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<DIV>Memorial day is May 30 and would like to share with you some military
customs I hope you find interesting. Let us not forget those who gave their all
for our freedom.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dick Schmidt</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<H3 align=center>Military Funeral Customs</H3>
<H5><FONT face=Arial>The practice of draping the casket with the national flag:
</FONT></H5>
<P><FONT face=Arial>This custom began during the Napoleonic Wars (1796-1815).
The dead carried from the field of battle on a caisson were covered with flags.
When the U.S. flag covers the casket, it is placed so the union blue field is at
the head and over the left shoulder. It is not placed in the grave and is not
allowed to touch the ground.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT face=Arial></FONT></P>
<H5><FONT face=Arial>Flags for military funerals: </FONT></H5>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Flags are provided for burial services of service members
and veterans. The flag for one who dies on active duty is provided by one's
branch of service. Flags for other veterans are provided by the Department of
Veterans Affairs. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>The flag is presented to the next of kin at the end of the
funeral, usually by the military chaplain. If there is no next of kin present,
the flag may be presented to the veteran's close friend or associate if
requested. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>The flags that draped the caskets of the Unknown Soldiers
are on display in the Memorial Display Room of the Memorial Amphitheater.
</FONT></P>
<H5><FONT face=Arial>The practice of firing cannon salutes: </FONT></H5>
<P><FONT face=Arial>The custom of firing cannon salutes originated in the
British Navy. When a cannon was fired, it partially disarmed the ship.
Therefore, firing a cannon in salute symbolizes respect and trust. </FONT></P>
<H5><FONT face=Arial>The practice of firing three rifle volleys over the grave:
</FONT></H5>
<P><FONT face=Arial>This practice originated in the old custom of halting the
fighting to remove the dead from the battlefield. Once each army had cleared its
dead, it would fire three volleys to indicate that the dead had been cared for
and that they were ready to go back to the fight. The fact that the firing party
consists of seven riflemen, firing three volleys does not constitute a 21-gun
salute. </FONT></P>
<H5><FONT face=Arial>21-Gun salute: </FONT></H5>
<P><FONT face=Arial>All personal salutes may be traced to the prevailing use in
earlier days to ensure that the saluter placed himself in an unarmed position.
Salute by gunfire is a most-ancient ceremony. The British for years compelled
weaker nations to make the first salute, but in time international practice
compelled "Gun for Gun" in the principle of an equality of nations. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>In the earliest days, seven guns was a recognized British
National Salute. Those early regulations stated that, although a ship could fire
only seven guns, the forts could fire for honors three shots to one shot afloat.
In that day powder of sodium nitrate was easier to keep on shore than at sea. In
time, when the quality of gun powder improved by the use of potassium nitrate,
the sea salute was made equal to the shore salute — 21 guns as the highest
national honor. Although for a period of time, monarchies received more guns
than republics, eventually republics claimed equality. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>There was much confusion caused by the varying customs of
maritime states, but finally the British government proposed to the United
States a regulation that provided for "Salute to be Returned Gun for Gun." The
British at that time officially considered the international salute to be 21
guns and the United States adopted the 21-gun and "Gun for Gun Return" Aug. 17,
1875. Previous to that time, our national salute was one gun for each state. The
practice was also a result of usage — John Paul Jones saluted France with 13
guns (one for each state) at Quiberon Bay when the Stars and Stripes received
its first salute. This practice was not authorized until 1810. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>By the admission of states to the Union, the salute reached
21 guns by 1818. In 1841, the national salute was reduced to 21 guns. In fact,
the 1875 adoption of the British suggestion because a formal announcement that
the United States recognized 21 guns as an international salute. </FONT></P>
<H5><FONT face=Arial>"Taps": </FONT></H5>
<P><FONT face=Arial>"Taps" is an American call, composed by the Union Army's
Brig. Gen. Daniel Butterfield while in camp at Harrison's Landing, Va., in 1862.
Butterfield wrote the call to replace the earlier "Tattoo" (lights out), which
he thought too formal. The call soon became known as "Taps," because it was
often tapped out on a drum in the absence of a bugler. Before the year was out,
sounding Taps became the practice in Northern and Southern camps. The call was
officially adopted by the U.S. Army in 1874. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Col. James A. Moss, in his Officer's Manual first published
in 1911, gives this account of the initial use of Taps at a military funeral:
</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial>"During the Peninsular Campaign in 1862, a
soldier of Tidball's Battery A of the 2nd Artillery was buried at a time when
the battery occupied an advanced position concealed in the woods. It was unsafe
to fire the customary three volleys over the grave, on account of the proximity
of the enemy, and it occurred to Capt. Tidball that the sounding of Taps would
be the most appropriate ceremony that could be substituted. The custom, thus
originated, was taken up throughout the Army of the Potomac and finally
confirmed by orders." </FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>