Military Funeral Customs
The practice of draping the casket with
the national flag:
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.
Flags for military funerals:
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.
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.
The flags that draped the caskets of the
Unknown Soldiers are on display in the Memorial Display Room
of the Memorial Amphitheater.
The practice of firing cannon salutes:
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.
The practice of firing three rifle volleys
over the grave:
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.
21-Gun salute:
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.
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.
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.
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.
"Taps":
"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.
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:
"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."
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