24 May 2020 - 100 FedEx Trucks Provide An Incredible Funeral Procession

100 FedEx Trucks Provide

 An Incredible Funeral Procession

G'day folks,

 This is a great farewell to a work colleague at FedEx.

I remember when I was growing up, my family would be driving around town running errands or going out to church when I would see a giant black funeral hearse driving through an intersection. The light would turn green for us but we would just sit and wait. I would ask why, and the answer I got was so that all the cars following the funeral procession could stay together and as a sign of respect to the person who just passed away. This blew my mind at a young age. Seeing how important somebody was to sometimes hundreds of cars full of people. I thought that the amount of respect given was incredible. Not only do fallen police officers and soldiers get a heart warming funeral.

Hundreds of FedEx drivers recently combined to commemorate a fallen employee. Mickey passed away at just 54 years old. The Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, man had left an enormous impact on many people around him, including his FedEx colleagues in the Pittsburgh area. They rounded up about 100 trucks to surprise his family with a FedEx funeral procession. What a great gift of respect to give to their fellow friend/co-worker’s family.

His co-workers said, “Thanks for being an outstanding person and making an impact on so many lives. You will never be forgotten. FedEx, there is nothing like it!”

“Mickey was a ramp agent at FedEx Express. He was basically a manager, and he was on top of his game all the time. God, he had to be working there forever! He never called off, took a vacation, or worked less than 8 hours a day. Mickey loved everyone, and did so many generous things for people. He had no selflessness what so ever.”

“He was so special to me because he was the first person I met at FedEx. He trained me and made me always be happy to be at work. He is a role model to me, and a lot of other people. He is one of those people who never took credit for what tasks he achieved. No one disliked him and he was the hardest worker I knew. Mickey used to give me 5 bucks for the vending machine. Why, I don’t know. He just did it all the time.”

Mickey’s family must have been honored to see such a proud display of FedEx employees paying their respects. The FedEx funeral procession reminded Mickey’s family that he was an important man who was loved by many.

 Clancy's comment: There should be more of it! Love ya work, guys. Rest in peace, Mickey.


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18 June 2016 - ORIGINS OF 'TAPS'

ORIGINS OF 'TAPS'

G'day folks,

The origins of “Taps,” the distinctive bugle melody played at U.S. military funerals and memorials and as a lights-out signal to soldiers at night, date back to the American Civil War. 

In July 1862, U.S. General Daniel Butterfield and his brigade were camped at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, recuperating after the Seven Days Battles near Richmond. Dissatisfied with the standard bugle call employed by the Army to indicate to troops it was time to go to sleep, and thinking the call should sound more melodious, Butterfield reworked an existing bugle call used to signal the end of the day. After he had his brigade bugler, Private Oliver Wilcox Norton, play it for the men, buglers from other units became interested in the 24-note tune and it quickly spread throughout the Army, and even caught on with the Confederates.

Not long after Butterfield created “Taps,” it was played for the first time at a military funeral, for a Union cannoneer killed in action. The man’s commanding officer, Captain John Tidball, decided the bugle call would be safer than the traditional firing of three rifle volleys over the soldier’s grave, a move which couldn’t been confused by the nearby enemy as an attack. 

As for the name “Taps,” the most likely explanation is that it comes from the fact that prior to Butterfield’s bugle call, the lights-out call was followed by three drum beats, dubbed the “Drum Taps,” as well as “The Taps” and then simply “Taps.” When Butterfield’s call replaced the drum beats, soldiers referred to it as “Taps,” although this was an unofficial moniker, according to “Taps” historian and bugle expert Jari Villanueva. He notes that Butterfield’s bugle call was officially known as “Extinguish Lights” in American military manuals until 1891. Since that time, “Taps” also has been a formally recognized part of U.S. military funerals.

Today at Berkeley Plantation, the historic estate located at Harrison’s Landing, there’s a monument commemorating the origins of “Taps” at the site. Berkeley Plantation also happens to be the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and William Henry Harrison, the nation’s ninth president.

  Clancy's comment: I have heard this haunting sound in many places around the world ... Washington DC, Turkey, Australia, Thailand etc. It always makes the hairs rise on the back of my neck, and so it should.

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