On Saturday, 13 December 2025, some 150 people gathered in north Seattle at Evergreen-Washelli’s Veterans Memorial Cemetery to honor the 5,000 veterans, including six Medal of Honor recipients, who rest in peace there. The Veterans Memorial Wreath Foundation (www.VMWF.org) sponsors the annual ceremony, its 17th. Jim Kellett and I sounded “Echo Taps” together for the second time, and that set me wondering about how many times I’ve performed at this event. So, I looked it up here on my blog (see Archives column to the left). My first was on 16 December 2011—a little personal history trivia. And I’ve posted articles here about almost all of them. They’re easy to find by using the search box in the upper right corner of this page.
Besides my sounding “Echo Taps” with Jim, what was unique about this year’s event?
Chaplain Leon Buchanan’s brief invocation and benediction were elegant expressions of praise, humility and gratitude.
Vocalist Phil Onishi sang the national anthem with conviction and took many beautiful photos for WMWF, including all those used here in this post.
Lorraine Zimmerman’s leadership in conducting the program was masterful.
The Washington State Color Guard was precise and sharp.
The Honor Guard of VFW Post 1040 in Lynnwood fired their rifles inspiringly.
Boy Scouts from Troop 419 in Marysville distributed the printed programs.
Cub Scout Pack 331 furnished the scout, Ethan Crane, who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The 8 men who represented the branches of the military did a superb job of dedicating their respective wreaths with dignity by placing the American flag and rendering a hand salute.
And, afterwards, the audience became the volunteers who reverently placed approximately 2,000 wreaths on gravestones in the cemetery.
The ceremony was Called to Order when I sounded “Assembly.’ I used my Getzen bugle, and Jim Kellett used his trumpet when we sounded “Echo Taps.”
Photos by Phil Onishi. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
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.
Glenn Ledbetter, VFW Post 1040 Bugler, sounds “Taps,” as shown on Lumen Field’s Jumbotron by Seattle Seahawks, 11-09-2025. Photo by Monica McNeal
Glenn Ledbetter during sound check in the morning. Photo by Seahawks
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.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War (1975)
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.
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!
“Salute to Service” halftime ceremony. Photo by Monica McNeal
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.
Photo by Lynnwood Today
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.
Of the 67 bugle calls published by Carl Fischer, I have sounded six in public, plus “Echo Taps.” But until the morning of Saturday, 12 July 2025, at a memorial service, I had never had the opportunity to perform “Church Call.” The service was for Merlin D. Staatz at Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood (https://opendoorbaptist.com/). My “Church Call” opened the service, and my “Taps” helped close it.
In the afternoon, I sounded “Taps” for Gerald “Jerry” L. Seldon, Sr. at Nile Shrine Center in Mountlake Terrace (https://nileshriners.org/). It was a Masonic service, the second one in which I’ve ever participated. Inscribed on the statue in front of the clubhouse is this: “A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a Child.”
Each ceremony attracted about 100 friends and relatives. They were honorable men who served our country and on whose shoulders we stand. Regrettably, I know nothing of Seldon’s military service. Staatz was born in 2026 and was 99 years old when he passed in June. According to the program, he “served in the Philippines during the last year of World War II, sleeping in foxholes and leading his unit as a scout as they tried to take back the island of Luzon, one hillside at a time. He was awarded a Purple Heart. A week after Japan surrendered, he was stationed near Tokyo.”
At each of these two events, the flag presentation ceremony was performed by the Color Guard of the Shoreline unit of the U.S. Volunteers-Joint Service Command (USV-JSC) (https://www.usvjsc.org/). With these two, my “Taps” performances now total 245. I use my Getzen bugle.
Large crowd stands for the Invocation at Veterans Park, Lynnwood
To me, Memorial Day is always special, apart from its main purpose–to remember those veterans who gave their lives in service to our country. I’m one of the lucky ones who get to perform at this special memorial ceremony! And not only that, I get to sound bugle calls. And more than that, one of them is “Echo Taps”. And on top of that, the other two are “Assembly” at 11 a.m. to call the meeting to order and “To the Color” as the flag is raised at noon from half-staff to full staff. And such it was this Memorial Day, celebrated on Monday, 26 May 2025.
Joining me to sound the “Echo” part was Jasper Stutes, a senior trumpeter at Lynnwood High School. Among the other participants were the VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard, the Nile Shrine Legion of Honor, and Boy Scout Troop 49. I’m sure those participants felt as lucky, proud, and honored as I did.
I used by Getzen bugle–love that horn!
Photos by Julia Wiese, Lynnwood Today. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Glenn LedbetterBoy Scout Troop 49Jasper Stutes (background)Nile Shrine & VFW Post 1040Navy Veteran & Navy FlagVFW Post 1040 Honor Guard
U.S. Navy Wreath (photo by Phil Onishi)Photo by Glenn LedbetterPeople voluntarily lay the wreaths (photo by Phil Onishi)
Despite the high, cold wind at 9 a.m. on Saturday, 14 December 2024, the participants and crowd gathered at the Doughboy statue in Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Evergreen-Washelli in north Seattle for the 16th annual Wreaths Across America (WAA) ceremony. The wind chill was so bad that the emcee, Lorraine Zimmerman, cut her own speech from the program. She is President and Executive Director of the Veterans Memorial Wreaths Foundation (WMWF—please see http://www.vmwf.org).
The croud gathers
My bugle call, “Assembly,” called the ceremony to order. The first major event, as always, was the placement of flags upon the 8 ceremonial wreaths by representatives of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and POWs/MIAs. (Read more about the POW/MIA representative below.) Then the Honor Guard of VFW Post 1040 of Lynnwood fired a 21-gun salute (3 volleys).
Lorraine Zimmerman presides as emcee
The ceremony concluded with “Echo Taps.” I sounded the lead part and James D. (Jim) Kellett, Army Musician CWO2, did the “echo.” I used my Getzen field trumpet (bugle), and he used his Super Olds trumpet. [Recall that I own a Super Olds cornet.] He is a member of the VFW 1040 Honor Guard and regularly sounds “Taps” with the Rifle Team at funeral services for veterans at numerous cemeteries throughout the area.
The second main event is the placement of wreaths against selected headstones among the more than 5,000 graves of veterans within Evergreen-Washelli. Seven Medal of Honor recipients are buried there. Zimmerman asked the wreath-laying volunteers to read aloud the names on the headstones as they placed the wreaths and thank them for their service—they are not forgotten.
Similar ceremonies are being held this year at the same local time in more than 4,500 participating locations in all 50 states, at sea, and abroad. More than two million volunteers and supporters are involved (please see http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org).
Flag placement on POW/MIA Wreath
Capt. Wilson, Cadet Mugo, and Lorraine Zimmerman
When the time came, Zimmerman called the POW/MIA representative to the podium to receive the flag that he would place on the POW/MIA wreath. As he stood before her, she read a brief description of his POW experience.
““Captain William W. Wilson, U.S. Air Force, is assisted by Cadet Martin Mugo, UW USAF ROTC.
“Captain Wilson, former prisoner during the Vietnam War, made 33 missions over North Vietnam and Laos, flying an F-111 Aardvark before being shot down while bombing the Red River docks in downtown Hanoi on 22 December 1972. He evaded capture for a week, was nearly rescued by a Super Jolly Green helicopter, and then was captured by the North Vietnamese on 29 December. He spent a month in the ‘Heartbreak’ section of the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ [Hoa Lo Prison, loosely meaning ‘hell’s hole’ or ‘fiery furnace’] before being moved to the ‘Zoo’ [facility near the village of Cu Loc].
“He returned to U.S. control on the last C-141A Starlifter out of Hanoi on 29 March 1973 during Operation Homecoming.
“Bill will now place a flag in honor of the more than 83,000 United States servicemen and women from all branches of the service whose last known status was either Prisoner of War or Missing in Action. These individuals have never returned to their families and homes. We will not forget you.”
After he placed the flag and rendered a slow hand salute, he turned and walked slowly back across the grass toward the crowd. From a distance, I rendered a hand salute to him, and as he stepped onto the paved road, the crowd broke into warm applause. Zimmerman later told me, “I was so proud when the crowd honored him so spontaneously.” Indeed, it was the highlight of this year’s ceremony. Please see the photos (below, by Phil Onishi) of Captain Wilson and Cadet Mugo.
Embouchure Troubles Are Subsiding Nicely
Glenn Ledbetter warms up his bugle by sounding “Assembly” with a practice mute that deadens the sound
It was one year ago that I developed severe embouchure troubles for the first time in my life. Old age brought crooked teeth, to the point that my left front tooth had crossed over the right one just enough to disrupt the air flow into the mouthpiece of my horns. The problem flared up suddenly, right before last year’s WAA ceremony. I first alluded to it in my blog post of 10 June 2024, about the previous WAA ceremony. Then I wrote about it in more detail in my post of 12 June about my performance at The Bellettini retirement community in Bellevue. (Please use the Archives in the left column to find these articles, if you wish).
I had to go to the orthodontist for the solution: not braces, but Invisaligners (see http://www.invisalign.com). I wear them constantly, daily, except when eating. They have been gradually straightening my teeth since last February. Next spring, my teeth should be completely straight with the proper overbite—Oh, Happy Day!
But last May, after only four months, my teeth had straightened sufficiently that I was able to start performing again. My first public appearances were on Memorial Day when I performed at the ceremonies at Veterans Park in Lynnwood and in T-Mobile Park at the Seattle Mariners baseball game before a crowd of 24,000. Since then, on a reduced schedule, I have performed my one-hour trumpet shows at several retirement communities in the Greater Seattle area (scroll down this page). I’ll resume normal scheduling in 2025.
Photos Credits and Donations, Likes and Comments
Please click on any photo to enlarge it. All photos (except the one by me) are by Phil Onishi (please see https://philonishiphotography.smugmug.com). Mr. Onishi, long-time Band Director at Lynnwood High School, sang the National Anthem.
Donations are welcomed by both WAA and WMWF. I invite you to “Like” and “Comment” by clicking on the links below.
The national tradition is to conduct the Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. local time, worldwide, on the 11th day of the 11th month—formerly known as Armistice Day, WWI. Never forget, as succeeding generations were charged by Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae in his elegant poem, “In Flanders Field.” And so this is done annually at Veterans Park in downtown Lynnwood.
This is the second time that I’ve sat in my walker at this location for sounding the two bugle calls, ‘”Assembly” and “Echo Taps.” My lower back hurts, and when I stand to play, I’m a bit shaky. Also, I am challenged by the aligners that are in my mouth to straighten my teeth. (They should be removed by next Memorial Day.) Old age does its thing. So, when I sit, it sounds better. Judah Deuman sounded the “echo” part. He graduated from Lynnwood High School last spring. I used my Getzen field trumpet, and he used his trumpet.
Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Photos by Julia Wiese, Lynnwood Today:
Boy Scouts Troop 49Glenn Ledbetter, VFW 1040 BuglerVFW Post 1040 Honor Guard (L) and Legion of Honor, Nile Shrine Center (R)
Awaiting cue to sound “Taps”—click to enlarge and read Jumbotron screen. Photo by Ben Van Houten, Seattle Mariners photographer
Glenn Ledbetter, VFW Post 1040 Bugler, Lynnwood, sounds “Taps.” Photo by Ben Van Houten, Seattle Mariners photographer.
UW Joint Navy and Air Force ROTC Color Guard. Photo by Ben Van Houten, Seattle Mariners photographer.
The Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros, 3-2, at T-Mobile Park in downtown Seattle on Monday, 27 May. That was Memorial Day, and the Mariners’ pre-game activity was to “Remember and Honor” those military personnel who died in service to our country. The Joint Color Guard was comprised of University of Washington students who are in the Navy and Air Force ROTC programs. And one bugler was assigned to sound “Taps” after a moment of silence—me!
It was a dream come true! On 17 August 2014, I had sounded “To the Color” at a Mariners’ minor-league Aquasox game at the ballpark in Everett. And that inspired me to want to sound a bugle call at a Mariners game in Seattle. Ten years later, it happened, thanks to someone else. Unbeknownst to me, Monica McNeal, Gold Star Families of Washington, had referred me to the Mariners. Gold Star Mothers were also honored between certain innings of the game. Please see https://www.goldstarmoms.com. and my blog article of 2 November 2023.
I’ll be 84 next week. You’re never too old to have dreams and set goals—and if you need to, straighten your teeth!
Thus ends the “Lost Buzz Saga.” To read the whole story, please see my posts of 10, 12, and 21 June, plus this one, which is the climax. I invite your “Likes” and “Comments;” simply click on the links below this post.
The Mariners kindly recorded the pre-game activities. Here are the links for viewing the videos:
On Memorial Day this year, I sounded four bugle calls:
MorningStar Senior Living at Silver Lake, Everett
“Assembly” and “Echo Taps” at the ceremony hosted by VFW Post 1040 at Veterans Park in Lynnwood.
“Taps” at the retirement community, MorningStar Senior Living at Silver Lake, in Everett.
“Taps” at the Seattle Mariners baseball game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
Judah Deuman, a senior trumpeter at Lynnwood High School, played the “echo” part of “Echo Taps” with me.
Veterans Park, Lynnwood
These were very significant, “comeback” performances for me. I had not played in public for the past five months.
In my previous blog article, I divulged that during last December, I was having trouble playing my horns. My orthodontist predicted that I should be able to play my horns again by Memorial Day. Sure enough, it happened!
Now, what else could happen? Sciatica, that’s what. While sounding “Assembly” during the morning ceremony in Lynnwood, I discovered I could not hold a steady tone while standing, due to my lower back pain. So, for the rest of the day, I sounded “Taps” while seated on my walker and did just fine.
Who said that old age is just a number? Well, if that’s true, then jail is just a room.
The privilege of sounding “Taps” at the Mariners game that evening is presented in my next blog article.
Glenn Ledbetter warms up his bugle while using practice mute to muffle sound
For the first time, I used a cane to walk to my position for sounding “Assembly” and “Echo Taps” once more on my Getzen bugle at this, the 15th Annual Ceremony called Wreaths Across America (WAA). “Assembly” silences the crowd and opens the event. “Echo Taps” signals its conclusion. Just like two years ago, Laurence Stusser played the “echo” part on his trumpet with me (please see my blog article of 31 December 2021).
The cane was necessary, of course, because of my continuing sciatica nerve pain in my lower back and down my leg. But that was not my only trouble at this performance.
Photo by Glenn Ledbetter
I noticed that I was suddenly having some trouble with articulation, slotting, and tone control. It puzzled me. Nothing like this had ever happened since I originally began playing my cornet in fifth grade! At this writing, however, in hindsight, I now know what was causing the problems. More in subsequent blog articles.
For more information about WAA and past ceremonies, simply use the Search box in the upper right column. Search keywords “Wreaths” and “Wreath-Laying” for different results. Also, check out https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org and https://www.vfw1040.org.
All photos except two (as marked) are by Phil Onishi Photography. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.
Glenn's Trumpet Notes 