Trumpet player honors veterans with Taps at solemn services: “This is my calling”

By Jacob Wycoff

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    FRANKLIN, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Twenty four notes played on a bugel or trumpet hold more meaning than words can say. The sound of Taps brings many people to tears.

Jenn Hozempa plays it at the town common in Franklin, Massachusetts to honor the men and women who died serving in the U.S. military. There are memorials to 46 veterans there.

Hozempa is the program director at Cornerstone assisted living in Milford. For her, music isn’t just a routine. It’s a lifeline.

“It’s huge, especially with the dementia population,” she explained. “Music uses the part of the brain that’s preserved. It rallies the troops.”

She sees each day as a chance to meet residents where they are.

“This is their world. This is their moment. We live in the moment,” she said.

Honoring fallen service members

But Hozempa’s music extends far beyond the walls of Cornerstone. On the town common in Franklin, she’s one of just three buglers who step forward dozens of times a year to honor fallen service members. The community holds ceremonies on the exact date each veteran from Franklin gave their life, and Hozempa often provides the solemn notes of Taps.

“I believe a veteran should have a real trumpet player for their last service,” she said. “Not a recording… a real sendoff.”

For her, the sound is deeply personal. Her father served in the Navy aboard the USS Hoptree. She said his service is always on her mind when she plays.

“It’s remembering my dad… and the veterans I work with every day,” Hozempa said. “If I can pay it forward in some way, I will.”

Whether it’s patriotic songs in a sunlit dining room or a single trumpet on a quiet green, Hozempa said music is more than performance. It’s her purpose.

“I feel like this is my calling in the world to do,” she said.

For more information about the services, visit franklinmatters.org.

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