Local trumpeters pay tribute to fallen servicemen, servicewomen, those that have died from COVID-19

SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — Across the country on Memorial Day, people unable to pay their respects any other way paid them from home.

It’s part of a nationwide Moment of Remembrance for fallen servicemen and women and those who have died from COVID-19 and those on the front lines battling the disease.

Michael Hackett and his son Eric Hackett, both avid trumpet players in Sun Prairie, stood in their driveway to play Taps.

“I think today maybe it takes on a little more significance just because of all the people who died in the last three months from this pandemic,” Michael Hackett said.

Michael Hackett has played trumpet for nearly 50 years. For most of them, starting at age 12, he has performed at funerals. He said it wasn’t until he was older until he learned the significance of Taps.

“You get to a certain age, we’ve all lost people,” he said. “Whether that’s through military service, or for me both my parents are gone now, just the finality of it, it’s important. And it’s a heavy part of life going through and dealing with death.”

Eric Hackett, a junior at Sun Prairie High School, said he hadn’t played Taps in a long time, if ever, before Monday, but his father’s perspective on the song makes him see it differently.

“Him describing how important taps is really gives me a different perspective on it,” he said. “I think I’m definitely going to play it differently.”

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