Posted on 05/23/2006 4:08:27 PM PDT by SandRat
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq (Army News Service, May 22, 2006) – A lone Soldier stands off to the side at a memorial service unnoticed. When the end nears and volleys are fired, the Soldier steps forward, raises a trumpet to his lips and solemnly blares “Taps," the 24-note final tribute to departed service members.
For more than a century, Taps has added closure to military funerals and memorial services attended by grieving families and friends.
In Iraq, the 4th Infantry Division Band’s six trumpeters alternate playing Taps at memorial services throughout the Multi-National Division – Baghdad area of operations.
Each musician agrees “it’s an honor, but never gets any easier,” said Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Ledoux, NCOIC of the band’s horn section.
Sgt. Chris Williams first played Taps at the funeral of his older brother, Cory, a former Marine. It was in 1999, the same year Chris graduated from Oakridge High School in Orlando, Fla.
“I knew if anybody was going to play Taps at (my brother’s) funeral, it was going to be me,” said the 24-year-old.
At every memorial service he performs, Williams is reminded of his brother’s death. He prefers to know nothing of the deceased Soldier – not even the name – but performs with haunting perfection.
Spc. Dennis Kerr is Williams' opposite. He saves the programs for each memorial service at which he performs, learning as much as he can about the Soldier being remembered.
“It is more meaningful and more real (in Iraq) because you are in the same place as they are,” said Kerr, 22.
Playing the musical salute in Iraq is admittedly “outside the comfort zone” of many of the trumpet players, said Ledoux.
“The (deceased) Soldiers are our age or younger,” he pointed out, whereas back home at Fort Hood, Texas, the trumpet players most often performed at services for older, retired servicemembers.
“It is kind of nice to hear about all of the things the deceased accomplished in their lives,” said Ledoux, a 17-year veteran of the band. “But here it’s different, when you hear that the Soldier left a spouse and two little kids and parents behind, and you see grown men and women crying as hard as they do.”
Chaplain David Montgomery, 4th Inf. Div., visits the trumpet players when they return from memorial services.
“What I usually try to convey and share with them is that what they do with Taps is probably the single most important thing during the ceremony,” said Montgomery. “It ties all the loose ends together. It is the moment when you realize you have a fallen comrade.”
Beyond the emotional burden, the buglers face the same dangers as their fellow Soldiers when they convoy to memorial services throughout Iraq. More than once, they’ve come under fire.
It is “real important for us to support memorial services,” said 1st Sgt. Chris Lopez, “(but) I worry about them every time they go out that gate.”
For now, the trumpeters’ job goes on with tragic regularity in the war zone.
“We always pray for a slow week … and for God to guide us,” said Ledoux.
(Editor’s note: Sgt. 1st Class Mary Mott writes for the 363rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)
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