KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Band members joined with the Veterans Heritage Site Foundation on Monday for a national moment of remembrance, named "Taps Across America."
It's an effort to have buglers and communities across the U.S. take a moment at the same time on Memorial Day to honor servicemembers who died. At 3 p.m. local time, band members who played with South High School in 1965 sounded the solemn bugle, Taps.
It consists of 24 notes. Taps are played at funerals, wreath-laying ceremonies and memorial services. The sounds started as a signal to "extinguish lights," or to signal infantries that the day was over.
The bugle used today was created by Major General Daniel Adams Butterfield with the help of Oliver Willcox Norton, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as a way to honor his men after the Seven Days' battles during the Civil War.
The earliest reference to the mandatory use of Taps at military funeral ceremonies was in 1891, but the department said that the 24 notes had been used unofficially before then. It was used under its formal designation, "Extinguish Lights," according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
There was a short ceremony just before Taps sounded at 3 p.m., which included a flyover by a Knox County Sheriff's Office helicopter. It was at the corner of Island Home Boulevard and Maplewood Drive.
