[Dixielandjazz] Taps on Iwo Jima

Wed, 17 Jul 2002 00:57:45 EDT

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In a message dated 7/16/02 11:22:26 PM Central Daylight Time, 
charliehooks@earthlink.net writes:

> All noise is not music.  All music is not equal.
> 
> A bugler playing Taps at the final interment of a brave man who died for 
> his
> country is, to me, the Essence of Music: it is what music is FOR.  To
> celbrate the admirable!  To comfort the downhearted!  To enclose in a 
> circle
> of friends the things we, at cost, have learned to value most about living.
> 
> charliehooks@earthlink.net

   Amen, Charlie. Your statement should be framed.  During 3 years in the 
Marine Corps I heard a lot of 'Taps' played and participated in very 
emotional ceremonies where often medals were awarded posthumously.  By far 
the most meaningful was on Iwo Jima in 1954, ten years after the heroic 
Battle for Iwo JIma.  Our 3rd. Marine Division went with the Pacific fleet to 
Iwo JIma for a full scale landing maneuver.  The Division band was also a 
machine gun company.  No one slept the entire slept the two weeks we were on 
Iwo Jima.  We were outdoors with the land crabs and the ghosts.  You could 
feel the ghosts about at night, over 20,000 Japanese and around 5,000 
americans had been killed.  It was an incredibily eerie scene.  At the end 
our instruments which had been packed up were brought out from the ship and 
we played a memorial service for those who had been killed.  Two Field Musics 
( buglers) from the Band were chosen to play "Taps.'  They could barely get 
through it and everyone knew why when they cracked a note.  The Band could 
hardly play the National Anthem and I think the entire Division was in tears.

One of the Field musics who played "Taps" a lot during World War II was Sgt. 
Darrell Cole.  Field Musics also were runners and messengers. Cole became a 
machine gunner.  He was so good at this that he became known as the "Fightin' 
Field Music."  Sgt. Cole was killed on Iwo Jima and was awarded the Medal of 
Honor posthumously.  The USS Cole was named in his honor.

JIm Beebe

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<HTML>In a message dated 7/16/02 11:22:26 PM Central Daylight Time, charliehooks@earthlink.net writes: 
 
 
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">All noise is not music.&nbsp; All music is not equal. 
 
A bugler playing Taps at the final interment of a brave man who died for his 
country is, to me, the Essence of Music: it is what music is FOR.&nbsp; To 
celbrate the admirable!&nbsp; To comfort the downhearted!&nbsp; To enclose in a circle 
of friends the things we, at cost, have learned to value most about living. 
 
charliehooks@earthlink.net</BLOCKQUOTE> 
 
&nbsp;&nbsp; Amen, Charlie. Your statement should be framed.&nbsp; During 3 years in the Marine Corps I heard a lot of 'Taps' played and participated in very emotional ceremonies where often medals were awarded posthumously.&nbsp; By far the most meaningful was on Iwo Jima in 1954, ten years after the heroic Battle for Iwo JIma.&nbsp; Our 3rd. Marine Division went with the Pacific fleet to Iwo JIma for a full scale landing maneuver.&nbsp; The Division band was also a machine gun company.&nbsp; No one slept the entire slept the two weeks we were on Iwo Jima.&nbsp; We were outdoors with the land crabs and the ghosts.&nbsp; You could feel the ghosts about at night, over 20,000 Japanese and around 5,000 americans had been killed.&nbsp; It was an incredibily eerie scene.&nbsp; At the end our instruments which had been packed up were brought out from the ship and we played a memorial service for those who had been killed.&nbsp; Two Field Musics ( buglers) from the Band were chosen to play "Taps.'&nbsp; They could barely get through it and everyone knew why when they cracked a note.&nbsp; The Band could hardly play the National Anthem and I think the entire Division was in tears. 
 
One of the Field musics who played "Taps" a lot during World War II was Sgt. Darrell Cole.&nbsp; Field Musics also were runners and messengers. Cole became a machine gunner.&nbsp; He was so good at this that he became known as the "Fightin' Field Music."&nbsp; Sgt. Cole was killed on Iwo Jima and was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.&nbsp; The USS Cole was named in his honor. 
 
JIm Beebe</HTML>

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