This Saturday, 200 buglers will assemble at Arlington National Cemetery to begin playing “Taps,” a call written 150 years ago this year.
Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Jari Villanueva, a bugle player, says he started out as a Boy Scout bugler at about age 12. He went on to study trumpet at the Peabody Conservatory before being accepted into the United States Air Force Band ”” where one of his duties over the next 23 years was to sound that call at Arlington National Cemetery.
The audio on this is fantastic and not to be missed (7 1/3 minutes).
Update: you can find a picture of Master Sgt. Jari Villanueva there.
Jari has also organized commemorative events at Harrison’s Landing on the James River, where Taps originated. Considering the violence of the Seven Days Campaign, one wonders if the change of calls during this rest period took a special significance on the psyche of both armies as they waited for their next campaigns.