MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The rendering of "Taps" at a military funeral is a final way for family members and service members to pay tribute to fallen veterans, but what happens when the bugle or trumpet used to render the 24-note tune malfunctions?
During a recent funeral, a member of the local veterans' color guard team was using a Ceremonial Bugle to perform "Taps" when the electronic device inserted in the instrument malfunctioned, and when that device failed to properly play, one Airman from the West Virginia Air National Guard's 167th Airlift Wing stepped in.
In September 2003, the Department of Defense approved use of the bugle device which allows a member of the military honor guard to "symbolically" play Taps when a live bugler is not available.
"Taps was to sound while we were holding the American flag over the casket, but there was just silence," said Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Todd Kirkwood, the 167th avionics supervisor. Kirkwood was augmenting a funeral color guard for a veteran of three wars – World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War – when the bugle malfunctioned.
"We were just standing fast," Kirkwood said. "I heard the funeral director come from behind my shoulder and explain to the family that there was a technical difficulty and that we would not be able to offer ‘Taps' and he asked us to proceed with the flag fold."
At that time Kirkwood, and Senior Airman Ben Smith, stepped away from the casket with the American flag in their hands and proceeded to perform the 13 steps required to fold the colors so it could be presented to the family of the veteran.
"I took the flag and presented it to the family and when I [had] heard the words that we weren't going to offer Taps – obviously I didn't say anything – but I knew what I was going to do," he said.
As he prepared to exit the tent following the presentation of the American flag to one of the veteran's daughters, Kirkwood stopped in front of the funeral director and asked him to request that the family remain seated.
"We are going to offer this veteran Taps," Kirkwood remembers telling the director.
He then proceeded to march over to where the bugler was standing and requested the brass Ceremonial Bugle by respectfully asking that the electronic device be removed from the bugle. After removing the electronic device, the man offered Kirkwood the bugle without hesitation.
"I marched back into position and faced our fallen American hero and his family and sounded ‘Taps,'" Kirkwood said.
"I could see within the first two notes coming out of the horn the emotional reaction [from the family]," he said. "Some members of the family stood and placed their hands over [their] heart.
"As always after the final note of ‘Taps' we render the final salute," he said, after which he returned the bugle to the member of the veterans group and proceeded to march back into place alongside Senior Airman Smith.
He didn't get very far, he said. "The family intercepted me as I passed the tent and shook my hand and thanked me. I simply told them that that veteran deserved to have ‘Taps' sounded."
Prior to his impromptu rendering of Taps, Kirkwood had ironically only played the 24 notes a handful of times, a whole other story in itself, he said.
For the past decade Kirkwood had contemplated joining the Wing's Base Honor Guard, but he said, "It was just never the right time for me to join the team whether it was funding issues, training days or it was just a bad time for me personally – it just never worked out."
Eventually, Kirkwood did join the Wing's Base Honor Guard nearly a year ago, and also learned how to play "Taps".
Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Ron Glazer Sr. recruited Kirkwood and challenged him to learn how to play "Taps." Kirkwood is no stranger to the horn though. He learned how to play the trumpet in elementary school, and honed that skill throughout junior high.
He was able to learn the 24 notes that comprise "Taps" in only the past six months, an achievement that he is clearly proud of.
"That's going to be the last tangible memory that the family will have of their loved one and you don't want to mess it up," Kirkwood said. "You want to offer your best."
"It's a way of offering back to our fellow veterans," he said of being a member of the Honor Guard.
"Our mission is to honor with dignity and as I sat back [after the funeral that day] and reflected on that, that's what came to mind," Kirkwood said. "We certainly appreciate what our veterans' groups do."
"In the short time that I have been with the Honor Guard we have seen all kinds of things – it's a matter of what will go wrong, it's not a matter of if."
When such occasions arise, adapting and overcoming is the order of the day for Kirkwood and his fellow Airmen.
"I feel that the good Lord had me at the right place at the right time to be able to do the right thing for that veteran," Kirkwood said.