By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

WaKEENEY -- Mick Bollig considers himself a "citizen bugler" who is helping to keep alive a military tradition.

He teaches the bugle to Boy Scouts and performs several times a year where the brass instrument is a tradition. Among those are honor guards at veterans' funerals, military services and ceremonies honoring servicemen, law enforcement officers and firefighters.

Bollig, 51, Hays, is among the six musicians who will play "Taps" for the Armed Forces Day ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Kansas Veterans Cemetery in WaKeeney, but he's the only bugler. "Taps" was written during the Civil War to signal the end of the day.

Bugle players are in short supply in the area to play the solemn 24 notes of "Taps," said Heidi Goff, manager of the state veterans' cemetery at WaKeeney.

"The majority of people who do play live, play trumpets," she said.

Bollig joins trumpet players Adrian Sanabria, Lincoln, Neb.; Austin Sherwood, Hastings, Neb.; Gage Kepple, Ness City, and Jeff Young, Utica in the WaKeeney performance of Echo Taps Worldwide. The Rev. Randy Gibbs, WaKeeney, will play the bagpipes. Bollig will play an "Assembly Call" on a World War II horn (it resembles a French horn).

Other performances of Echo Taps Worldwide are planned Saturday at national cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries and American battle monument cemeteries overseas.

"It's a special way to honor our veterans for their service and many of them for giving their lives," Goff said.

A way to fake 'Taps'

The shortage of buglers or brass players has forced veterans associations to fake it by inserting an electronic device with a recording of "Taps" into a horn and then going through the motions of performing.

"Everybody went to that tape they have now. You can buy them," said Terry Watkins, Salina, a district American Legion commander and a member of the American Legion Post 62.

Use of the device is not announced, said Jack Gallagher, Salina, a retired Marine Corps veterans who organizes and takes part in local veterans events.

The song is "perfect" as it comes from the horn.

"You the relative, the spectator ... would not know this guy was not somebody standing there actually playing the horn," Gallagher said.

The bugler shortage is more evident in metropolitan areas where large numbers of veterans are dying, said Wendy Stein, band director at Salina's St. John's Military School. She has played either a bugle or a trumpet at five events this year. Some of her cadets also are available.

"I feel like it adds more dignity to have a live bugle," Stein said.

The Salina Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1432 at 1108 W. Crawford, once enjoyed the services of a bugle player, but he died six or seven years ago, said Dee Longbine. He heads the VFW funeral detail with firing squad members who are all in their 70s or 80s, and there aren't enough new members to carry on the tradition.

"The young people will not join. They don't want to do anything," Longbine said.

Nationwide, Wendy Stein speculates there is a decline in the number of youngsters participating in school music programs.

"I don't think that would be really evident in Salina. The band program seems to be pretty strong," she said.

Using a CD player

Congressional legislation stating it's OK to use a CD player to play "Taps" prompted the founding in 2000 of Bugles Across America by Tom Day, a bugle player near Chicago.

The group, with 5,700 registered bugler volunteers spread throughout the nation, states on its Web site that every veteran deserves "a live rendition of Taps played by a live bugler" at his or her funeral.

Today, Bugles Across America volunteers perform Taps at an average of 1,800 veteran funerals a month, Day said

He disputes whether there is a shortage. Registering on the Bugles Across America Web site -- www.buglesacrossamerica.org -- can match families and veterans organizations with buglers, he said. Registered musicians may play a traditional bugle with no valves, or they can perform the ceremony on a trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, or a 1-, 2- or 3-valved bugle.

Day's list includes players in Salina, Tampa, Waldo, Natoma, Minneapolis, McPherson and Lindsborg, just in north-central Kansas.

"Generally speaking we would probably turn up somebody, and they would call you. There are more than 100 buglers in Kansas alone," Day said.

Paying travel expenses, "would be nice, but it's not expected," he said, and in some states, the military pays horn players $50 a mission.

Playing in WaKeeney

Anyone interested in playing the bugle or trumpet in the Saturday events may call Goff in WaKeeney at (785) 743-5685.

There is no age limit to play, but a "run-through" is required to assure that the musician can perform "Taps," she said. Musicians are asked to report to the cemetery office at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Bugles are easier to play than a trumpet, Bollig said, and "Taps" is among many bugle calls that were used by the military to communicate before two-way radios.

They were "fairly simply songs put together to tell people something," Bollig said.

He teaches 11 bugle calls to Boy Scouts. Others include "First Call(what you hear at horse races)" and "Revelle (the wake-up call," "Officers Call," "Mess Call," "Swim Call" and "Church Call."

Taps has three verses of lyrics, which Bollig sometimes sings.

He demonstrates at nursing homes, grade schools and other groups.

"I always try to play anything but 'Taps,' " he said.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

Bollig, 51, Hays, is among the six musicians who will play "Taps" for the Armed Forces Day ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Kansas Veterans Cemetery in WaKeeney, but he's the only bugler. "Taps" was written during the Civil War to signal the end of the day.

Bugle players are in short supply in the area to play the solemn 24 notes of "Taps," said Heidi Goff, manager of the state veterans' cemetery at WaKeeney.

"The majority of people who do play live, play trumpets," she said.

Bollig joins trumpet players Adrian Sanabria, Lincoln, Neb.; Austin Sherwood, Hastings, Neb.; Gage Kepple, Ness City, and Jeff Young, Utica in the WaKeeney performance of Echo Taps Worldwide. The Rev. Randy Gibbs, WaKeeney, will play the bagpipes. Bollig will play an "Assembly Call" on a World War II horn (it resembles a French horn).

Other performances of Echo Taps Worldwide are planned Saturday at national cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries and American battle monument cemeteries overseas.

"It's a special way to honor our veterans for their service and many of them for giving their lives," Goff said.

A way to fake 'Taps'

The shortage of buglers or brass players has forced veterans associations to fake it by inserting an electronic device with a recording of "Taps" into a horn and then going through the motions of performing.

"Everybody went to that tape they have now. You can buy them," said Terry Watkins, Salina, a district American Legion commander and a member of the American Legion Post 62.

Use of the device is not announced, said Jack Gallagher, Salina, a retired Marine Corps veterans who organizes and takes part in local veterans events.

The song is "perfect" as it comes from the horn.

"You the relative, the spectator ... would not know this guy was not somebody standing there actually playing the horn," Gallagher said.

The bugler shortage is more evident in metropolitan areas where large numbers of veterans are dying, said Wendy Stein, band director at Salina's St. John's Military School. She has played either a bugle or a trumpet at five events this year. Some of her cadets also are available.

"I feel like it adds more dignity to have a live bugle," Stein said.

The Salina Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1432 at 1108 W. Crawford, once enjoyed the services of a bugle player, but he died six or seven years ago, said Dee Longbine. He heads the VFW funeral detail with firing squad members who are all in their 70s or 80s, and there aren't enough new members to carry on the tradition.

"The young people will not join. They don't want to do anything," Longbine said.

Nationwide, Wendy Stein speculates there is a decline in the number of youngsters participating in school music programs.

"I don't think that would be really evident in Salina. The band program seems to be pretty strong," she said.

Using a CD player

Congressional legislation stating it's OK to use a CD player to play "Taps" prompted the founding in 2000 of Bugles Across America by Tom Day, a bugle player near Chicago.

The group, with 5,700 registered bugler volunteers spread throughout the nation, states on its Web site that every veteran deserves "a live rendition of Taps played by a live bugler" at his or her funeral.

Today, Bugles Across America volunteers perform Taps at an average of 1,800 veteran funerals a month, Day said

He disputes whether there is a shortage. Registering on the Bugles Across America Web site -- www.buglesacrossamerica.org -- can match families and veterans organizations with buglers, he said. Registered musicians may play a traditional bugle with no valves, or they can perform the ceremony on a trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, or a 1-, 2- or 3-valved bugle.

Day's list includes players in Salina, Tampa, Waldo, Natoma, Minneapolis, McPherson and Lindsborg, just in north-central Kansas.

"Generally speaking we would probably turn up somebody, and they would call you. There are more than 100 buglers in Kansas alone," Day said.

Paying travel expenses, "would be nice, but it's not expected," he said, and in some states, the military pays horn players $50 a mission.

Playing in WaKeeney

Anyone interested in playing the bugle or trumpet in the Saturday events may call Goff in WaKeeney at (785) 743-5685.

There is no age limit to play, but a "run-through" is required to assure that the musician can perform "Taps," she said. Musicians are asked to report to the cemetery office at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Bugles are easier to play than a trumpet, Bollig said, and "Taps" is among many bugle calls that were used by the military to communicate before two-way radios.

They were "fairly simply songs put together to tell people something," Bollig said.

He teaches 11 bugle calls to Boy Scouts. Others include "First Call(what you hear at horse races)" and "Revelle (the wake-up call," "Officers Call," "Mess Call," "Swim Call" and "Church Call."

Taps has three verses of lyrics, which Bollig sometimes sings.

He demonstrates at nursing homes, grade schools and other groups.

"I always try to play anything but 'Taps,' " he said.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.