my patriotic, one-hour trumpet show, “I Stand for the Flag,” at Mountlake Terrace Plaza, a retirement community.