The Doughboy Foundation is a nonprofit that will recognize the 1,000th sounding of taps at the World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Presidents Day. (Jari Villanueva)
WASHINGTON — Every day a lone bugler stands at the World War I Memorial across the plaza from a statue of Army Gen. John Pershing.
The bugler salutes the American flag, lifts a simple brass instrument without valves or keys, and sounds the 24 distinctive notes of taps — the universal call sounded at dusk at U.S. military installations across the world.
“The taps bugle call is what unites every American soldier,” said Jari Villanueva, an Air Force veteran and director of the nonprofit Doughboy Foundation, which supports the daily taps program.
To commemorate Presidents Day on Monday, the foundation will recognize the 1,000th time that taps is performed since the memorial opened three years ago at 1400 Pennsylvania Ave. across from the White House visitor center.
Guest bugler will be Kevin Paul, an active-duty trumpeter and senior musician with the Army Band in Washington. Paul, a sergeant first class, has played at Arlington National Cemetery, the White House and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
He also serves as operations manager for the Doughboy Foundation helping to coordinate the daily taps calls at the World War I Memorial.
The AEF band — named after the American Expeditionary Forces — will participate Monday in World War I uniforms.
The memorial is owned by the National Park Service. The space where it was built incorporated an existing statue of Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary Forces across Europe during the war.
“When America threw itself into preparing for conflict, Pershing was named the commander,” said Villanueva, who sounded the first daily taps at the memorial on Nov. 11, 2021.
Villanueva will be guest speaker at Monday’s event. He will note the significance of the event in brief remarks prior to the sounding of taps at 5 p.m.
A ceremonial trumpeter, Villanueva served for nearly 25 years in Washington. He has participated in more than 5,000 funerals and other occasions at Arlington National Cemetery and other sites. He served from 1985-2008 at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.
Though the distinctive taps melody originated with the Civil War, the daily 5 p.m. call at the memorial honors all American service members and their loved ones, according to the Doughboy Foundation.
Villanueva organized the corps of buglers tapped to honor U.S. service members and veterans with the early evening bugle call.
Jari Villanueva, an Air Force veteran and bugler, is director of the Doughboy Foundation, a nonprofit that will recognize the 1,000th sounding of taps at the World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Presidents Day. Buglers dress in replica uniforms at the daily taps call. (Jari Villanueva)
“The thought was let’s have a bugler in World War I uniform pay tribute every day, rain or shine, snow or heat,” said Villanueva, former president of Taps for Veterans, a nonprofit that sent buglers to military funerals.
The memorial was the final war monument to open in Washington in remembrance of the major U.S. conflicts of the 20th century. The other sites commemorate World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
An individual veteran is honored daily when taps is played. The veteran can be from any military branch or era, according to the foundation.
Clarence Clarke, a bugler with Company D of the 369th Infantry Regiment, will be commemorated on Presidents Day. He was a member of an all-Black Army regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, a unit that served with distinction in World War I.
“We wanted to pay tribute to a soldier and in particular a bugler for this event,’‘ Villanueva said.
Guest buglers wear replica uniforms of the ones that U.S. soldiers wore in World War I and the bugle call is streamed live on the Doughboy Foundation’s YouTube channel.
Well-known trumpeters have participated in the daily taps call since its inception, including Mark Gould, who played with the Metropolitan Opera, and Michael Harper, a performer with the National Symphony.
“We have a very diverse and inclusive roster of buglers. Some buglers are veterans who have served in the premier service bands. We also have world-class artists such as 10-time Grammy Award winner, Arturo Sandoval,” said Chris Isleib, an associate with the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission, a 12-member organization Congress established in 2013 that is scheduled to end Oct. 1.
Construction of the World War I Memorial followed the organization of the commission assigned to create it.
In addition to its role supporting the daily taps call, the Doughboy Foundation will pick up the educational outreach component and memorial maintenance that the commission has performed.
The U.S. entered World War I in the spring of 1917. There were 117,000 U.S. casualties by the time the war ended Nov. 11, 1918.
“It was a short period of time, but our involvement was crucial to bringing the war to an end,” Villanueva said.
Frank Buckles of West Virginia, who died in 2011 at the age of 110, was the last surviving U.S. veteran from World War I.
The World War I Memorial formally opened April 16, 2021. The memorial, which has a rectangular pool and engraved references to campaigns and battles, is not fully built.
The signature art installation for the memorial — a 60-foot-long, 12-foot-tall sculpture titled “A Soldier’s Journey” that will have larger-than-life figures — is scheduled to open in September.
A statue of Army Gen. John J. Pershing and two memorial walls still remain from the old Pershing Park, which were incorporated into the World War I Memorial where a dedication ceremony took place April 16, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
