T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Don Peterson of Marshalltown serves as the bugler for the local combined honor guard and played at least 35 funerals in 2021.

Don Peterson first played “Taps” sometime around 1955 or 1956 after he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, but he admits he took a long break from the song — and the bugle in general — before finally dusting it off after his retirement as a ticket agent for United Airlines.

Peterson, a Cedar Rapids native who now resides in Marshalltown, played the song at around 35 veterans’ funerals in 2021 with the Marshalltown Combined Honor Guard, and his phrasing and intonation just keep getting sharper even in his mid 80s. He was stationed in Japan during his three-year stint in the Corps for three years between the wars in Korea and Vietnam and ultimately found his way to a job with United in Chicago after his discharge in 1960.

He was transferred to Cedar Rapids and then Denver, ultimately spending 33 years with the company before retiring and traveling around the country in a motorhome, spending some time in Milwaukee and ultimately moving to Marshalltown to be close to his brother Robert.

In Milwaukee, Peterson joined a local chapter of the American Legion and became their bugler, and it also led him to join a community band there. In Marshalltown, he’s been playing since about 2014.

“I’m really liking it. I try to do my best,” Peterson said.

Getting involved with the honor guard has helped Peterson to reconnect with his own experiences as a Marine and pay homage to others who have served in conflicts from WWII all the way up to Iraq and Afghanistan. As long as he’s able, he’ll keep playing the poignant song at funerals and blowing into his bugle in the local community band.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.