GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Note: The video is from 2021.
The somber notes of "Taps" will once again fill the air at the Gettysburg National Cemetery this summer, the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania and the Gettysburg National Military Park announced on Thursday.
Beginning on Memorial Day (May 29) and continuing through Labor Day, "One Hundred Nights of Taps" is an annual event at the cemetery, now in its seventh year.
The program will run nightly at 7 p.m. at the Soldiers’ National Monument in Gettysburg National Cemetery.
The program will feature two new educational components in this year.
Beginning at 5:30 each evening, representatives from Gettysburg’s Licensed Battlefield Guides will offer a free interpretive program exploring the aftermath of the battle of Gettysburg and the creation of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg, concluding at the Soldiers’ National Monument.
During the formal Taps program each night at 7 p.m., representatives from the Lincoln Fellowship, guest National Park Service Rangers, and Licensed Battlefield Guides will offer brief historical vignettes. Called Enduring Pathways, these will focus on Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, the history of Taps, and the Soldiers’ National Monument, with topics changing nightly.
The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania is honored to announce that the UNKNOWN Union soldier will be the representative United States soldier on the commemorative coin for the 2023 One Hundred Nights of Taps, Gettysburg. The coins are presented to volunteer participants who offer their time and talents for this moving tribute.
The buglers include active-duty military musicians, military veterans, Civil War living historians and musicians, community band members, high school and college students, and music teachers.
The opening ceremony will be on Memorial Day, May 29, at 7 p.m. Guest speakers are Michelle A. Krowl, the Civil War and Reconstruction specialist in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress, and Lieutenant General Christopher F. Burne, USAF (retired). General Burne was the 17th Judge Advocate General of the Air Force. Superintendent Steven D. Sims and Mayor Rita Frealing will also be speaking.
Patriotic music will be supplied by buglers under the direction of Jari Villanueva, Taps for Veterans.