Baltimore bugler to perform at ceremony marking completion of WWI Memorial
Published: 10 September 2024
By Mike Klingaman
via the Baltimore Sun newspaper (MD) website
Baltimore Sun John Schmidt header image
John Schmitt is a bugler for the State of Maryland who will be performing at the First Illumination ceremony of “A Soldier’s Journey,” the bronze sculpture that will complete the National World War I Memorial. (Kim Hairston/Staff)
John Schmitt is a bugle boy, though there’s no boogie woogie in his repertoire. Schmitt, of Baltimore, is a bugler for the state of Maryland who has sounded taps at some 2,000 funerals. He’s also one of 20 buglers nationwide selected to perform at the celebration of the completion of National WWI Memorial at Pershing Place in Washington, D.C., Friday at 7:15 p.m.
The highlight of the ceremony is the unveiling of “A Soldier’s Journey,” a 60-foot long bronze sculpture, with 38 figures, that completes the memorial, which opened in 2021. There, dressed in doughboy uniforms, Schmitt and his peers will play taps and other military-inspired numbers in an illumination ceremony that kicks off a weekend of activities at the site.
“It’s an honor to play there,” said Schmitt, 44, of Cedmont, in Northeast Baltimore. “It’s exciting to be a part of history, especially as a musician. Music has a way of transporting people and providing context for their thoughts at an event.
“Veterans have come up to me, after I sounded taps, and described the last time that they heard the piece — and how they felt that they were back there again,” said Schmitt, who performed at the funeral services for his grandfathers, both veterans of WWII.
“Taps isn’t difficult to play; you don’t need many trumpet lessons,” Schmitt said. “What makes it difficult is the situations in which you play it. You must remain connected enough [to the ceremony] to give a meaningful emotional performance, while staying distant enough to make sure you still sound good.”
A native Ohioan, Schmitt took to the trumpet in grade school, played in his high school band and studied music at Akron University. He moved to Baltimore and worked for a time doing freelance trumpeting, tuning pianos and delivering pizzas (“a standard trumpet-playing job”). Since 2016, he has bugled for the state, traversing Maryland to play at funerals and commemoration events.
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