Day is done . . . gone the sun . . . from the lakes, from the hills, from the sky.  All is well.  Safely rest.  God is nigh.

It’s a beautiful melody, a haunting melody often played by a single trumpet or bugle and often played at the saddest of times to honor one who served their country.  Many of you may not recognize the words, but if you heard the melody to which they are set, you would have no doubt as to the song you were hearing.  Since 1891, the sounding of Taps has been included in most military burials.  Composed or adapted (there is still a question as to whether the tune was original or a variation of an earlier song) by Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, it was used to signal lights out for the first time in July of 1862.  Within months, both the Union and Confederate troops had adopted the melody as their own.

Its first use as a funeral rite came of necessity rather than intention.  Not long after Butterfield wrote the call, Captain John Francis Tidball used it to honor a fallen member of his Battery A of the 2 ^nd U.S. Artillery.  The corporal, whom Tidball declared to be “a most excellent man”, would normally have had shots fired across his grave three times; however, the battery’s advanced position, buried deep in the woods during the Peninsula Campaign, required more discretion than three volleys would allow.  So it came to Tidball that the playing of the bugle call intended to signal lights out would be a fitting tribute to his fallen soldier.  And thus began the tradition that is still practiced today.

If you’ve never been present when Taps is played at the end of a funeral service, there is no way to adequately describe the experience.  It’s as though the world grows quiet and for that brief instant, the only sound heard is the haunting strains of the soldier’s last call.  It may be the military’s way of honoring their service, but for those in attendance it brings to mind the sacrifices that were made for something greater than self.

This past Saturday was Veterans Day, a day set aside to honor those who have honorably served in our armed forces.  The majority of them returned home, but not always unscathed.  There may have been experiences that changed them forever—experiences that led to a very different person returning—which then led to adjustments on the parts of their families and friends.  Those adjustments were not always easy and, sometimes, not always possible.  Since our country’s beginnings, well over 50,000,000 men and women have served.  Of those, over half served during times of war—and over 1,000,000 of them did not return alive.  Some did not return at all.

We owe these men and women and their families a debt of gratitude that we will never be able to repay.  It’s a debt we should always honor, not just once a year . . . and not just over their graves.

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