I have a digital watch that is very accurate. A few minutes before 3 pm yesterday, I stepped out onto our front porch with my trumpet. Precisely at 3 pm, I played taps from the front porch. After the final tones faded, I listened carefully. I could hear no others playing taps. I checked with my sister, who is house sitting in Bellingham, a city with a larger population than our small community. She went outside at 3 pm, but did not hear anyone playing taps.

The National Moment of Remembrance is an annual event that has occurred since 2000. The first occurrence was in May of 2000 on Memorial Day, but the event was moved to Veteran’s Day and put into law by the United States Congress in December 2000. The Taps Across America debuted in 2020. With many picnics, parades and other Veterans Day observances cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, retired Air Force bugler Jari Villanueva invited buglers and musicians to sound Taps from their front porches all at the same time. The result was a wave of taps with more than 10,000 musicians joining, each at 3 pm in their own time zone.

I missed that first musical tribute. Last year, on Veteran’s Day, I walked over to a county park that used to be an Air Force radar station. At 3 pm, I played taps, listening to the tones echo off of the tower that once was the base of a large radar array. Many of the buildings on the base are empty and the streets also were empty, making it a good place for remembrances. As I played, I wore a cap of the HMAS Sydney (FFG-03) of the Royal Australian Navy. The cap was given by me by a veteran of the Australian Navy who has struggled for years with post traumatic stress illness. I wanted to pay tribute to those who have served and suffered illnesses that are often unseen or unnoticed as a result of their service. I wanted to remember the suffering and sacrifice of family members who support those people.

This year, as I stood on my front porch and played, I was thinking of a dear friend and veteran at whose funeral I played taps during the summer. She was an incredible human being who became a friend as soon as I met her. Her courage and vision inspired me. I will think of her and miss her for the rest of my life.

I often call Veteran’s Day “Armistice Day” in the old tradition that was in place between World War I and World War II. The armistice ending World War I was signed in France at 11 am on the 11th day of the 11th month of the year. On that day, in 1918, after more than four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives, the guns on the Western Front fell silent. It was a moment of peace and observing a day of peace in remembrance seems like an appropriate response. My first experiences with playing taps came from the funerals of veterans of World War 1. I’ve played for Veterans of WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War.

Part of the reason I play my horn as part of Taps Across America is that I like the idea of being a part of something bigger than myself. Although I couldn’t hear any of the other musicians, I can imagine myself to be a part of the 10,000 who played. Actually, we don’t know how many play each year, only the number of those who register. I suspect that there are a lot more who, like me, simply play and don’t bother with going to a web site and adding our names to the list.

There is another, deeper reason that I play. Over the years of my life since I first was recruited as a high school student to be a bugler for a ceremony conducted by veterans, I have been aware of the depth of grief that this world carries over the tragedies of war. For every veteran who is honored and laid to rest with due ceremony, there are countless other victims of war, both civilian and military, who died. They were loved by family members. They are missed by those who loved them. The weight of the collective grief of millions of people over the span of human history is overwhelming.

The haunting sound of four pitches sounded on a brass horn played in a precise pattern of a specific bugle call to signal the end of the day has become a symbol of grief. I have seen the real tears of real people when I play. I have played through my own tears on many occasions.

Grief is a constant companion for those who love. We cannot escape it. But there is something incredible that occurs when we choose to express it. When we express our grief, it becomes real outside of our minds and bodies. It is no longer something that is “just inside our head.”When we express our grief, we discover that we are not alone. Others share our grief and the burden is somehow less when the isolation is removed. When we express our grief, we decrease the fear that our loved one will be forgotten. Often in polite society, people are afraid to speak of one who has died, but those who grieve do not want to forget. Speaking the names and remembering the unique individuals that we miss is one of the many ways that they continue to live on through our lives.

So I will continue to play taps. I’ll play whenever I am asked and whenever I can. I’ll mention that a live burglar is available whenever I hear plans of using a recording of the song. And, on the 11th day of the 11th month at 3 pm, I’ll step out onto my porch wherever I am and sound the call. Maybe one day, I’ll hear others playing as well.