Military Funeral Honors and Customs

Military Funeral Honors and Customs Military Funeral Honors and Customs As with the military itself, our armed forces final farewell to comrades is steeped in tradition and ceremony. Prominent in a military funeral is the flag-draped casket. The blue field of the flag is placed at the head of the casket, over the left shoulder of the deceased. The custom began in the Napoleonic Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries when a flag was used to cover the dead as they were taken from the battlefield on a caisson. During a military funeral, the horses that pull the caisson which bears the body of the veteran are all saddled, but the horses on the left have riders, while the horses on the right do not. This custom evolved from the days when horse-drawn caissons were the primary means of moving artillery ammunition and cannon, and the riderless horses carried provisions. The single riderless horse that follows the caisson with boots reversed in the stirrups is called the caparisoned horse in reference to its ornamental coverings, which have a detailed protocol all to themselves. By tradition in military funeral honors, a caparisoned horse follows the casket of an Army or Marine Corps officer who was a colonel or above, or the casket of a president, by virtue of having been the nations military commander in chief. Abraham Lincoln, who was killed in 1865, was the first U.S. president to be honored with a caparisoned horse at his funeral. The 21-Gun Salute Graveside military honors include the firing of three volleys each by seven service members. This commonly is confused with an entirely separate honor, the 21-gun salute. But the number of individual gun firings in both honors evolved the same way. The three volleys came from an old battlefield custom. The two warring sides would cease hostilities to clear their dead from the battlefield, and the firing of three volleys meant that the dead had been properly cared for and the side was ready to resume the battle. The 21-gun salute traces its roots to the Anglo-Saxon empire, when seven guns constituted a recognized naval salute, as most naval vessels had seven guns. Because gunpowder in those days could be more easily stored on land than at sea, guns on land could fire three rounds for every one that could be fired by a ship at sea. Later, as gunpowder and storage methods improved, salutes at sea also began using 21 guns. The U.S.  at first used one round for each state, attaining the 21-gun salute by 1818. The nation reduced its salute to 21 guns in 1841, and formally adopted the 21-gun salute at the suggestion of the British in 1875. Service for Deceased President A U.S. presidential death also involves other ceremonial gun salutes and military traditions. On the day after the death of the president, a former president or president-elect,  the commanders of Army installations traditionally order that one gun is fired every half hour, beginning at reveille and ending at a retreat. On the day of burial, a 21-minute gun salute traditionally is fired starting at noon at all military installations with the necessary personnel and material. Also on the day of burial, those installations will fire a 50-gun salute - one round for each state - at five- second intervals immediately following lowering of the flag. The playing of Ruffles and Flourishes announces the arrival of a flag officer or other dignitary of honor. Drums play the ruffles, and bugles play the flourishes â€" one flourish for each star of the flag officers rank or as appropriate for the honorees position or title. Four flourishes are the highest honor. When played for a president, Ruffles and Flourishes is followed by Hail to the Chief. The Playing of Taps The bugle call Taps originated in the Civil War with the Army of the Potomac. Union Army Brig. Gen. Daniel Butterfield didnt like the bugle call that signaled soldiers in the camp to put out the lights and go to sleep, and worked out the melody of Taps with his brigade bugler, Pvt. Oliver Wilcox Norton. The call later came into another use as a figurative call to the sleep of death for soldiers. Another military honor dates back only to the 20th century. The missing-man formation usually is a four-aircraft formation with the No. 3 aircraft either missing or performing a pull-up maneuver and leaving the formation to signify a lost comrade in arms. While this can change slightly from service  to service and is based on preferences of family members, the standard sequence of events for a military funeral at  Arlington National Cemetery  is usually as follows: The caisson or hearse arrives at the grave site, everyone presents arms. The casket team secures the casket, and the chaplain leads the way to the gravesite. The casket team sets down the casket and secures the flag. The flag is stretched out and level and centered over the casket.   After the chaplain performs the service, and before the benediction, the gun salute is fired (when appropriate).  The officer in charge  presents arms to initiate the rifle volley, then the bugler plays Taps. The flag is folded and presented to the next of kin. The only person remaining at the grave is one soldier, the vigil. His mission is to watch over the body until it is interred into the ground. Information derived from the Army News Service.