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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Not all buried soldiers
eligible for gun volleysQuestion: My uncle, who passed away recently, was a World War II veteran who fought in Italy and France with the 100th Battalion. Funeral services were held at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe, but there was no 21-gun salute. There were only two soldiers who did the flag thing. The troops deploying is a poor excuse for not having a gun salute. How about getting reservists or the National Guard to fill in? Can someone address this issue so proper respect will be shown to our veterans? My uncle was awarded a Purple Heart and other medals while he was in the service.
Answer: Very few people, the president of the United States among them, are accorded a 21-gun salute.
STAR-BULLETIN / 2002
A bugler, part of a funeral honor team, blows taps at Punchbowl. Funeral honor teams consist of soldiers acting as pallbearers, a bugler, flag folders, a flag presenter and a firing party of between five and eight members.
Such a salute actually is not a part of military funerals.
The firing of 21 guns in honor of the U.S. president was first noted in U.S. Navy regulations in 1818, although gun salutes were being used much earlier.
Today, according to the Navy's Naval Historical Center, "The national salute of 21 guns is fired in honor of a national flag, the 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, ex-president, or president-elect, on Washington's Birthday, Presidents Day, and the Fourth of July. On Memorial Day, a salute of 21 minute guns (shot at one-minute intervals) is fired at noon while the flag is flown at half mast."
Meanwhile, the firing of shots at the funerals of veterans involve between five and eight members of a firing party each firing three rifle volleys. (We'll explain that later.)
While there were never 21-gun salutes attached to military burials, until recently, all deceased veterans were given some kind of gun firing as part of their funeral honors.
That changed on Jan. 5.
Because of the deployment of active duty, reserve and National Guard military members to Iraq and Afghanistan, a change took effect that day regarding funeral honors for veterans, explained Carswell J. Ross Jr., veterans services coordinator with the state Office of Veterans Services.
Military honors provided depend on the category of the deceased military member, he said.
Currently, a firing party is assigned to the funerals of active duty personnel, retired military (those with 20 or more years of service) and Medal of Honor recipients.
The funeral honor team consists of six soldiers who do double-duty as pallbearers, a bugler playing "Taps," flag folders, flag presenter and firing party at the services for those three categories of veterans.
A three-soldier funeral honor team, serving as bugler, flag folders and flag presenter, is present for the services of other veterans (such as those who serve for three years). There is no firing party at these funerals.
Under federal law (Section 578 of public law 106-65), the commanding general of the Army's 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, has the overall responsibility regarding funerals for veterans, according to Ross.
Les Stewart, chief of the Army's Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Branch at Schofield Barracks, noted that cutbacks in the funeral honors provided veterans actually date back to 2000.
"Before that, the veterans got the firing detail, they also got the bugler and they had an individual provide the flag to the next of kin," he said.
In January 2000, a new federal law resulted in cutbacks.
"The new public law, at that time, only required two individuals to be present for the services of a veteran," Stewart said.
However, the commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division, at that time, "said that, based on tradition and custom with the people in Hawaii, we were not going to change anything. And this was the commander's call," Stewart said.
Because the situation has changed again with the recent deployment of troops, "based on a recommendation from the (commanding general)," cutbacks were made, but making sure "we stayed within the public law," he said.
"This is throughout the United States," Stewart said. "Everybody has converted to this."
Regarding the use of reservists, Stewart credited the Army Reserve's 9th Readiness Group with providing personnel, on a number of occasions, "for off-island burials, especially on the weekends, to keep the costs down."
He said he has also asked the National Guard several times for help, but so far that has not happened.
Regarding the 21-gun salute, "We've got to stop saying 21-gun salute," Stewart said.
Asked where 21 came from, he said people probably came up with that figure because there sometimes are seven members in a firing party, each firing three volleys, so, "3 times 7 is 21."
But the regulations actually say, "no less than five, no more than eight" in the firing party, he said. Officials have cut that number down to five members, "to stay within the guidelines of the regulation," each of whom fire three volleys.
Auwe
Talk about the confusing Keolu Drive markings (Kokua Line, March 28): Try driving up Palama Street, going mauka from Tamashiro's Market and look at the road lines when crossing North Vineyard. -- No Name
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