Memorial Day is a time for remembering. Cemeteries are fi lled with people who want to visit sites where their loved ones are buried and just spend a little time with them. It is a time that we remember the horrors of war also. The following is a story that I had never heard or read about before. It was sent via e-mail from Gwen Phillips, a daughter of Nancy Poteet, to Nancy, to Wanda Fryer to Wanda Garrett and many others. I had not read about or heard the story before and I was touched by it.

It is the story behind the haunting melody “Taps” that is played at every funeral service of military personnel, at Memorial Day services and on many other occasions. If any of you have ever been to a military funeral at which “Taps” was played; this will bring out the meaning of it.

Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison’s Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the fi eld. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfi re, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment.

When the Captain fi nally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.

The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy stature. His request was only partially granted. They refused because he was a Confederate soldier but they did say they could give him only one musician. The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth’s uniform.

On the paper the Captain found on his son were written three verses. Here are the words to the first verse that a lot of people are familiar with. “Day is done. Gone the sun. From the lakes. From the hills. From the sky. All is well. Safely rest. God is nigh.”

This haunting melody, we now know as “Taps” was used at the funeral of his son.

It is used now at all military funerals and this is the story of how this melody was born.