Jun 9, 2023 1 min read

In your May 30 edition, your reporter repeated a common fallacy. The salute given at graveside is a “three-volley salute,” not a 21-gun salute. The 21-gun salute is fired by cannons or other land or naval artillery, and the shots are fired one after the other. Rifle volleys are fired at the same time, ideally by seven honor squad members.

Twenty-one-gun salutes are reserved for presidents, heads of state and royalty, and used on certain patriotic occasions. Fewer shots are fired for vice presidents and other dignitaries.

Putting the lie to the caption in the Observer-Reporter about a “21-gun salute” is that there were only five riflemen, not seven. With diminishing numbers of Legionnaires and other honor squad members, fewer than seven rifles is becoming almost the norm.

Joseph Bogo

Avella