World War II veterans are dying at the rate of 1,800 a day, each one entitled to a proper military funeral, if their family requests it. But the military is having a problem fulfilling one crucial part of a military funeral, the playing of taps, because there are only 500 official buglers in the American military, and most of them are too busy to spend their days performing at funeral services. In the absence of an actual bugler, many services have had to resort to playing a recording of taps on a boombox, something that doesn’t quite have the same impact. To address the problem, the military has approved the use of a battery-operated insert which is placed in a bugle and plays a recording of taps made by an expert military bugler at Arlington National Cemetery. All that’s needed is someone to press the on button and mimic playing it.
