This year, Gold Star Mothers’ Day occurred on 24 September, almost one year after a very significant event that lingers in my memory—the dedication ceremony of the Gold Star Mothers Families Monument in Veterans Park in Lynnwood on 2 November 2022—exactly one year ago today. At the end of the ceremony, Laurence Stusser and I sounded “Echo Taps” for the local Gold Star Mothers who attended, along with a crowd of about 300.
Front view by Cody Sexton, Lynnwood Today.
Woody Williams formed a foundation to establish Gold Star Mothers Families Monuments in as many communities as possible in all U.S. 50 states and territories. There are now at least 131 Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments across the United States, and an additional 65 underway for installation. Three are located in Washington state in Walla Walla, Forks, and Lynnwood.
Memorial Day Ceremony 2023, Veterans Park, Lynnwood, WA
On Memorial Day (29 May), I performed at three different venues—Veterans Park in Lynnwood, my Perrinville neighborhood in Edmonds, and Fairwinds, Redmond retirement community. In all, I sounded five different bugle calls and 24 patriotic marches and songs. It was a full day!
Memorial Day Ceremony, Veterans Park, Lynnwood
About 150 veterans and civilians assembled here, the largest crowd for this ceremony since we resumed it after the Covid years. The event was hosted by the City of Lynnwood and VFW Post 1040. Participants included:
VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard
Nile Shriners’ Legion of Honor from Mountlake Terrace
a piper and drummer from the Northwest Junior Pipe Band
American Legion Post 37 of Edmonds
Boy Scout Troop 49 of Lynnwood
Gold Star Mothers, Washington State Chapter
Lynnwood Firefighters
Nolan Stewart
Glenn Ledbetter
So, I sounded “Assembly” to start the event at 11 a.m., using my Getzen bugle. The guest speaker was Michelle Black, a Gold Star Mother (for more information on Gold Star Mothers, please see my blog post of 19 June 2014, using the Archives in left column). Incidentally, the Gold Star Mothers Monument in Veterans Park was dedicated on 2 November 2022, when I performed “Echo Taps” with Laurence Stusser, my trumpet student, who sounded the “echo” part on his 1947 Super Olds (Los Angeles) trumpet.
At the close of the ceremony, I sounded “Echo Taps” with the “echo” part sounded by Nolan Stewart, using his Bach trumpet. He will attend Oregon State University this fall and will be a member of the marching band. Finally, at noon, VFW Post 1040 Commander, John Beam, raised the flag from half to full mast, as I sounded “To the Color.”
“Taps” for my Neighbors
I’m a member of “Taps for Veterans,” a nationwide organization of buglers who perform at local ceremonies and funerals for veterans (please see http://www.tapsforveterans.org). The National Moment of Remembrance was inaugurated by Congress in 2000. It is an annual event that asks Americans, wherever they are at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, to pause for one minute to remember those who have died in military service to the United States. Taps Across America (a sister organization at http://www.tapsacrossamerica.org) promotes this event by the sounding of “Taps” in local neighborhoods at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day.
By J.W.
In my case, however, I had to be in Redmond at that time, so I rushed from sounding “To the Color” at the above event in Lynnwood to my home in Edmonds, where I stood on our front porch and sounded “Taps” at about 12:20 p.m. A neighbor took my photo. Then, I hopped in my car at 12:30 and rushed to Redmond, where I was to perform one of my six trumpet shows at a retirement community at 2:00.
“I Stand for the Flag” at Fairwinds, Redmond Retirement Community
This was my second appearance at Fairwinds, Redmond. This one-hour show consists of two dozen patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. The audience sang along as I played my five horns: Getzen Trumpet, 1954 Super Olds Cornet (Los Angeles), Austin Custom Brass (ACB) Flugelhorn, Jupiter Pocket Trumpet, and Getzen Field Trumpet (Bugle). The two bugle calls in this show are “Sunset” (my favorite British call) and “Tattoo” (my favorite American call). I told a few jokes, too. It’s always fun!
Please click on any photo (above) to enlarge it. Four are by Mario Lotmore of Lynnwood Times, three by Jasmine Contreas-Lewis of Lynnwood Today, one by J.W., and five by me.
Edmonds Community College may have dropped its middle name in April, 2020 (the first Covid year), but none of the many veterans and civilians got confused or lost on 25 May when the college held its traditional early Memorial Day ceremony on campus. I’ve been sounding two bugle calls—“To the Color” and “Taps”—at every such event since 2014.
I use my Getzen field trumpet, starting with my B-flat tuning slide for “To The Color” and my G tuning slide for “Taps.” (For photos and more information about the horn and these slides, see my blog post of 4 May 2015, using the Archives in the left column).
The keynote speaker, Wally Webster II, gave one of the most moving speeches that I have heard at any of these ceremonies. He is a native of southern Alabama. To him, as a young black man, the American flag symbolized his terror of men riding on horseback in white robes and conical hats and burning crosses. Then he joined the U.S. Air Force. He said that his military service at a hospital in Japan, caring for wounded soldiers during the Vietnam War, was one of the two most pivotal events in his life. That’s when his deep pride and gratitude for the USA developed and changed him forever. After a 30-year career in banking, he is now one of the six Trustees of Edmonds College, appointed by the Governor of Washington state.
The Holmes family was proud, among other many other things, that Loren Montgomery (“Monty”) Holmes was a veteran. They wanted a live bugler (not a taped recording) to sound “Taps” at his memorial service to be held in the chapel at Evergreen-Washelli Funeral Home in north Seattle on Sunday, 7 May.
Where can you find a good, live bugler? The funeral director, Stacie Sandritter, contacted VFW Post 1040 in Lynnwood for a referral. The call then passed to me, the Post Bugler. Eureka—networking works again!
As I listened to the pastor, family members, and friends pay tribute to Monty, I learned that he was a man of action and experience, with many interests and skills. He was indeed the patriarch of those who were close to him. They spoke in high praise of his great influence for good. Apparently, he was an open, friendly man with standards and a temper but also one with a good sense of humor who inspired others and did not hold a grudge. They spoke of his faith and love.
After graduating from Ballard High School, he played football for the semi-Pro team, “Seattle Ramblers,” and he served in the U.S. Army Reserve at Fort Lawton (now Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle). He was the original owner of Athletic Awards Co. in Seattle where it still stands today.
He was born 29 November 1929, and died on 8 April 2023–going on 94 years of age! He was interred on 9 May 2023 at Evergreen Memorial Park (see http://www.Washelli.com).
Inside the Chapel at the close of the memorial service, I used my Getzen bugle to sound “Taps” and afterwards, rendered the slow hand-salute for another comrade who has passed. It was the 231st time that I’ve been honored to do it.
Every year when public demand peaks for a bugler/trumpeter, I’m happy to hop-skip-and-jump all over the Greater Seattle area to perform. This year, as usual, there were lots of opportunities surrounding Memorial Day. I sounded bugle calls at two venues and presented my one-hour trumpet show, “I Stand for the Flag” at three different retirement communities in four different cities:
26 May – Edmonds Community College (ECC) in Lynnwood – my sixth appearance
27 May – Skyline Towers in Seattle – second appearance
28 May – The Bellettini in Bellevue – first appearance
30 May – Veterans Park, Lynnwood – tenth appearance
30 May – Fairwinds Redmond – second appearance
At the ceremony at ECC, dressed in my VFW uniform, I sounded two bugle calls: “To the Color” inside the Black Box Theatre and “Taps” outside near the Boots to Books and Beyond monument. Native American Peter Ali improvised solos on two of his flutes twice during the ceremony.
At Skyline Towers retirement community in downtown Seattle, I performed my one-hour trumpet show, “I Stand for the Flag,” again in uniform. It is a collection of about two dozen patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls. I did the same show at The Bellettini in downtown Bellevue and at Fairwinds Redmond.
But before performing in the afternoon in Redmond on Memorial Day, I also sounded three bugle calls in the morning at Veterans Park in Lynnwood: “Assembly,” “Echo Taps,” and “To the Color.” Lukas Breen sounded the echo part in “Echo Taps.” He is an Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard, stationed in Everett. We both play Getzen bugles. Other musicians were a piper and drummer from the Northwest Junior Pipe Band, playing “Scotland the Brave,” “The Rowan Tree,” “Battle’s O’er,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Going Home.”
For more information about these venues, please go to these websites:
Volunteers lay more than 1,000 wreaths on Veterans’ graves at Evergreen-Washelli’s Veterans Cemetery. Photo by Phil Onishi Photography.
The third Saturday of December was the 18th, and that could mean only one thing to a bugler—it was time for the annual Christmas wreath-laying ceremony, Wreaths Across America (WAA). Never mind that it was raining steadily. At 9 a.m., the President and Executive Director of the Veterans Memorial Wreath Foundation, Lorraine Zimmerman, announced over the loud speaker, “Bugler, sound ‘Assembly!'” And so I did for the 11th time. Then the Color Guard of the Navy ROTC program at the University of Washington presented the colors, and the crowd of about 200 patriots pledged allegiance to the flag. Chaplain Linda Haptonstall gave the invocation.
MKC Noah Vogeli, U.S. Coast Guard
At about 9:15 came the main program segment, the Ceremonial Wreath Dedication. One by one, eight men placed and saluted small flags on eight wreaths in memory of and gratitude for those who have fallen in service to America. After the benediction, the Honor Guard of VFW Post 1040 of Lynnwood fired a three-volley rifle salute, immediately followed by “Echo Taps,” sounded by me and Laurence Stusser. He used his Olds trumpet, and I used my Getzen bugle. The colors were retired, and after the benediction by the Chaplin, this 13th annual ceremony concluded. Similar ceremonies were held at more than 3,100 locations nationwide on this day.
But the local event was not over—there was more to be done. The crowd voluntarily began laying 3,000 wreaths on the gravestones in the Veterans Memorial Park at Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery in north Seattle. VMWF has the ambitious goal of adorning all 5,000 veterans’ gravestones someday. To do that, more sponsors are needed. A donation of $15 sponsors one wreath; two, $30; five, $75 (most popular); ten, $150.
VMWF was founded not only to conduct this ceremony and lay these wreaths but also to teach coming generations about the cost and value of our freedom. VMWF plans to provide educational scholarships soon to military dependents and ROTC students. For more information, please see http://www.vmwf.org.
For the second year in a row, due to Covid restrictions, VFW Post 1040 performed a shortened, non-advertised Memorial Day commemoration ceremony at Veterans Park in Lynnwood. Normally, the ceremony would draw 200 or more people, and there would be music and speeches and presentations and honors and rifle salutes and “Taps” and more. It would take a half hour or more, and then at noon, the flag would be raised from half-staff to full-staff, accompanied by “To the Color” on the bugle.
This year, only the essentials were kept on the program:
“Amazing Grace” by Piper Kevin Auld and two members of the Northwest Junior Pipe Band;
“Armed Forces Medley” on the P.A. system;
Laying of the wreaths by Patricia McCarty and John Beam, Commander, VFW Post 1040;
The City of Lynnwood recorded it all (except the flag raising) in this 9:19-minute video (please see https://youtu.be/lWCOAdCS3Jg). As you’ll see and hear, I lead off with the bugle call, “Assembly,” on my Getzen Field Trumpet (bugle) and sound “Taps” at the 8:05-minute.
We’re all hoping that on Veterans Day, 11 November, we’ll be able to resume celebrating with the customary, full program involving more people and organizations, open to the public.
Bugler, VFW Post 1040, Lynnwood, WA. Photo by CPO Ronald A. Jones, LAC-USV-JSC.
Bugler, Boy Scout Troop 312, Edmonds, WA. Photo by CPO Ronald A. Jones, LAC-USV-JSC.
President Barack Obama proclaimed 29 May 2012 as Vietnam Veterans Day, and by law in 2017, it became National Vietnam War Veterans Day. To my chagrin, both events slipped by me, a Vietnam War Veteran and a member of both the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and VVA (Vietnam Veterans Association). I first heard of it when I was asked to sound “Echo Taps” at the Shoreline Veterans Recognition Plaza on 27 March 2021, two days before the official date (29th).
Col David Gibson, USAF (Ret.), Keynote Speaker. Photo by CPO Ronald A. Jones, LAC-USV-JSC.
The keynote speaker, Col. David Gibson, USAF (Ret.), a Vietnam veteran, spoke of the Three Big Lies about the Vietnam War; the politically-driven, overly restrictive Rules of Engagement; and the imperative that America never enter a war without the intent and will to win it. He delivered his own “Welcome Home” message to the Vietnam veterans attending this ceremony. [“9-11” radically changed the American people’s attitude toward our military.]
L to R: Joe Fitzgerald, Commander, VFW Post 3063, ballard; Bugler, Boy Scout Troop 312, Edmonds; and Glenn Ledbetter, VFW Post 1040, Lynnwood. Joe is the original owner of the bugle, gifted by Honor Guard, VFW Post 1040, to the Scout.
Who would join me, as VFW Post 1040 Bugler, and sound the “Echo” part of “Taps”? The same Boy Scout from Troop 312 in Edmonds who did it with me at this same place on Independence Day last year (please see my previous post of 29 July 2020). This year, however, he played the “Echo” on his Getzen bugle, not his trumpet. And thereby hangs a tale.
Our scout has often sounded “Taps” at funeral services with the Post 1040 Honor Guard. That was suspended, however, when, last August, he had a terrible accident on his mountain bike. He took a jump on the trail and crashed. His injuries were quite serious and have taken all these many months to heal. Frank Martinez, Commander of the Honor Guard of VFW Post 1040, polled the members for ideas of a gift we could present to the boy. I suggested a bugle and found one, a beauty, owned by Joe Fitzgerald, Commander of VFW Post 3063 in Ballard. We had it engraved, “HONOR GUARD – VFW POST 1040” and presented it to him. He loves it, as I do mine (see my post of 4 May 2015). These bugles play so easily with such a beautiful, full, solid tone.
ECHO TAPS
Covid-19 put the clamps on most of my performances in public for a whole year. The church orchestra in which I play is still on hold after the original lockdown in March 2020 cancelled in-person services. Same for performances of my one-hour trumpet shows at retirement communities–they all cancelled their weekly musical entertainment hours. I no longer drove to my clients’ homes to teach private trumpet lessons. We switched to online Zoom lessons. Throughout the 2020 summer, I did no busking in Edmonds to raise money for the VFW. Skyview Middle School, where I teach beginning trumpet class, also switched to Zoom instructrion in the fall.
Only now are things opening up a little. Now that I’ve had my two Modera vaccination shots for Covid, I’m booked at several retirement communities again, playing one or another of my six trumpet shows. And several military ceremonies are coming up–Armed Forces Day (15 May), Memorial Day (31 May), Flag Day (14 June), and Independence Day (4 July). We’re easing back into performances, and that means I’ll be posting here again, starting with this one.
Photos are by Joe Fitzgerald, Richard Rees, and CPO Ronald A. Jones, LAC-USV-JSC.
Hand salute during “Echo Taps.” Photo by CPO Ronald A. Jones, LAC-USV-JSC.
Symphony Ames, singer of the National Anthem and “God Bless America.” Photo by Joe Fitzgerald.
VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard awaits the ceremony. Photo by Joe Fitzgerald.
On Flag Day, Dwight N. Stevens, WWII veteran, was honored with a wreath as his son, Larry Stevens, holds his hand over his heart. “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” was played, the Honor Guard (background) fired three volleys, and “Taps” was sounded. Photo by Denise Frisino.
During a recent six-week span, Shoreline City Hall was the scene of four major military ceremonies held outdoors at the adjacent Veterans Recognition Plaza which was dedicated on 21 May 2016. The ceremonies were organized and led by a Shoreline resident, Major General Ray Coffey, United States Volunteer Joint Service Command (USVJSC)
25 May – Memorial Day
6 June – D-Day
14 June – Flag Day and 246th birthday of U.S. Army
4 July – Independence Day and 244th birthday of USA
Participating in these ceremonies reminded me that, of course, the Army was formed before the United States became an independent nation. We had to fight a war to win independence. On 14 June 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the enlistment of riflemen to serve the United Colonies for one year. On the next day, George Washington was chosen as Commander-in-Chief and assigned the rank of General.
Major participants in the various ceremonies included members of the USVJSC, U.S. Army Reserve Command, U.S. Army Recruiting Command, VFW Post 3348 (Shoreline), VFW Post 1040 (Lynnwood), American Legion Post 0227 (Shoreline), NW Junior Pipe Band, Boy Scout Troop 312 (Edmonds), and veterans of all five military branches.
When called upon, the Honor Guard of VFW Post 1040 fired the three-volley salutes at these ceremonies. Likewise, when called upon, I sounded up to six bugle calls: Assembly, To the Color, Adjutant’s Call, Flourish for Review (“Ruffles”), Taps, and Echo Taps. On 4 July, a Boy Scout who has earned the Bulger Merit Badge sounded both Echo Taps with me and To the Color (solo). I used my Getzen bugle, and he used his trumpet. He is now an 8-grader at Madrona School in Edmonds and sounds Taps with the VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard at funeral services. Symphony Aimes sang “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America” at the Independence Day ceremony.
Please click to enlarge a photo.
Dwight N. Stevens and Dwight Stevens Sr. (R: upper) and Joseph C. Frisino (R: center). Photo by Denise Frisino.
Denise Frisino with wreath for Dwight N. Stevens. Photo courtesy of Denise Frisino.
Larry Fischer carries U.S. Air Force flag to the proper obelisk. Photo by Denise Frisino.
Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos, Chaplain, Covenant Living at the Shores (CLS), Mercer Island, asked for a video of me playing “Taps,” so he could include it in the 2020 Memorial Day ceremony at this prestigious, waterfront retirement community. The ceremony had to be virtual, of course, because of Covid-19 restrictions on the limited size of gatherings. The staff would integrate my video into their longer, ceremonial video.
So I chose to make my video among the 5,000 military gravestones in Veterans Cemetery at Evergreen-Washelli in north Seattle, where seven recipients of the Medal of Honor are buried. Nancy MacDonald, a lifelong family friend of Greg, recorded the video below on Friday, 15 May. Please turn on your sound and click on the Play arrow for this “Taps.” The video will rotate itself correctly when it begins to play.
“Taps” at Veterans Cemetery, Evergreen-Washelli, Seattle
To view the complete video, “Memorial Day Service of Remembrance,” at CLS, including my “Taps” on my Getzen bugle (at the end, minute 57:35), please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc7mI7VbRTw&feature=youtu.be ((almost one hour and two minutes).
Glenn's Trumpet Notes 