Glenn’s Trumpet Notes

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Archive for the ‘Ceremonies & Celebrations’ Category

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Stunning 2014 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland

Posted by glennled on September 18, 2014

Herald trumpeters open The 2014 Royal Edinburgh Tattoo with a fanfare

Herald trumpeters open The 2014 Royal Edinburgh Tattoo with a fanfare

 

When you’re producing one of the best entertainment shows on earth, you need trumpets and a fanfare to get the show started! And so my wife and I noticed as we sat in the stands among thousands in the audience at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, 2014, in Scotland on 11 August. Our whole three-week trip to the UK was organized around our tickets to this event. We simply love bagpipes!

The Tattoo is staged on the Esplanade (parade ground) of the Edinburgh Castle. This year it occurred during Scotland’s “Year of Homecoming, 2014.” The Commonwealth Games and the World Pipe Band Championships were held in Glasgow, and The Ryder Cup (golf) will be held on 26-28 September at the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles in Perthshire.  According to the wee bit of Scottish history that I have recently learned, there was a massive diaspora of Scots from the homeland during the mid-18th to late-19th centuries. More Scottish descendants now live abroad than currently live in Scotland itself (population ~5 million). Scots spread throughout the globe, and this year they were invited back home to celebrate their heritage.

The 2014 Tattoo reflects this history of emigration. The program was divided into three major segments: “The Departure,” “The Journey,” and “The Return Home.” Groups from Trinidad and Tabago, Malta, southern Africa, India, Singapore, and New Zealand performed. During “The Journey” segment, the performance by the New Zealanders effectively depicted the intermingling of the two different cultures.

Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

 

 

Posted in Ceremonies & Celebrations, Festivals & Competitions, Professional Concerts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Bugle Calls at Flag-Changing Ceremony at Crista Senior Living in Shoreline

Posted by glennled on June 28, 2014

the worn-out flag, while bugler sounds "Retreat"

John Zambrano and Elmer Johnson of VFW Post 1040 retire the old flag, while Glenn Ledbetter sounds “Retreat”

Flags wear out and need to be replaced. There’s one bugle call, “Retreat,” for lowering the U.S. flag, and another, “To the Color,” for hoisting the flag. I got to play both on 12 June at a flag ceremony at Crista, headquartered in Shoreline. The faded, darkened, tattered flag came down, and the new, bright, clean one ran up the pole. About 50 residents attended the dignified ceremony.

Crista, formed in 1948, describes itself as a family for seven Christian ministries. One of these is Senior Living (see http://www.cristaseniors.com). The quarters for seniors who can live independently are located at Cristwood Park on the southwest part of the 56-acre Crista campus. This is where the worn-out flag flew. And this is where Elizabeth Hudson, Activities Coordinator, organized and emceed the flag ceremony. She said it was the residents themselves who suggested that the old flag be replaced. VFW Post 1040 furnished the Color Guard, consisting of two members to lower, fold, unfold, and raise the flags, and me to sound the two bugle calls.

The well-known King’s Schools (K-12 education) is among the ministries located on campus (see http://www.kingsschools.org).

Photos are courtesy of Crista Senior Living. To enlarge any photo, simply click on it.

 

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VFW Post 1040 Hosts Memorial Day Ceremony at Veterans Park, Lynnwood

Posted by glennled on June 19, 2014

photo from phoneOn 26 May, when we arrived at Veterans Park in downtown Lynnwood near the public library, the flag of the United States was at half mast. It remained there only until noon, when it was raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The symbolism of this is for us, the living, to remember and honor those who came before and sacrificed their all, while we resolve to continue the fight for libery and justice for all…that they shall not have died in vain. That’s part of America, the beautiful.

Many attendees at this year’s ceremony said it was the best ever. For example, the Northwest Junior Pipe Band, under the direction of Kevin Auld, are getting so good that they are fund-raising in order to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in 2015. Please see http://www.nwjpb.org and http://www.theworlds.co.uk. At this ceremony, they played “Scotland, the Brave,” “The Rowan Tree,” “God Bless America,” and “Amazing Grace.”

Service flag, WWII-era, indicating three family members in military service, one of whom died during the war

Service flag, WWII-era, indicating three family members in military service, one of whom died during the war

A special wreath was laid this year by Myra Rintamaki, a Gold Star mother, in honor of the fallen. Her son, Cpl. Stephen Rintamaki, US Marine Corps, was killed in action in Iraq on 16 September 2004. The Gold Star Mothers Club is comprised of such mothers. Its origin comes from World War I, which the USA entered in 1917. George Vaughn Seibold, 23, an American, flew British planes with the 148th U.S. Aero Squadron of the British Royal Flying Corps. That prompted his mother, Grace Darling Seibold, to do community service, visiting returning servicemen in hospitals in the Washington, D.C. area. Suddenly, his letters stopped, and on 11 October 1918, George’s wife in Chicago received a box marked, “Effects of deceased Officer 1st Lt. George Vaughn Seibold.” He’d been killed in action in an air battle on 26 August. His body was never identified.

Gold Star Mothers stamp, a commemorative issue in 1948

Gold Star Mothers stamp, a commemorative issue in 1948

Grace organized a group of grieving mothers whose sons had lost their lives in military service. During that war, families of service members displayed a banner, known as a service flag, in a window of their homes. The banner is defined as a white field surrounded by a red border. A blue star on the white field represents each family member serving in the Armed Forces of the USA during time of war or hostilities. A gold star represents a family member who died during service, regardless of the cause. On 4 June 1928, twenty-five mothers established the national organization, American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. It continues to operate today, commonly known as the Gold Star Mothers Club. To learn more, please see http://www.goldstarmoms.com and http://www.goldstarmoms.com/Depts/WA_ID_OR_AK/WashChapt/WashChapt.htm.

Photos by Nancy MacDonald. To enlarge a photo, simply click on it.

 

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“Fanfare for the Common Man”—Brass Ensemble at Alderwood Community Church, Lynnwood

Posted by glennled on June 18, 2014

Aaron Copland, composer, teacher, writer, conductor, 1900-1990

Aaron Copland, composer, teacher, writer, conductor, 1900-1990

On Sunday, 25 May, I played trumpet in the Brass Ensemble, conducted by Linda Collins, at Alderwood Community Church in Lynnwood. During the worship service, recognition was given to Memorial Day, which was to be celebrated across the nation the next day.

Our featured piece was the thrilling Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland, written in 1942 and first performed in 1943 during World War II. It’s powerful and brings dignity to every event at which it is played. In America, regardless of status, we are all common—“All men are created equal,” and it’s “One man, one vote.”

Here are some videos of performances by others which pay tribute to the USA and its military men and women: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXytluK9QVk and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGu5Iz_h7Yo.

In the gallery of caricatures below, credit is given where the artist is known to me. Please click on any image to enlarge it.

 

Posted in Ceremonies & Celebrations, Church Music | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Bugle Calls at Memorial Day Ceremony, Edmonds Community College

Posted by glennled on June 17, 2014

Veterans Monument, Edmonds Community College

“From Boots to Books,” Veterans Monument, Edmonds Community College

On 21 May, Edmonds Community College (ECC) held a ceremony to honor those who died during military service–that’s what Memorial Day is all about. As an Honor Guard member of VFW Post 1040, I was fortunate to be a participant. I’m the post bugler, and I got to sound three bugle calls: “Assembly,” “To the Color,” and “Taps.”

Chris Szarek arranged the impressive, dignified program. Chris is the first director of the X-DSC_0196 (2) Veterans Resource Center at ECC, which was established in 2012, to “assist veterans in navigating enrollment, help them access educational and financial benefits, and offer other resources while veterans attend college.” The program started in the Black Box Theatre in Mukilteo Hall, shifted outdoors to the bronze monument entitled “From Boots to Books,” and concluded with a flag-lowering ceremony at the flag plaza. Incidentally, the monument was unveiled in June, 2010.

The guest speaker was Michael G. Reagan, a Vietnam veteran and local artist who has drawn portraits of ~3800 fallen military men and women as part of his Fallen Heroes Project. Please see my post of 19 November 2011 (find it in the Archives in the left-hand column) and his website, http://www.fallenheroesproject.org. Reagan has helped raise more than $10 million for a long list of charities.

Leonard Martin, Guest of Honor, U.S. Army veteran of WW II

Leonard Martin, Guest of Honor, U.S. Army veteran of WW II

 

The Guest of Honor at the ceremony was Leonard Martin (89) of Snohomish, WA. As a corporal in the 104th Infantry Division, “The Timberwolves,” U.S. Army, he landed at Utah Beach in Normandy, in September, 1944. They fought their way up to Holland, and he was captured on 31 October 1944. He spent the next six months as a POW in a German camp. He was liberated on 13 April, and V-E Day came on 8 May 1945.

Dr. Jean Hernandez, President, Edmonds Community College

Dr. Jean Hernandez, President, Edmonds Community College

Another featured speaker was Dr. Jean Hernandez, president of ECC since January, 2011. How different is that from 1967-69! That’s when, as a Vietnam veteran, I was an Assistant Professor of Naval Science at the University of Washington, teaching NROTC on campus. The UW president would never have spoken at one of our memorial ceremonies. This was the time of violent campus protests about the Vietnam War. In fact, on 18 September 1968, I came to work and found that Clark Hall had been the target of an arson fire–someone had attempted to burn down the NROTC building! The fire did about $100,000 in damage.

So, thanks to Dr. Hernandez and others, there is a Veterans Resource Center and a veterans monument at ECC, and on this 21 May, she spoke eloquently about Memorial Day. I hope this ceremony is an annual event.

Photos are courtesy of the Veterans Resource Center at ECC. Some were taken by Todd Clayton and others by Susie Beresford. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

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Pacific Little League Day Ceremony Opens with “To the Color”

Posted by glennled on June 7, 2014

For the third consecutive year, I was privileged to sound the bugle call, “To the Color,” on Pacific Little League Day, 26 April, at Lynndale Park near Lynndale Elementary Schoool in Lynnwood. Boy Scout Troup 304 and Girl Scout Troup 42086 furnished the Color Guard. For more on the Pacific Little League (PLL), please see their website, http://www.pacificlittleleague.com. For more about similar, past ceremonies here, see my posts of 22 May 2012 and 26 May 2013:

Doug and Carol Sheldon

Doug and Carol Sheldon

Long-time leaders, Doug and Carol Sheldon, were honored at the ceremony. Doug is President of PLL, and Carol is PLL Day Chair. They are retiring from their service to the league after this baseball season.

Photos are courtesy of PLL. Unless otherwise marked, photos were taken by Marc Bryce, Designer Portrait Studio, http://www.thedesignerportraitstudio.com. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

 

 

 

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Another Little Milestone–100 “Taps”

Posted by glennled on June 4, 2014

VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard, Acacia Cemetery, Seattle

VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard, Acacia Cemetery, Seattle

On 15 April, our federal income taxes came due. Yes, I made the deadline that afternoon, but only in the morning after I’d played “Taps” for the 100th time. Yes, I realize other buglers have sounded this call literally thousands of times, but I’m very glad to have done my little part for our veterans as bugler for VFW Post 1040 of Lynnwood.

On this occasion, the Post’s Honor Guard performed the flag ceremony with the Washington Army National Guard at Acacia Cemetery in Lake City as part of WAARNG’s Veterans Memorial Tribute Program (for more information on VMTP, please see my post of 5 January 2012). Jointly, we do this ceremony at Acacia, Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery in Seattle, and Edmonds Cemetery every month.

Posted in Ceremonies & Celebrations, Status, Milestones, Summaries | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Three Bugle Calls at Memorial Day Ceremony, Veterans Park, Lynnwood

Posted by glennled on June 1, 2013

286 flags to honor the Washingtonians who died in the Irag War

286 flags to honor the Washingtonians who died in the Irag War

Of course it rained in Lynnwood on Memorial Day! That’s because there was an outdoor ceremony being performed at Veterans Park to honor our nation’s war dead. It always rains then–it’s traditional. But some 250 people didn’t care and came anyway, God bless ’em!

Glenn Ledbetter sounds "Echo Taps"

Glenn Ledbetter sounds “Echo Taps”

And as Bugler of VFW Post 1040, I had the privilege to sound three bugle calls—first, “Assembly,” to catch the crowd’s attention and cue the Northwest Jr. Pipe Band to commence the ceremony; then “Echo Taps” to close the ceremony; and finally, “To the Color” when honors were rendered as the American flag was hoisted to full mast at noon, according to custom and protocol.

 

Boy Scouts Troop 49 of Lynnwood placed flags in the park and distributed the programs. Garret Lloyd King sang three songs, and VFW Post Piper Ray Colby played “God Bless America” on the bagpipes. The Northwest Jr. Pipe Band played “Green Hills,” “Battles Ore,” and “Amazing Grace.” The “echo” part of “Taps” was sounded by Josiah Chupik, lead trumpeter of the Woodinville High School Bands and a former trumpet student of mine. And the three-volley rifle salute by the VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard was perfect.

 

Please click on any photo to enlarge it. For more information, please see:

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“To the Color” for Pacific Little League Day in Lynnwood

Posted by glennled on May 26, 2013

Glenn Ledbetter, VFW Post 1040 Bugler, sounds "To the Color." Photo by Carol Sheldon.

Glenn Ledbetter, VFW Post 1040 Bugler, sounds “To the Color.” Photo by Carol Sheldon.

More than 20,000 boys and girls have played baseball and softball in the Pacific Little League since it was founded 48 years ago in 1965, and for the last two, I’ve had the privilege of sounding the bugle call, “To the Color,” on the annual PLL Day–this year on 27 April at Lynndale Park in Lynnwood. More than 800 boys and girls, ages 5-18, from Lynnnwood and Edmonds now participate.

For more information about PLL and this annual event, please see www.pacificlittleleague.com and my post dated 22 May 2012, in this blog (archives, left column).

Please click on any photo englarge it. Two were taken by Carol Sheldon (as marked), and Designer Portrait Studio took all the other photos (see  www.thedesignerportraitstudio.com).

Posted in Ceremonies & Celebrations | Tagged: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

“Taps” for WWII Navy Veteran at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent

Posted by glennled on February 5, 2013

Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent, WA, view of Mt. Rainier

Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent, WA, view of Mt. Rainier

As of now, I have played “Taps” 50 times at various veterans’ memorials and funerals in the Greater Seattle area. The latest veteran so honored was Richard Louis Larson (1927-2013), whose cremated remains were inurned at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent on 2 February.

A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, Richard was renown for his life-long, kind service of others. After he heard me sound “Taps” at a Veterans Day ceremony, he told me he had been a bugler aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Shangri-La (CV-38), where he served from 1945-48 while I was a boy in Texas. According to his memorial service program, Richard saw the first jet airplanes launch from and land on a carrier deck. When that ship crossed the equator, he entered King Neptune’s Realm and

USS Shangri-La (CV-38) underway in the Pacific, crew paraded on flight deck, 17 August 1945, just after V-J Day. U.S. Navy photo.

USS Shangri-La (CV-38) underway in the Pacific, crew paraded on flight deck, 17 August 1946, almost exactly one year after V-J Day. U.S. Navy photo.

was transformed through an old Navy tradition from a pollywood to a shellback. I later learned from Brian Seguin, a fellow VFW and American Legion member with Richard, that in 1946, he participated in Operations Crossroads, during which atomic bombs were tested at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. In September 2011, Brian escorted Richard on his Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. (see www.honorflight.org).  That’s when Brian learned that Richard carried a small Bible, given to him by his parents when he entered the Navy at age ~17.

Richard also was a talented poet and musician. He played cornet, trombone, baritone, and drums in Salvation Army bands. For 35 years, his father had been a chaplain for the Salvation Army men’s service department for alcoholics, helping men rebuild their lives. Richard met Lillian at a Salvation Army camp, and they were married 62 years. Richard often volunteered for the Salvation Army’s Emergency Canteens. And he loved to attend Salvation Army band concerts (see my blog post of 3 June 2012).

He had many more laudable qualities and accomplishments than I have mentioned here—he was special, a man of deep Christian faith and practice, a servant of others. It is blessing to me to sound “Taps” for such men.

Please click on either photo to enlarge it.

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