When Katie Prior went to her great-grandfather's funeral, she discovered some veterans get recordings of 'taps' rather than a live player.
A 15-year-old girl who believes no veteran should get a recording of taps at their funeral is helping bring trumpet players to perform at the ceremonies instead.
Due to a shortage of military buglers, an audio recording of the simple 24-note tune is often played at veteran funerals.
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So Katie Prior, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, founded the Youth Trumpet and Taps Corps organization to help bring high school musicians to funerals when a professional military bugler is not available.
The teen was inspired to learn taps after her great-grandfather, a World War II veteran, passed away. When she was unable to master the notes in time for his funeral, an audio recording was played instead.
Her non-profit now has a team of 45 volunteers in six different states who help train high school students to play taps and other patriotic songs. She hopes one day to have a volunteer taps player in every state.
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"Anyone can use their gifts to serve their communites or those around them," she said in a video about her organization. "It's an amazing opportunity to be able to do something to love and still be able to serve other people."
The high schooler was recently awarded $10,000 by U.S. Cellular’s Future of Good Campaign to help the teen train and send trumpet players to perform at military events. They also donated new bugles to Katie’s organization.
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