21-gun salute

A 21-gun salute is the most commonly recognized of the customary gun salutes that are performed by the firing of cannons or artillery as a military honor.

The custom stems from naval tradition, where a warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea, until all ammunition was spent, to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent. As naval customs evolved, 21 guns came to be fired for heads of state, or in exceptional circumstances for head of government, with the number decreasing with the rank of the recipient of the honor.

While the 21-gun salute is the most commonly recognized, the number of rounds fired in any given salute will vary depending on the conditions. Circumstances affecting these variations include the particular occasion and, in the case of military and state funerals, the branch of service, and rank (or office) of the person to whom honors are being rendered.

History

The tradition of saluting can be traced to the Late Middle Ages practice of placing oneself in an unarmed position and, therefore, in the power of those being honored. This may be noted in the dropping of the point of the sword, presenting arms, discharging cannon and small arms by firing them, lowering sails, manning the yards, removing the headdress or laying on oars.

Salute

A salute is a gesture or other action used to display respect. Salutes are primarily associated with armed forces, but other organisations and civilians also use salutes.

Military salutes

In military traditions of various times and places, there have been numerous methods of performing salutes, using hand gestures, cannon or rifle shots, hoisting of flags, removal of headgear, or other means of showing respect or deference. In the Commonwealth of Nations, only commissioned officers are saluted, and the salute is to the commission they carry from their respective commanders-in-chief representing the Monarch, not the officers themselves.

The French salute is almost identical to the British Army's. The customary salute in the Polish Armed Forces is the two-fingers salute, a variation of the British military salute with only two fingers extended. In the Russian military, the right hand, palm down, is brought to the right temple, almost, but not quite, touching; the head has to be covered. In the Swedish armed forces, the salute is identical to that of the U.S. armed forces and the Royal Navy. In the Hellenic Army salute the palm is facing down and the fingers point to the coat of arms.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May, originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois — established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

Annual Decoration Days for particular cemeteries are held on a Sunday in late spring or early summer in some rural areas of the American South, notably in the mountain areas. In cases involving a family graveyard where remote ancestors as well as those who were deceased more recently are buried, this may take on the character of an extended family reunion to which some people travel hundreds of miles. People gather on the designated day and put flowers on graves and renew contacts with relatives and others. There often is a religious service and a picnic-like "dinner on the ground," the traditional term for a potluck meal in which people used to spread the dishes out on sheets or tablecloths on the grass. It is believed that this practice began before the American Civil War and thus may reflect the real origin of the "memorial day" idea.

List of national cemeteries

The following is a partial list of prominent National Cemeteries:

Africa

Liberia

Asia

China

Indonesia

Iran

Israel

Japan

Malaysia

Mongolia

North Korea

Philippines

South Korea

Thailand

Turkey

Vietnam

Europe

Croatia

The Old Guard

The Old Guard was an American magazine published from 1863 to 1867 by Charles Chauncey Burr in New York City. Burr was a staunch enemy of the American Civil War as well as a defender of slavery. The first edition of the magazine opened with an unsigned article on the cost of war to the Northern states, and its second article, written and signed by Burr, attacks and scorns noted abolitionists such as Henry Ward Beecher, warning that they might "turn our country into an African jungle."

Burr, who was an intimate friend of Edgar Allan Poe, used the magazine to publish a number of articles advocating Poe and later defending his reputation (all the while attacking Poe's critical biographer, Rufus Wilmot Griswold). In 1869, he stopped editing the magazine and his position was taken over by Thomas Dunn English, who had an ongoing feud with Poe and published two anti-Poe and pro-Griswold articles in the magazine, the second one of which was published in the magazine's last issue, October 1870.