21-gun salute
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.
The custom stems from naval tradition in the sixteenth century,[1] when a warship would show its peaceful intent by firing its cannons harmlessly out to sea until its ammunition was depleted.
[2] Since cannons then required a considerable time to reload, the ship was effectively disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent.
12-gun salutes are fired in three-volley form every year during commemorations of the repatriation of Chinese People's Volunteers soldiers from South Korea.
The number of gun salutes fired at military parades depends on how many years of a specific event it is commemorating.
The day after the birth of Princess Benedikte in 1944 which took place during Nazi Germany's Occupation of Denmark, members of the Danish resistance group Holger Danske performed a salute of 21 bombs in the Ørstedsparken public park in central Copenhagen as a reference to the traditional 21-gun salute performed at the occasion of royal births.
[10] A final 21-gun salute was also fired to honor King Farouk prior to his embarking on the yacht Mahrousa that brought him to exile in Italy in 1952.
[14] The modified 17-gun salute is executed during the commemoration of the precise seconds of the proclamation of the independence of Indonesia on the 17 of August[15] at 10:00 near the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.
[17] In a rare occurrence, the 21-gun salute was given to the former Prime Minister and founding leader Lee Kuan Yew during his state funeral.
The salute is fired from the ceremonial naval gun battery at Colombo Lighthouse - a tradition inherited from prior British influence.
In April 1914, during the Mexican Revolution, the Tampico Affair occurred, and escalated as a result of a twenty-one gun salute (or more specifically, the lack of one).
Nine unarmed U.S. sailors were arrested in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, for entering an off-limit area at a fuel loading station.
The apology was provided, but not the salute, giving President Woodrow Wilson reason to order the U.S. occupation of the port of Veracruz.
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.
