FROM TRIBUTE TO TRADITION: Annual Taps Across America event slated for Monday

Gil Pound, The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga.
·2 min read

May 26—The local Memorial Day Taps Across America tribute is scheduled to return for a fifth year Monday at 3 p.m. at Duke's Lounge & Dawg House on Sinclair Marina Road.

By land or by lake, the public is invited to attend the short, stirring ceremony where Taps will be played in conjunction with thousands of locations across the country as America remembers its military heroes who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Taps Across America debuted in 2020 when CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman teamed up with retired U.S. Air Force bugler Jari Villanueva in his "On the Road" segment. The two men invited buglers and musicians to sound Taps, which is traditionally played during military funerals, at the same time on Memorial Day that year. The tribute was meant to be a stand-in for large holiday events canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the world at the time.

After watching the CBS News piece the Friday before Memorial Day 2020, local resident Larry Edwards quickly organized a Taps Across America effort for this area. He knew his neighbor, retired Army Col. Larry McClendon, a bugler, could play the somber tune. Edwards also reached out to his friends at lakeside watering hole Duke's Lounge & Dawg House to see if the eatery would be interested in serving as the venue. They said yes, and Lake Sinclair's own Taps tribute has stuck around to become a tradition for those who want to pay their respects to the country's fallen.

"We had a huge flotilla of boats out in the cove there and a lot of people," Edwards said in recalling that first year. "Many people that have military backgrounds asked me to continue it. Here we are five years later."

Co-organizer Julian Hood will give the welcome Monday before Edwards shares a history of Memorial Day. A moment of silence follows before McClendon, a veteran of Desert Storm and Desert Shield, plays the 24 notes that comprise the Taps bugle call.

"It's quite a moving event," Edwards said. "Everybody's quiet both there at Duke's and out on the boats. It's a solemn reminder about those who gave everything for our freedom."

The local Taps Across America observance is one of about 5,000 across the country, Edwards added. There are a couple dozen taking place in Georgia with the closest occurring in north Macon and Madison, according to the Taps Across America website.

Duke's Lounge & Dawg House is located at 162 Sinclair Marina Road NE.