BIRTH OF AN AMERICAN TRADITION EVENT BAA Buglers and Trumpeters
We are pleased to have Larry Dupree as one of our BAA coordinators
Larry Dupree was born and raised in Western Kentucky. His dad was a WWII Army veteran with service in the Pacific Theater. Larry is retired, but active in promoting “live” Taps for Veteran’s Funeral Honors. He served in the U.S. Air Force as as a med-evac technician, earning the Air Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters during a tour in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, he flew med evac missions for the Army and Marines and some of the duty locations included Khe Sanh, Dak To and Dong Ha. He returned to the U.S.after the Tet Offensive.
After his service with the U.S. Air Force, he earned a business management degree at the University of Cincinnati and rose through management positions with several Fortune 500 companies. Larry was selected and graduated from NEC’s Overseas Management Course as the first one ever selected from his North American Division. He retired from his business career as President of a hydraulic tool company manufacturing a line of tools for the nation’s railroads.
Not content to set idle after retirement, he took a part-time job with a national hardware company, and organized the implementation of a new product line in one of 6 concept stores. The concept was successful and launched nationally.
Larry is a member of Bugles Across America dedicated to offer all veteran’s the dignity and honor of “live” Taps rather than Taps on a digital horn or recording, and through Taps 150, planning a celebration of Taps 150th birthday and the calls significance and importance in our nation’s history.
He is married and has one daughter and one step-daughter.
We are pleased to have John Blair as one of our BAA coordinators
John Blair is originally from the small town of Clayton in Southeast Oklahoma, and began playing trumpet in the 5th grade. Being the son of Ramona Reed, former Grand Ole Opry star and vocalist with Bob Will’s Texas Playboys, John was heavily influenced with the sounds of Western Swing and traditional Country music. He began singing and playing the fiddle at the age of 15 and has performed with numerous country & bluegrass artists and bands in the southwest and even making a tour through Germany. Those bands included City Moon, The Bonham Review and The Neverly Hillbillys. He also played on Merle Kilgore’s very last performance (Johnny Cash’s best man & writer of “Burning Ring of Fire”), and has made guest appearances with famed Bluegrass Fiddler, Byron Berline. The highlight of John’s musical career was playing fiddle when his mother, along with Carrie Underwood, was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Other members of the band were John’s brother, Jim Paul Blair, as well as Grammy Award Winner & Buddy Holly guitarist Tommy Allsup and other former Texas Playboys.
After playing in college in “The Spirit of Oklahoma State University Cowboy Marching Band”, John laid down his trumpet and focused more on his fiddle playing, but when his US Army Veteran father, 1st Lt. Jim Blair passed away on June 14th, 2000, he was disappointed that his playing skills weren’t well enough to play Taps. This is what led John back to playing trumpet and joining Bugles Across America.
John holds a BS in Nursing from the University of Central Oklahoma. He is the former Director of Emergency & Trauma Services at the Oklahoma University Medical Center, as well as worked as a Flight Nurse/Paramedic for MediFlight Oklahoma. John resides in Chesterfield, Virginia with his wife Heidi, and children Hayley & Ben, where he is an Account Executive with Alere North America, as well as works occasionally at the Emergency Department of John Randolph in Hopewell, Va. John plays trumpet regularly in the Festival Brass Ensemble of Redeemer Lutheran Church, and performs in occasional concerts at Historic Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia along with organist Cheryl Van Ornam. He is the current Virginia State Director for Bugles Across America.
