“Honoring Those Who Served”
We love our Veterans and do our best to make ourselves available to honor them by sounding Taps at their internments.
Overseen by the Department of Defense (DOD) the Military Funeral Honors Program establishes procedures for requesting and rendering military funeral honors. By law, an honor guard detail for the burial of an eligible veteran shall consist of at least two members of the armed forces. One member of the detail shall be a representative of the veteran’s service branch.
The honor detail will, at a minimum, perform a ceremony that includes the playing of Taps and the folding and presentation of the American flag to the next of kin. Taps will be played by a bugler, if available, or by a ceremonial bugle.
The ceremonial bugle is a horn that has a speaker in the bell which will play TAPS when a button is pressed. It is used extensively as it is impossible for the military to provide musicians or train our service men and women to play an instrument, so this ensures our Veterans are honored with a great version of Taps.
It is important to us that our Veterans are honored by a live musician and not a recording. In working with many Honor Guards across the state, I have learned that they too, appreciate the services of volunteer buglers. It not only frees up a serviceman to participate in the flag ceremony, but it eliminates the feeling of “imposter syndrome” that many feel when holding the ceremonial bugle.
When a Veteran passes, your first step is to speak to your funeral director and let them know your loved one is a Veteran and which branch they belonged to. They will reach out to local Honor Guards and organize their participation in your loved one’s funeral.
If having a live bugler is important to you, be sure to tell them so they can let the Honor Guard know. There are some reliable volunteers and organizations who’ve made it their mission to be available on short notice for services. So between the Funeral Director and the Honor Guard, they should have you covered.
If you learn that a live bugler is not available, and your service is on the North Shore, drop us a note here and we will get in touch with you to work out the arrangements.
We are also available to sound Taps for Memorial Day, 9/11, Armistice Day and other Veteran’s Events.
You can learn more Military Honors here: