- Last Post
:"The Last Post redirects here. For an album by Carbon/Silicon see
The Last Post (album) .""Last Post" is abugle call used atCommonwealth of Nations military funerals and ceremonies commemorating those who have fallen in war. "The Last Post" is also the name of a poem byRobert Graves describing a soldier's funeral duringWorld War I ."Last Post" was originally a bugle call used in
British Army camps to signal the end of the day. The name derives from the practice of inspecting all the sentry posts around such a camp at the end of the day, and playing a bugle call at each of them. The "last post" was thus the last point of this inspection, and the bugle call signalling that this post had been inspected marked the end of the military day. This custom dates from at least the 17th century, and originated with British troops stationed in The Netherlands, where it drew on an older Dutch custom, called Taptoe. The Taptoe was also used to signal the end of the day, but has more prosaic origin. Taptoe originated signalling the moment that beer barrels had to be shut, hence that the day had ended. It comes from the Dutch phrase "Doe den tap toe", meaning "Turn the tap off" (not to be confused with "Taps " which has a similar function but different tune and origin).During the 19th century, "Last Post" was also carried to the various countries of the
British Empire . In all these countries it has been incorporated into military funerals, where it is played as a final farewell, symbolising the fact that the duty of the dead soldier is over and that they can rest in peace.Last Post is used in public ceremonials commemorating the war dead, particularly on
Remembrance Day in theCommonwealth of Nations and The Netherlands (known asVeterans Day in the United States). InAustralia andNew Zealand it is also played onANZAC Day .Since 1928 "Last Post" has been played every evening by buglers of the local Last Post association at the war memorial at
Ieper (Ypres ) inBelgium known as theMenin Gate , commemorating theBritish Empire dead at theBattle of Ypres during the First World War. The only exception to this was during the four years of the German occupation of Ypres from20 May 1940 to6 September 1944 , when the ceremony moved toBrookwood Cemetery inEngland . On the evening that Polish forces liberated Ypres, the ceremony was resumed at theMenin Gate , in spite of the heavy fighting still going on in other parts of the town. These buglers are quite often mistaken as being from the local fire brigade; however, they are present every day representing the Last Post Committee. They are indeed members of the fire brigade, and can sometimes be seen wearing the uniforms, but it is not the Fire Brigade that organizes "Last Post"."Last Post" was used by British forces in
North America in colonial times, but its function was taken over in theUnited States by "Taps ", which has been used by theUnited States Army since 1862."Last Post" was incorporated into the finale of
Robert Steadman 's "In Memoriam", a choral work on the subject of remembrance. "Last Post" is also incorporated intoKarl Jenkins 's mass "The Armed Man " andPeter Sculthorpe 's chamber orchestra work, "Small Town " from the "Fifth Continent ".ee also
*
Reveille
*The Rouse
*Taps Recordings
Listen
filename=HWW The Last Post+Rouse.ogg
title="The Last Post and Rouse from Remembrance Day" (2007)
description=03:44 including 2 mins silence from Hymns without Words Vol 1.
format=Ogg External links
* [http://www.lastpost.be Last Post website relating to the Menin Gate] (an
MP3 recording of Last Post can be heard at this website)
* [http://www.anzacday.org.au/miscellaneous/sheetmusic.html Sheet music] for Last Post (from an Australian site commemorating ANZAC Day)
* [http://www.lastpostbuglecall.org.uk/ Last Post website] run by a trumpet player, with music, MIDI files and notes on performance and nomenclature.
* [http://army.mod.gov.my/downloadfiles/audio/tentera/last_post.wav Last Post from official Malaysian Army website, file in wav format]
* [http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/sound/last-post-anzac-day Last Post played at a ANZAC Day service in New Zealand, Flash sound player, listen online]
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