Tom
learned to play bugle at age 7. While at Taft, he marched with the Cavaliers
Drum and Bugle Corps and hosted his own TV show, “Time for Teens”, on WGN TV, as
well as a Sunday dance party at the Chez Parie night club. He helped fellow Taft
student Ral Donner launch his singing career.
A veteran of the US Marine Corps, he later served as photographer and public
relations officer for units based at Glenview Naval Air Base, as a senior
squadron commander for the USAF Civil Air Patrol, and as a volunteer instructor
for several Northwest side Army ROTC drill teams.
Tom worked in the financial industry, helping banks to forestall foreclosures, developing real estate law for Illinois, and worked for the Illinois lottery.
Most notable, however, in 2001 he founded Bugles Across America, a volunteer
organization with the mission of providing every deceased veteran with a bugler
to play “Taps”. He provides bugles and dress uniforms to buglers who have none,
and recruits volunteers from school bands to Scout troops.