Taps at the Shrine is an opportunity to provide a moment of reflection and remembrance, for the service and sacrifice of those lost in service to our State and Nation. Buglers volunteer their ability & time, visiting the Shrine at a scheduled date (Friday’s and Saturday’s), playing Taps at 3PM.
The brief event is without fanfare, directing all attention to the purpose - reflection and remembrance; the bugler arrives silently without introduction, and departs without notice at the conclusion. Scheduling is based on volunteer availability.
Join staff and volunteers at the Pennsylvania Military Museum for a moment of remembrance & tribute through the playing of Taps at the 28th Division Shrine. A lone bugler will be positioned at one of the parapets of the Shrine this solemn melody.
This week, John Baker of Hagerstown, MD will be the bugler for the Pennsylvania Military Museum. A native of Hagerstown, MD but having deep roots going back to Bavarian immigrants to 1750s western Pennsylvania, John Baker began studying trumpet in seventh grade. In high school he was often recruited by his WWII veteran grandfather to sound Taps for may American Legion and VFW ceremonies, especially Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
A 1965 graduate of DuVal High School in Lanham, MD, he went on to study Music Education and Trumpet Performance at the University of Maryland, College Park, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance. He joined the US Army Field Band, retiring after 27 years of musical tours of the US and many foreign countries. Since retiring from the Army, John has been an active freelance player and substitute teacher in Howard County Maryland public schools, as well as teaching private trumpet lessons.
In his retirement, one of John’s passions is to sound Taps to honor his veteran father and grandfathers, as well as the many veterans who also served or gave the full measure of devotion in service for the honor of our great country.
John sounds Taps today on a bugle of his own design and manufacture.