24 Hour Tribute
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National Bugler Dani Masterson for the Spirit of 45 and New York State Director of Bugles Across America Sounded TAPS in a 24 Hour Tribute for our Veterans on May 30th 2021 through May 31st 2021, Memorial Day.
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Starting at 3pm on the 30th Dani started sounding those 24 notes every hour and continued for the following 24 hours at Mesier Park in the Village of Wappingers in New York, Dutchess County, to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice and concluded at the "National Moment of Remembrance" at 3pm on Memorial Day.
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The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.
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Over 300 people stopped by throughout the day and night to pay their respects and also to see Dani and thank her for her selfless cause. For pictures, many videos and supported posts, please visit Dani Masterson American Taps Girl | Facebook.
In The News
State Director Spotlight: New York ISSUE # 29 JULY 2016
Danielle Masterson - State Director
How long have you been with BAA? I was the 111th member to join BAA .
How long have you been playing? I've been a horn player for 32 years starting off in Drum and Bugle Corps.
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What is the hardest part about being a BAA Director? Getting those who have signed up to follow through on their audition. I make contact with them after they apply and its all most impossible to catch up for their audition.
What is the best part about being a BAA Director? Sounding Taps and meeting our new buglers
What has been your best experience with BAA? There are a few. The looks on the families faces after they come up and thank me for sounding Taps. Seeing that look is everything. I sounded Taps off the deck of the USS Midway last year and that was an amazing day. Spending the day with Capt. Jerry Yellen. Jerry has the unique distinction of having flown the final combat mission of World War II on August 14, 1945 - the day the war ended. Now we are friends. With all that goes on with BAA, there are way to many great experiences to just pick one.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with your audience about yourself? Sounding Taps I feel is the last nicest thing that I can do for someone. These are the times when I feel my service is most pure. I don't do this to receive a pat on the back or even a thank you. I do it to serve. I'm personally grateful because it has given me a place to serve those who have served. Sounding Taps on a real horn, using my own breath.
Wappingers Falls Bugler Makes Honoring Veterans Her Life's Mission
WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. – Wappingers Falls resident Dani Masterson is on a mission.
Masterson, who believes that no military veteran should have to have “canned” music at his or her funeral, has played “Taps” on her bugle at thousands of events over the past 30 years.
So far, she has provided that dignified final salute at ceremonies in 23 states, has six more on her schedule, and hopes to travel to all 50 someday.
She has played at every place from the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and she does all this completely at her own expense.
“I feel it's the last nicest thing that I can do for someone," Masterson said. "These are the times when I feel my service is most pure. I don't do this to receive a pat on the back or even a thank you. I do it to serve. I'm personally grateful because it has given me a place to serve those who have served.”
Masterson’s work was recognized recently by the Exchange Club of Southern Dutchess, which raised $200 to help her defray traveling expenses.
Having started playing with a Hudson Valley drum and bugle corps at age 10, she now is the state's director of Bugles Across America.
The nonprofit group was founded in 2000 by Tom Day after Congress passed legislation stating that veterans had the right to at least two uniformed military people at their services to fold the flag and play Taps – on a CD player.
Day felt that veterans deserved a live rendition of Taps by a real bugler.
Now the organization has more than 4,000 volunteer buglers who serve in every state in the nation.
According to the group, the Department of Veterans Affairs expects more than 500,000 veterans to die every year for the next seven years. Because of that, the group said, BAA is always recruiting new volunteers.
For more information about BAA, click here.
Masterson is also one of the National Buglers for the “Spirit of ’45,” an alliance of organizations that works to preserve and honor the legacy of World War II veterans.
For more about this group, click here.
When not traveling around, she is a special effects make-up artist for a private tactical training center in Carmel. (But that's another story.)
Taps itself actually has a Putnam County connection. Credited by some historians with writing it was Daniel Adams Butterfield, a Union general during the Civil War, New York businessman and assistant U.S. treasurer.
While at Harrison’s Landing, Va., Butterfield wrote Taps to replace the traditional firing of rifles at the end of military burials.
First played by his bugler, Oliver W. Norton of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers, Taps was adopted by both the Union and Confederate armies.
Some historians, however, say Butterfield didn’t compose Taps from scratch, but simply re-wrote an earlier call, known as Scott Tattoo.
Butterfield was born in Utica in 1831, but had a summer residence, Cragside, in his later years in Cold Spring.
He died in 1901 at 70 and was buried at West Point, even though he had not attended the military academy, as Taps was played.
Masterson's grandfather, John Masterson, who died several years ago, served during World War II in the China-Burma-India Theater.
His very proud granddaughter will be carrying his photograph close to her heart when she marches Friday in New York City's annual Veterans Day Parade.
Bugler Dani Masterson of Wappingers Falls, NY, has played Taps at thousands of ceremonies, most of them funerals for our veterans. Shown playing here, she was recently recognized by the Exchange Club of Southern Dutchess.
Bugler Dani Masterson of Wappingers Falls, NY, poses with Dr. E. Bruce Heilman, a World War II vet and the Chancellor of the University of Richmond, in Washington D.C.
Sound the Honor~Honor the Sound
Emmy Nominated Danielle Masterson from The Bill Carroll Foundation to Lead the Sounding of TAPS in Battery Park, NYC
New York City, N.Y. / Fredericksburg, V.A. – American Taps Girl Dani Masterson is on a mission.
DinoTyme Productions own Special Effects Supervisor Danielle Masterson is laying down her makeup brushes and picking up her bugle on August 16th to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the ending of World War II. Known as “Spirit of 45” the second Sunday in August has been set aside to honor the “Greatest Generation on their Greatest Day”. She is the "American Taps Girl".
The 70th Anniversary Commemorative "Tribute" will begin in the Western Pacific with a ceremony organized by the Philippine Scouts at the Manila American cemetery in the Philippines, and continue westward through Europe with individual ceremonies in countries where Americans sacrificed their lives in the cause of freedom. Ceremonies will take place at all national and state VA cemeteries, and local memorials and cemeteries throughout the U.S., before concluding at the National Memorial of the Pacific Cemetery in Hawaii.
As the New York State Director for Bugles Across America, Danielle is responsible for placing well over 250 buglers at more than 200 cemeteries and monuments across the land to sound TAPS during the largest wreath-laying ceremony in history. In addition to coordinating the buglers nationwide, Danielle will lead 45 buglers in the sounding of TAPS at Battery Park in New York City to conclude the city’s planned celebrations. “I feel privileged and humbled to perform in tribute to all those who fought in WWII. This is particularly special to me because it is my way to honor my grandfather, John Masterson, who was a member of the China Burma India Theater, a coalition of the United States, British and Chinese Allied air and land forces.” Danielle said. She continued “To me sounding TAPS is the last nicest thing you can do for someone. While TAPS is only 24 notes long, it’s not hard to play but it’s the hardest 24 notes to play.”
Bill Carroll, founder of the Bill Carroll Foundation for Music Education said “Danielle never ceases to amaze me with her outstanding talents. Not only is she an Emmy-nominated make-up artist, along with coordinating buglers to play at all military funerals in the United States to date she has sounded TAPS at 2,225 services”. Bill Carroll and his volunteers from his Foundation were also asked to be part of the festivities by providing sound reinforcement for the event's speeches and 45 buglers.
Please join Danielle in Battery Park at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, August 16th for the 70th Anniversary Commemorative "Tribute" in honor of those from the “Greatest Generation on their Greatest Day”.
The Bill Carroll Foundation along with the Institute for the Performing Arts in Virginia strives to educate, empower, cultivate, and guide Musicians with disabilities to include Veterans, through our outreach and on-site educational programs. It also includes award-winning audio and video production along with incredible special effects, spectacular Laser Light Shows and so much more all created with and run by students and volunteers of all professions. For more information please visit www.billcarrollfoundation.org.
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The Institute for the Performing Arts (IPA) is an upcoming non-profit being created in Central Virginia. It is slated to be a state-of-the-art performing arts higher education institution. It is currently in the fundraising stages and seeking funding through donations, membership and corporate support. For more information, visit www.LearnTheArts.org.
For more information about the Tribute, visit http://www.Spiritof45.org or contact Info@Spiritof45.org.
Washington, DC – American Taps Girl Dani Masterson - Official Bugler from Bugler's Across America and the Spirit of 45 in National Memorial Day Parade 2017 & 2018.
The National Memorial Day Parade, held annually along Constitution Avenue in our nation’s capital – Washington, DC – shares the story of American honor and sacrifice from across the generations. The parade is our nation’s largest Memorial Day event, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators to the National Mall to pay tribute to those who have served, are serving, and most importantly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while in service to our country.The National Memorial Day Parade is a moving timeline of American military history, honoring those who have served and sacrificed from the American Revolution to the present day. It draws on the tradition of Memorial Day parades, going back to the beginning of the holiday just after the Civil War, to create a family friendly event aimed at calling attention to the true meaning of Memorial Day – honoring our fallen heroes.
For more information visit http://www.Spiritof45.org or contact Info@Spiritof45.org.
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