The Battlefielder - June 10, 2019 (Jun 11, 2019)

Pictured above are Wendy Allen and President Bill Braun

Wendy Allen was born in Pittsburgh in 1955. For 30 years she pursued a career in educational publishing, lastly as Creative Director for a major children’s publisher. In 2007 she left publishing to pursue painting full time. Art became Wendy’s passion in 1993 when she painted her first portrait of Abraham Lincoln. He soon became the focus of her artwork. Her work has been featured at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., at Pensacola Museum of Art in Pensacola, FL, in Maryland, New York and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Wendy serves on the Board of Directors and is vice president for the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania. She is also the founder and daily presenter of the Fellowship’s One Hundred Nights of Taps, Gettysburg Program. She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Lincoln Forum and the executive committee for Main Street Gettysburg’s Baltimore Street Historic Pathway Revitalization Project.

The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania was formed in 1938 to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Today, the organization has four main goals:

To commemorate Lincoln’s Gettysburg address by co-sponsoring the annual Dedication Day event on November 19^th at Soldiers National Cemetery. Every November 19, they provide a platform for a nationally recognized and influential person to serve as the keynote speaker for Dedication Day, the annual commemoration of the dedication of Soldiers' National Cemetery and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and to reflect in a public setting on the enduring legacy of the address. This year’s speaker will be presidential historian Michael Beschloss. In addition, the Oath of Allegiance is always given to 16 people from around the world to become U.S. citizens.
To honor the more than 3,500 Union solders buried in Soldiers’ National Cemetery whose sacrifice Lincoln’s 1863 address so eloquently exalted through an annual, summertime “100 Nights of Taps” program. Taps are played each evening at 7:00 p.m. from Memorial Day, May 27, through Labor Day, September 2, 2019, at the Soldiers’ National Monument in the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

The creation of this ceremony was influenced by a ceremony called The Last Post at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. Following the Menin Gate Memorial opening in 1927, the citizens of Ypres wanted to express their gratitude towards those who had given their lives for Belgium's freedom. Hence every evening at 8:00 p.m. buglers from the Last Post Association close the road which passes under the memorial and sound the "Last Post"^. Except for the occupation by the Germans in World War II when the daily ceremony was conducted at Brookwood Military Cemetery, in Surrey, England, this ceremony has been carried on uninterrupted since 2 July 1928.^]On the evening that Polish forces liberated Ypres in the Second World War, the ceremony was resumed at the Menin Gate despite the fact that heavy fighting was still taking place in other parts of the town.

There was something so moving about this ceremony that Wendy felt it had to occur in Gettysburg. Three years ago, she proposed the idea at a retreat of the Fellowship and it was approved. The challenge would be to find enough volunteer buglers. Wendy contacted Jari Villanueva, retired from the United States Air Force where he spent 23 years with The USAF Band in Washington DC. Jari is considered the country’s foremost expert on military bugle calls, particularly the call of Taps. He became instrumental in helping her to identify buglers. When they initiated the program, they only had about 6 buglers signed up. Today there is a waiting list of buglers from all over the country. The bugler program is completely volunteer and they have never missed a night. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies feature an expanded program and include musicians from all over the country. An expanded program was also offered for D-Day commemoration.

The evening ceremony begins precisely at 7:00 p.m. The ceremony lasts less than 10 minutes but is very moving. Two years ago, the program was expanded to invite all active service members or veterans to come forward for a photo with the bugler.

Some buglers dress in costume, sometimes two buglers play together doing echo taps, sometimes veteran’s groups play or retired military. The youngest bugler was a woman. Girl Scouts often attend and they sing along with the bugler. Every bugler has their own interpretation of the 24 notes. Every bugler receives a commemorative coin. A new coin is designed each year. At the conclusion of the program, many will approach the buglers to express thanks and share stories. The stories are significant stories and are often very moving.

To educate Fellowship members, citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the United States on Lincoln’s legacy, as well as on the Gettysburg Address and its impact on all peoples through co-sponsorship of Gettysburg National Military Park’s Traveling Trunk Program. The Traveling Trunk program provides Lincoln Educational materials for teachers to utilize during their Civil War instruction. The trunk fosters a greater interest in the American Civil War and in battlefield preservation by allowing students to have a hands-on experience.

To promote awareness about Lincoln’s role in Gettysburg’s history and his enduring legacy by maintaining the “Return Visit” statue in Lincoln Square. The Return Visit Statue, located adjacent to the David Wills House in Lincoln Square, is one of the most photographed statues in Gettysburg. Commissioned by the Fellowship in 1991 and sculpted by J. Seward Johnson, the statue commemorates Lincoln’s November 1863 visit to Gettysburg. The statue depicts “the common man” with Abraham Lincoln, illustrating the relevance of the Gettysburg Address to the present-day. It directs today’s visitors’ attention to the Wills House to reflect upon Lincoln’s famous “few appropriate remarks,” whose finishing touches he likely scripted at the house on November 18^th, the evening prior to delivering the Gettysburg Address.

Wendy ended the program by encouraging all Rotarians to come out for an evening of Taps. In addition, she announced that on October 4th, from 5 to 8 p.m., The Long, Long, Long, Long Dinner Party Table fundraising project will be held in support of revitalization efforts for the Baltimore Street Historic Pathway, the route President Abraham Lincoln traveled in 1863 to deliver his immortal Gettysburg Address. Tables will stretch down the middle of a blocked-off Baltimore Street, all the way from Lincoln Square to South Street——a distance of four blocks. Tickets are $15 per person (which includes the Eventbrite processing fee) and they reserve a seat at the dinner party. Each table has 8 seats. Guests will be able to purchase their meals from a wide variety of food trucks and area restaurants; or you can bring your own potluck dinners from home. Also, a spirits tent will be set up on Lincoln Square. Tickets and event information can be found at https://www.mainstreetgettysburg.org/longdinner.