Taps and Tears
By John Anderson, East Sierra Branch
If you are old enough, you have probably attended a memorial service of a veteran. I have personally attended my father’s and those of four brothers, not to mention many friends. In every service there was a military presence that included the playing of “Taps” and uniformed service members who present the burial flag to the appropriate family member.
Captain John Francis Tidball, West Point Class of 1848, started the custom of playing “Taps” at military funerals. In early July 1862 at Harrison’s Landing, a corporal of Tidball’s Battery A, 2nd U. S. Artillery, had died and the first “Taps” was played at his service
In every instance the playing of “Taps” on the bugle brought tears to my eyes. Something about the lonely, haunting sound of that bugle would bring up strong emotions in my chest that moved upward to squeeze tears from my eyes.
While writing the stories of our veterans and volunteers, I have come to realize the great sacrifices that the veterans endured, and the emotional trauma the families and close friends and communities they hailed from suffered through. We as a nation must continue to honor and respect and not forget them.
Poet and dramatist John Anderson has recently taken on a new role,
that of spearheading the East Sierra Branch’s new collection
of stories and reminiscences of area veterans, WWI through Desert Storm.