Bill Gentry, "19" --This
song is a great tribute to all of our military,
especially Pat Tillman who the song is dedicated to.
Patrick
Daniel "Pat" Tillman (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004) was
an American football player who left his professional sports
career and enlisted in the United States Army in May 2002 in
the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He joined the
United States Army Rangers and served multiple tours in
combat before he was killed by friendly fire in the
mountains of Afghanistan.
Michael Peterson performs "You Could Hear a Pin Drop"
The Wounded Warrior
Project
Trace Adkins and the West Point Cadet Glee Club.
Trace Adkins sings "Till the Last
Shot's Fired" with the West Point Cadet Glee Club
I See America (Sandy
Riggers who wrote, and sings this song, plus produced
the video is from Idaho)
Remember Me
Return to Makin
Island
"Arms of an Angel"
Taps
Of all the
military bugle calls, none is so easily
recognized or more apt to render emotion than
the call Taps. The melody is both eloquent and
haunting and the history of its origin is
interesting and somewhat clouded in controversy.
In the British Army, a similar call known as
Last Post has been sounded over soldiers' graves
since 1885, but the use of Taps is unique with
the United States military, since the call is
sounded at funerals, wreath-laying and memorial
services.
Taps began
as a revision to the signal for Extinguish
Lights (Lights Out) at the end of the day. Up
until the Civil War, the infantry call for
Extinguish Lights was the one set down in Silas
Casey's (1801-1882) Tactics, which had been
borrowed from the French. The music for Taps was
adapted by Union General
Daniel Butterfield for his brigade (Third
Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army
of the Potomac) in July, 1862.
As the story
goes, General Butterfield was not
pleased with the call for Extinguish
Lights feeling that the call was too
formal to signal the days end and
with the help of the brigade bugler,
Oliver Willcox Norton, wrote Taps to
honor his men while in camp at
Harrison's Landing, Virginia,
following the Seven Day's battle.
These battles took place during the
Peninsular Campaign of 1862. The
call, sounded that night in July,
1862, soon spread to other units of
the Union Army and was even used by
the Confederates. Taps was made an
official bugle call after the war.
As soon as Taps
was sounded that night in July 1862,
words were put with the music. The
first were, "Go To Sleep, Go to
Sleep." As the years went on many
more versions were created. There
are no official words to the music
but here are some of the more
popular verses:
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
Go to sleep,
peaceful sleep,
May the soldier or sailor,
God keep.
On the land or the deep,
Safe in sleep.
Love, good night,
Must thou go,
When the day, And the night
Need thee so?
All is well. Speedeth all
To their rest.
Fades the light;
And afar
Goeth day, And the stars
Shineth bright,
Fare thee well; Day has gone,
Night is on.
Thanks and
praise, For our days,
'Neath the sun, Neath the stars,
'Neath the sky,
As we go, This we know,
God is nigh
"Lord of our
lives, our hope in death, we cannot listen
to Taps without our souls
stirring. Its plaintive notes are a prayer
in music--of hope, of peace, of grief, of
rest... Prepare us too, Lord, for our final
bugle call when you summon us home!
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and
death will be no more."
--From the
invocation delivered by Chaplain (Colonel)
Edward Brogan (USAF, Ret.) at the Taps
Exhibit Opening Ceremony at Arlington
National Cemetery, 28 May 1999
Definition
of a Veteran
A Veteran - whether active duty,
retired, national guard or reserve - is
someone who, at one point in his life,
wrote a blank check made payable to "The
United States of America", for an amount
of "up to and including my life."
That is honor, and there are way too
many people in this country who no
longer understand it.
Definition
of a Veteran