As the sun begins to set, the melancholy sound of a bugler playing "Taps" echoes off the old brick buildings on the town square in Martinsville, Indiana.

A small crowd, mostly comprised of veterans who stand at attention, listen as names are read, followed by the clang of a silver bell. Then the mournful tune is played as pedestrians stop and listen in quiet respect.

“Anybody that has served our nation, police, fire, military, MIAs that are recovered and our sweet old Rosie the Riveters, we read their names to honor their memories,” bugler Bruce McKee said.

The ceremony began when a call went out to buglers across the country to sound "Taps" for seven days at 7 o'clock on the county squares to honor the memory of the 26 people killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012.

After the final night, a woman approached McKee and asked if he would sound "Taps" in memory of her father, who didn’t get the honor at his funeral.

The names just kept coming.

'Taps' every Friday, for 330 weeks

Taps on the Square began that evening and has continued for over 330 consecutive Fridays, in rain, snow or heat.

Jerry Vest reads the names. Randy Sichting rings the bell. McKee serves as the main bugler, and Jim Martin and Zondra Kale-Griffin serve as the echo buglers.

“They are the hardest 24 notes to play because you’re playing it for the fallen and for their families,” McKee said.

The tune is thought to be a revision of a French bugle signal called a “tattoo,” which was a “last call” for soldiers to stop drinking and to return to their units.

Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield arranged the present version to signal “lights out.” Bugler Oliver Norton was the first to sound the call.

The tune was adopted by the Confederate army as well.

Today, "Taps" signals the conclusion of military funerals, wreath-laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and ceremonies on the beaches of Normandy.

"Taps" is the final call of the day on U.S. military bases worldwide.

McKee is the founder and director of Indiana Spirit of '45, which provides live "Taps" for military honors, memorial services, national holidays and private services.

“It’s the final salute," McKee said. "The last 24 notes that are ever played for a brother or sister who served. It’s heart-wrenching. Even as a bugler, I have to say a prayer, and I try to find things to focus on so I don’t look at the family, because of the emotion there.”

McKee notes the buglers play "live Taps" whereas most use a bugle with an MP3 recording.

"When you use the digital, it's playing 'Taps,'" McKee said. "When we do it as individuals, it's sounding 'Taps.' It comes directly from the heart and not a triple-A battery."

McKee’s family has deep military roots that go back to the Revolutionary War. His father, Robin, served in the Army during World War II and McKee served in the Air Force.

He didn't get to play at his dad's funeral

McKee has one regret: He didn’t get to play "Taps" at his father’s funeral.

"I had cancer surgery on my tongue and throat," McKee said. "When they did the surgery, they said I would never speak normally, sing or ever play the bugle again.”

McKee proved them wrong.

The weekly tribute is especially poignant to Taylor Downing of Martinsville. Her father, Army Pfc. Stephen P. Downing, was killed in combat in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2004.

“It’s amazing that people stop to take time to remember these people," Downing said. "They gave everything for our freedom."

And McKee does remember those who are gone.

“Life and service is a lot. It’s why we can stand out here in the open and do this without worrying. We have the freedom to do it because of them,” McKee said, “This is our way of saying, ‘thank you’ to the loved ones.”

Follow Dawn Mitchell Twitter: @dawn_mitchell61