By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
November 10, 2025
The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site will again be bringing Hoosiers together for a special commemoration that will echo the strains of “Taps” on Veterans Day in honor of the men and women who have served in the U.S. military.
Beginning at 5:32 p.m., on Tuesday, Nov. 11, the program will feature a lone bugler who will play “Taps” on the front porch of President Benjamin Harrison’s historical residence near downtown Indianapolis. The commemoration will begin with brief remarks by Donna Oklak, chair of the presidential site’s board of directors, followed by the musical tribute. It will be livestreamed on Facebook, allowing viewers everywhere to pause in honor of those who have served.
“It’s really just making sure that we be introspective about what it means to dedicate yourself to your country,” Charles Hyde, president and CEO of the presidential site, said. “Our service members make a great personal sacrifice, and it’s something that should be honored and respected and, certainly, on Veterans Day, all the more celebrated.”
The link to the livestream can be found by clicking here.
As part of the commemoration, the presidential site is inviting all musically inclined individuals who have an instrument to step outside their own residences tomorrow at sunset and join in the playing of “Taps.” The bugle call at sunset remembrance began in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled many Veterans Day services and remembrances and has continued every year since.
“(We wanted to) make sure that any veterans (who were) kind of dispersed across the state and beyond might hear the strains of ‘Taps’ being played and know that they were being remembered and thought of for their service,” Hyde said. “So, that’s something we’ve carried forward.”
Harrison, himself, was a veteran, serving three years in the Union Army during the Civil War and commanding the 70th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He led the regiment of a thousand Hoosier soldiers through the western theater and engaged in the brutal fighting during the Atlanta campaign. At the end of his service in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln promoted Harrison to brigadier general.
During his single term as president, from 1889 – 1893, Harrison remembered those who fought in the Civil War by securing the passage of a pension act for military veterans. Various iterations of the act had been introduced and passed by Congress but all were vetoed by his predecessor, President Grover Cleveland.
“That was significant legislation that helped the country meet its obligations to those veterans who had served during the Civil War,” Hyde said.
The presidential site’s commemoration with a solemn bugle call also gives a nod to Indiana’s leadership in the band instrument manufacturing industry. Charles Gerard Conn, who grew up in Elkhart and founded the C.G. Conn Co., which still operates manufacturing facilities under the name of Conn Selmer in that city, served as a cornetist and band leader in the Union Army.
Conn enlisted in Company B of the 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, where he served as a private and was assigned to the regimental band. After he was discharged, Conn reenlisted in 1863 with Company G of the First Michigan Sharpshooters and was eventually promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in charge of the battalion band.
Some of the musicians who join the presidential site’s commemoration might play “Taps” on a Conn brand band instrument. How many people have joined the presidential site’s annual Veterans Day commemorations in the past, whether by watching the livestream or performing “Taps” themselves, is unknown. The presidential site has not kept records or attempted to determine how many people participate.
“Like the obligations of citizenship, or being good citizens, it’s always a matter of voluntary action,” Hyde said. “(We’re) just encouraging people to step up and make sure that we’re just celebrating those that help protect and guarantee our fundamental rights as citizens of this great country.”
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
