Reader: Rifle volley, not 21-gun salute, fired

Dear Editor:

I came across one of your stories on the Internet and I do realize that sometimes you are just reprinting the information you are given. However, I’m just offering the following only as information for future reference.

One of the customs rendered at a memorial for deceased veterans would be a rifle volley, not a 21-gun salute. The two customs are often confused and misidentified, even among veterans, but are distinctly different traditions with specific origins and meanings.

The 21-gun salute is this nation’s highest protocol gun salute and the only individuals it is rendered to are presidents, heads of state and reigning royalty.

Specifically, 21 guns (cannons firing blank charges 21 times) are fired in salute only in honor of a national flag, as a formal greeting or farewell to a sovereign or chief of state of a foreign nation, a member of a reigning royal family, and the president, ex-president and president-elect of the United States. It is also fired at noon of the day of the funeral of a president, on George Washington’s Birthday, Presidents Day and the Fourth of July.

Lesser gun salutes are also rendered as a formal greeting to military and civilian leaders of this and other nations. The number of guns is based on their protocol rank.

On the other hand, anyone who is entitled to a military funeral (generally anyone who dies on active duty, honorably discharged veterans and military retirees) are entitled to three rifle volleys. This is actually not a gun salute, but a funeral custom.

Charles Goodlin,

former Sgt. First Class