{"id":18821,"date":"2020-08-10T19:12:47","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T19:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/08\/10\/navy-veteran-finds-new-mission-playing-taps\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:04:25","slug":"navy-veteran-finds-new-mission-playing-taps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2020\/08\/10\/navy-veteran-finds-new-mission-playing-taps\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy veteran finds new mission playing \u2018Taps\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ROUND LAKE, Ill. \u2014 After being laid off from his job in the electronics industry about 12 years ago, Navy veteran Jim Reynolds revisited his roots for a new sense of purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Figuratively dusting off the bugle of his youth, Reynolds has been on a mission to play taps wherever and whenever he\u2019s needed as a solemn message of mourning and thanks for military service. He hasn\u2019t kept official track, but he estimates he\u2019s played at more than 1,000 functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe veteran has earned this honor and we owe it to them,\u201d said Reynolds, an electronics technician who spent a year in Vietnam repairing radar, radios and other equipment used on patrol boats and other vessels. \u201cIt gives you a good feeling to know you\u2019re helping a family through a difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a member of local American Legion and VFW posts, the Round Lake Park resident learned of Bugles Across America and signed up. He has spent a lot of time on the road since, often making several stops in a single day to perform the 24-note bugle call at military funerals and other events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done them in cemeteries, funeral homes and churches. I\u2019ve also done them at a fish hatchery in Spring Grove and at Bill\u2019s Pub in Mundelein,\u201d said Reynolds, who like others in the organization is an unpaid volunteer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s unrecognized. When people go to a funeral, they don\u2019t realize he\u2019s doing it and he may have been in three or four other places,\u201d said Nick Konz, a fellow veteran, friend and president of the executive board of the Lake County Veterans Assistance Commission. \u201cHe does this on the same day on his own dime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t