Taps: Reflections on D-Day and Normandy

American Cemetery, Normandy, France

I didn't know much about military protocol until I read F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1935 short story collection, Taps at Reveille about fifty years ago. I found myself forced to look up the meaning of "Taps" and "Reveille". To my surprise, I learned that there's an additional third military bugle ceremony, "Retreat."

Reveille, played at sunrise, derives from the French réveille, meaning "wake up." Sometimes these days I have to remind myself that it's probably not to my benefit to roll over and sleep until noon.

Retreat, played at the end of the work day, has signaled the military end of duty since the Revolutionary War, with the bugle call harking back, astonishingly enough, to the Crusades.I'm no longer much of a crusader, so now this for me signals Happy Hour!

Lastly, Taps, can signal lights out, but also is played at military funerals and ceremonies.

Chet Baker

My favorite jazz musician, Chet Baker, left school at the age of 16 in 1946 to join the US Army, assigned to Berlin, where he joined the 298th Army Band. He also played Taps each evening. I wish he'd recorded that...I'd certainly listen to it today.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's choice of that title for his book seems so significant for me. He understood the irony, the nuance, that reflections at the end of the day should also begin at the beginning.

I intend to commemorate these signals so that at least three times each day I will pause and reflect and focus on one thing. Right now, because it's June 6, I'm recalling my visit last November to Normandy and to Omaha Beach. My friend, Linda, and I went in a limo with six other people, to see the German bunkers at Gold's Beach. Then we stood on Omaha Beach where we gathered shells, and heard our guide describe the events that lead to this invasion where 3000 Americans were killed.

Linda at Omaha Beach

We continued on to the American Cemetery, in time for Taps. Strange to be standing on American soil in France, but we were. Twice each day the American flag is lowered, because there are two flagpoles. The tradition is to have a veteran, hopefully a WWII veteran, and sometimes with a lot of luck, a veteran of the Normandy campaign, assist in the ceremony while the actual flag lowering and folding are handled by active military personnel. The day we were there, four WWII veterans were present, two in wheelchairs, one a Normandy veteran.

When I came home from this visit to France I gave shells I had picked up at Omaha Beach to a few friends and kept a couple for myself. I have rubbed and polished them again today, remembering to reflect.

For more about the significance to these events and the places in Normandy that commemorate them, here's some resources:
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/normandy-american-cemeteryhttp://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/normandy-american-cemetery

If you get to Omaha Beach, do not miss the war museum there: http://www.musee-memorial-omaha.com/en/

 Or this: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-europe/operation-overlord/invasion-normandy/pointe-du-hoc.html


More on Omaha Beach: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Beach

 

Operation Overlord