This is an piece of "emotional" fiction that
indeed circulated a couple of years ago,
however there is no truth to it.
What follows is an excerpt from protocol
and tradition for military funerals:

"Taps" is an American call, composed by the Union Army's BG. Daniel
Butterfield while at camp at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, in 1862.
Butterfield wrote the call to replace the earlier "Tattoo" (lights out),
which he thought too formal. The call soon became known as "Taps" because it
was often tapped out on a drum in the absence of a bugler. Before the year
was out, sounding Taps  became the practice in both the Northern and Southern
armies. The call was officially adopted by the U.S. Army in 1874."

   Joe Mc

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