Man plays 'Taps' daily for 'veterans who aren’t here'

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — As a low and steady tune escapes through the branches of blooming trees, it drifts up into the sky, but before it disappears, an echo of the song begins to repeat the same solemn notes alerting those who can make out the melody to stop, just for a moment, and listen.

For about a year and a half, Tom Walsh has been carrying his bugle down to Veterans Memorial Plaza on Chaplain Schmitt Island in Dubuque to play taps every day at 5 p.m.

“It was just me and the snow, and some nights, it’s just me and the seagulls,” Walsh told the Telegraph Herald. “It was just something I started doing. I just felt it was a tribute to play for all of those military folks.”

But recently, with Veterans Plaza under reconstruction, Walsh, 72, has moved to American Legion Post 6 off of Delhi Street. Walsh said he will continue to play outside the building every night until the construction at the memorial center is complete.

After he first started playing, it didn’t take long before he gained a few followers who wanted to be a part of his nightly ritual honoring lost veterans or those who continue to serve today. Among the veterans who stood outside on the blistering cold winter evenings or humid summer nights was Gary Kircher.

A legion member and part of the honor guard, Kircher, 72, yearned to play alongside Walsh and hoped to track down his own bugle. Recently, Kircher’s wish came true when he found a bugle online and ordered it.

Now every night at exactly 5 p.m., Kircher begins to press on the keys of his bugle as the notes flow from his instrument. But right as his song ends, Walsh begins and echoes his melody.

Kircher said now, with so much of the state locked down due to COVID-19, it is more important than ever to play taps and let the veterans who...