I’ve been sounding “Taps” or “Echo Taps” at morning ceremonies every Memorial Day since 2011, but this year for the first time, I also got to do so in the afternoon. As VFW Post 1040 Bugler, I sounded “Echo Taps” with my partner, Eduardo Gomez Luis, at the ceremony at Veterans Park in downtown Lynnwood at 11 a.m. Then at 3:00 p.m., as a member of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Sno-King Chapter 423, I again sounded “Echo Taps” with Eduardo at Floral Hills Cemetery, also in Lynnwood, east of the I-5 freeway. Eduardo is a junior at Lynnwood High School and a trumpeter in the band. I used my Getzen bugle, and Eduardo used his Yamaha trumpet.

And at Veterans Park in the morning, I also sounded two other bugle calls: “Assembly” to call the ceremony to order and “To the Color” as the flag was raised to full mast at noon. What a fulfilling day for this bugler!

Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

At Veterans Parks, hosted by VFW Post 1040:

Photos by Ashley Nash, My Lynnwood News:

At Floral Hills Cemetery, hosted by VVA Chapter 423: