Taps for Veterans
Share
Contact us: [email protected] Sounded every day in Veterans cemeteries around the world — a haunting but distinctive American melody.
Connecting volunteer buglers with families and organizations across America, bringing those 24 notes of Taps to life—notes that speak of gratitude, service, and love of country. Only 24 notes — but whose clear, sad tones conjure up memories of loved ones lost, instill hope, and bring comfort and peace to the families and communities of those whom have served with honor. It’s the song that gives us a lump in our throats, and brings tears to our eyes…
Sadly, the legacy of Taps’ honorable performance is in jeopardy. TAPS FOR VETERANS provides an opportunity for buglers or trumpet players to sound Taps for military veteran’s funerals and ceremonies. With the military unable to provide live buglers for every military funeral and ceremony, TAPS FOR VETERANS is assisting to help provide that much needed service. TAPS FOR VETERANS is an organization led by former military musicians and active and retired military veterans who acutely understand the importance of properly sounding Taps, our “National Song of Remembrance” as a way of expressing the nation’s gratitude for a veteran’s service.
09/28/2026
The U.S. Marine Corps would be there to present the flag for Horace Tart. His family hoped a bugler could be there, too.
That was the note we received from the funeral director. She also told us another family had used Taps for Veterans and referred her to us. Someone remembered hearing Taps played live and wanted Horace’s family to have that same experience.
On Thursday afternoon, an invitation went out at 3:37. By 3:40, volunteer bugler Clayton Glover had claimed the mission.
I love that part of this story. One family passed along a recommendation. Another family asked for help. And Clayton answered - in less than 5 minutes!
Thank you, Clayton, for being there for Horace Tart and the people who loved him.
Serve the Family. Sound It Live.
24 Notes. One Final Promise.
Taps for Veterans
Taps For Veterans Community
Taps Across America
Before anyone arrived, the bugler walked quietly to the gravesite.
They looked at where the family would sit.
Where the honor guard would stand.
Which direction the wind was moving.
And where those 24 notes would carry best.
There was no audience yet. No ceremony. No one watching them prepare.
They had never met the veteran whose name was on the marker.
They didn’t know where he had served, what stories he told, what sacrifices he made, or who would soon be sitting in those chairs.
But for the next hour, none of that changed their responsibility.
Someone had served our country.
A family was coming to say goodbye.
And when the moment came, they had one job: to be ready.
Horn polished. Music prepared. Suit squared away. Mind focused.
Because sometimes honoring someone begins long before the first note is sounded — in the quiet preparation no one else ever sees.
Honor the Veteran. Everything begins there.
Taps for Veterans
Taps Across America
Taps For Veterans Community
09/26/2026
For 67 years, Joe Edwards has been sounding Taps.
Think of the families he has stood beside and the veterans he has helped honor, one sounding at a time. Today, we’re grateful to welcome Joe to Taps for Veterans.
Joe spent 33 years teaching band in North Carolina schools. He still plays trumpet in his church orchestra, volunteers at the Averasboro Battlefield Museum, and keeps things running as a scoreboard operator for Campbell University volleyball and baseball.
Music, teaching, service, community—it’s all part of who Joe is. And after 67 years, he is still willing to stand and sound those 24 notes for a veteran and their family.
Please join us in welcoming Joe Edwards. Joe, thank you for the years you have given to this tradition and for carrying it forward with us. 🎺
Taps for Veterans
Taps Across America
Taps For Veterans Community
09/25/2026
Not every meaningful thing you do comes with an audience.
Sometimes it’s a musician who says yes when a family needs a bugler. A volunteer who makes time after work. Someone who quietly shows up, stands with a family, and gives those final 24 notes the care they deserve.
That moment may last less than a minute. But for the people gathered there, it can stay with them for a lifetime.
As this week comes to a close, think about what your time and talent could mean to someone you may never meet again. If you play trumpet, cornet, or bugle, Taps for Veterans would be glad to help you learn how to serve families in your community.
And if you know someone who plays, please pass this along. One conversation can help a musician find a way to serve.
The notes are few. The promise behind them is not.
Learn more at tapsforveterans.org
Taps Across America
Taps For Veterans Community
09/24/2026
🎺 One day, you’ll be glad you said, “I did.”
We know how much a few minutes of your time can mean to a family saying goodbye. When a live bugler stands nearby and sounds those 24 notes, there’s a person behind every breath—and a moment of honor the family can carry with them.
If you play trumpet, cornet, or bugle, would you consider sharing your music with a veteran and their family? Taps for Veterans connects qualified volunteer buglers with families and communities who request a live sounding of Taps, at no cost.
You don’t have to wonder later whether you could have helped. You can step forward now.
Link 🔗 in the comments below 👇
Taps for Veterans
Taps Across America
Taps For Veterans Community
09/23/2026
The bugler may stand at a distance, but never outside the moment.
Senior Airman Sally Tepper, a trumpet player with the United States Air Force Academy Band, passed away on September 2, 2020. Before her passing, she shared a deeply moving reflection about sounding Taps at a veteran’s funeral.
She noticed everything—the long-overdue embraces, quiet smiles, flowers beside the grave, rising wind, folded flag, and a family’s distant cry. She also revealed the thoughts familiar to so many buglers: Breathe. Stay steady. Honor this life well.
“Please let it bring you peace, and let it be what you need right now,” she wrote.
Her words remind us that sounding Taps is never simply a performance. It is an act of presence, gratitude, and service. The bugler may continue with the rest of the day, but the sacred moment—and the people gathered within it—remain.
Rest in peace, Senior Airman Sally Tepper. Your music, your service, and your words continue to speak.
Taps for Veterans
Taps Across America 🇺🇸
Taps For Veterans Community
09/22/2026
Before the first note of Taps, silence speaks.
For a few brief moments, the world seems to become still.
A family waits. An honor guard stands at attention. A flag rests nearby. And the bugler takes a quiet breath, knowing the next 24 notes will carry what words cannot.
That silence is not empty. It holds a lifetime of service, the gratitude of a nation, and the memories of those who loved the veteran standing at the center of it all.
Then Taps begins.
Each note enters the stillness with purpose—offered not as a performance, but as a final act of gratitude from one human being to another.
And when the last note fades, the silence returns.
But it is no longer the same.
24 Notes. One Final Promise.
Taps for Veterans
Taps Across America
Taps For Veterans Community
09/21/2026
🎺 Your Music Can Become a Final Act of Gratitude
Do you play the trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, or bugle?
Across the country, families are searching for qualified musicians to sound Taps at the funerals and memorial services of America’s veterans. Taps for Veterans connects volunteer buglers with these sacred missions—at no cost to the family.
You choose the missions that fit your location and availability. Whether you are a military musician, music educator, community-band member, student, or returning player, your 24 notes can offer something no family ever forgets: the dignity and human presence of a live farewell.
This is more than a performance.
Taps is a Mission of Honor.
If you can sound Taps with confidence, reverence, and respect, we invite you to stand with us.
24 Notes. One Final Promise.
Taps for Veterans
Taps Across America 🇺🇸
Taps For Veterans Community
09/20/2026
. Some weeks remind you why you began. This week reminded me who keeps the promise alive.
As I sit here reflecting, I am struck by the weight of these past several days. We marked the 25th anniversary of September 11—a day that forever changed our nation and called a generation to serve. We also observed National POW/MIA Recognition Day, renewing our solemn promise to remember those who never returned home and the families who still carry their absence.
These moments have brought the importance of our work into even sharper focus.
Every time a Taps for Veterans volunteer answers the call, stands beside a grieving family, and sounds those 24 notes, we help our nation keep its promise to remember. It may feel like a small part in a much larger story, but to that veteran’s family, it means everything.
To our leadership team, State Directors, coordinators, supporters, and every volunteer bugler across the country—thank you. Your time, heart, and quiet dedication make this mission possible. I am humbled beyond measure to serve beside you.
We still have a long road ahead, but we are making progress—together. And because you continue to answer the call, the promise of remembrance continues.
Mark Paradis | Executive Director | Taps for Veterans
24 Notes. One Final Promise. 🇺🇸🎺
Taps Across America 🇺🇸
Taps For Veterans Community
Taps Bugler
America’s Bugler
09/19/2026
The Tribute Begins Before the First Note
Before Taps is sounded, a live bugler has already begun to serve.
They prepare the instrument.
They learn the veteran’s name.
They coordinate with the honor guard.
They take their place and wait for the sacred moment entrusted to them.
Then comes the breath.
Twenty-four notes rise into the air—shaped in that moment, for that veteran, before that family. Each phrase carries gratitude. Each pause leaves room for remembrance. Each note becomes part of a farewell that will never be repeated in quite the same way.
That is the heart of live Taps: a musician accepting the responsibility of sounding our nation’s final musical tribute with dignity, preparation, and reverence.
Taps is a Mission of Honor.
Request a bugler, volunteer, or support the mission:
https://www.tapsforveterans.org
Taps for Veterans
Taps Across America 🇺🇸
Taps For Veterans Community
Click here to claim your Sponsored Listing.
Category
Telephone
Website
Address
124 Maiden Choice Lane
Baltimore, MD
21228