A Mound man honors veterans on Memorial Day and throughout the year.

Gary Marquardt plays “Taps” at veterans’ funerals all across Minnesota.  

“These things happen just once in a lifetime for those families, Marquardt said. “That’s the last thing in the honor and it’s the thing they will remember most.”

Marquardt is the Minnesota state director for Bugles Across America. The nonprofit ensures military funerals include a live rendition of “Taps” by a bugler.

 “Today there are 5,000 of us nationwide who do this free for any veteran,” Marquardt said. 

Marquardt learned to play the trumpet a decade ago after seeing a man with a toy bugle playing a recording of “Taps” at a veteran’s funeral.