At 2:22 p.m. Monday, the sound of taps echoed across the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 76 as veterans, elected officials and community members bowed their heads in remembrance of service members who lost their lives to suicide.

The ceremony marked Texas Veteran Suicide Prevention Day, designated by lawmakers during the 88th state legislative session in 2023, alongside the beginning of a suicide prevention campaign by the Texas Veterans Commission.

The Sept. 22 date was chosen to reflect the longstanding estimate that 22 veterans die by suicide each day.

That figure has become a rallying cry, though the most recent reporting from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs put the number at 6,407 in 2022 , which is an average of 17.6 deaths per day.

While the numbers have shifted, the “22

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