66-Year-Old Teaches Himself to Play the Trumpet to Play Taps for Fallen Soldiers
Sonny Joy Nelson
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A 66-year-old man found a new way to honor those who lose their lives fighting for our country.
Gary Marquardt from Minnesota who is now almost 70, “started playing the trumpet after attending a military funeral, where he heard Taps played on a recording instead of live,” according to Liftable.
Feeling that a simple recording of the military song to commemorate fallen soldiers did not do justice for the funeral, Marquardt decided to help make sure these heroes got the funeral they deserved. Marquardt walks around a local cemetery every day looking for headstones with a flag so he can honor the soldiers.
“I love to hear Taps echo through the cemetery. I’m doing something for these guys. It’s kind of like being among friends,” he said in an interview with KARE 11. The news source that Marquardt visits the cemetery every day to pay homage to military men and women who lost their lives.
Marquardt says the soldiers name, plays Taps, and leaves a penny on the headstone. The penny is meant to be a “symbol of the pittance of his service compared to theirs.” He also volunteers with Bugles Across America around 100 times a year to play Taps at military funerals.
“I don’t play perfect every time – I really try to, but I’m there representing all of us and it comes from the heart,” he said.
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