Correspondence Sent to the 100 Nights of Remembrance
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March 4, 2008
Dear Volunteers,
One of my greatest honors as Adjutant General for the State of New Hampshire is oversight of
the State Veterans Cemetery. As bearer of this responsibility, I wish to convey my heart-felt
appreciation to Noel Taylor and the numerous organizations and individual participants of
2007’s 100 Nights of Remembrance.
Your tremendous commitment exemplifies the very spirit of sacrifices and selfless service
displayed by our nation’s service members, firefighters and law enforcement officers this
tribute was intended to honor.
I am always grateful for the efforts of talented buglers and horn players who sound Taps.
Their dedication of time, effort and resources to properly honor those that have bestowed
liberty and freedom upon us, is another great symbol of “The Spirit of NH”, and I pledge to join
in your efforts to recruit the horn players across the state.
Sincerely,
Kenneth R. Clark
Major General, NH National Guard
The Adjutant General
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One night this past summer a lady showed up at the cemetery at seven o’clock expecting to hear the
nightly sounding of taps, but was disappointed to find that no one showed up. She e-mailed our program
director to complain, when he explained no bugler had showed up that night because his wife had gone
into labor she understood and sent the following...
Thanks so much for your e-mail. You've made my day! As a mother of seven children, I am well aware of
the priorities of labor pains, delivery dates and births. My husband who is buried at that cemetery would
agree with me and I hope the "bugler", his wife and baby are doing well. First things first as they say.
I also want you to know that yours is the third e-mail I have received in reply to mine - even the person in
charge of the Muchachos answered. I am sending a small contribution for the luncheon and, hopefully,
tee shirts for those who have donated their time. I think it is a wonderful idea especially to make the
young ones aware of the sacrifices of the veterans and the beautiful cemetery itself. Congratulations on
a great idea and thanks for all your work.
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Regarding the closing ceremony Sept 11, 2007
It was a beautiful night, and the ceremony was a wonderful tribute to all who serve and protect us 24-7
every day of our lives. We owe them so much more than we could ever give back. They are my heroes,
my heart and my soul! I promise you that I will never forget! And I'll do my best to make sure others do
not as well.
Thank you for inviting the Red Cross to such an important and touching event.
It was truly an honor to be there amongst those who give/gave so very much.
I was surprised to see the wall dedicated to those NH men/women who were killed in Vietnam .
My cousin Robert Gardner was the first NH man to be killed over there.
He was rescuing wounded by helicopter when he was shot in the back and killed.
Luckily he was pulled aboard the helicopter just before it took off.
Thank you for putting his name on the wall. It meant a lot to me to see it there as I was unaware of it
being there.
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The following letter was written to give a brief decription of how the
100 Nights of Remembrance came to be. It was published in the program book for
the 9-11-07 closing ceremony.
Special thanks to Noel Taylor & The Muchachos Drum & Bugle Corps
The plan to first honor New Hampshire's and the country's fallen veterans with a fitting ceremony at the
Boscawen cemetery last year was the idea of Noel Taylor. Taylor an Army Veteran of the Vietnam
Conflict and member of The Muchachos Drum & Bugle Corps, had often sounded TAPS at the funerals of
fellow veterans, in his determination to provide a live, fitting and final tribute to his comrades, in place of
an all too frequent occurrence, where a tape recording of the solemn horn notes was often used, due to
the lack of volunteer buglers.
When 7 of Taylor's fellow members of the Muchachos, volunteered to travel to upstate New York last
summer, to participate in the Echo TAPS program, a national event sponsored by Bugles Across America,
it touched a nerve with Taylor. The purpose of Echo TAPS was to raise awareness of the need for
volunteer buglers nationwide to sound TAPS at veterans funerals, where too many funeral directors were
forced to resort to the tape recording as a final tribute. The Echo TAPS event spanned the gap between
the national veterans cemeteries in Elmira and Bath New York, with over 800 volunteer musicians, who
played TAPS not only with trumpets and brass bugles but some even played their own reed or woodwind
instruments.
That event prompted Taylor to consider some type of a public ceremony for the hallowed grounds of the
New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery. His initial attempt was last year's “21 Horn Salute” with TAPS
sounded by members of the Muchachos. With the success of last year's event, Taylor expanded his
plans this year with “100 Nights of Remembrance” beginning on Memorial Day weekend and culminating
tonight on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on this country. With the participation of additional
volunteer groups this summer, our veterans lying in rest on these grounds were saluted nightly with at
least 1 bugler sounding TAPS at dusk.
We thank all of you, buglers, musicians, family members and fellow Americans for your participation in
our program and ask that you always remember the sacrifice and service of our veterans, not only here
in New Hamsphire but for those also at rest across the country and on foreign shores.
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