How to fire artillery salutes

One Hand Clapping ^ | 6/12/2004 | Donald Sensing

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Ceremonial artillery is a precise endeavor

I think that at every arrival and departure points of Ronald Reagan's remains during his funeral week there was a 21-gun salute fired by either Army or Marine gunners.

When I was a battery commander in 3d Armored Division in Germany, my battery was the division's salute battery. We did a number of salutes for V Corps Headquarters, so we might have been the salute battery for the whole corps, too.

My battalion was equipped with M109A3, self-propelled, 155mm howitzers.

Because salutes fire blank rounds (duh!) separate loading ammunition - the propellant and the projectile are separate - cannot be used. With no projectile, all firing bags of propellant in the M109-series guns would do is shoot a mass of flame out the muzzle. Not only is this dangerous to everyone around, it endangers the crew and wreaks havoc on the interior of the barrel.

Salute rounds are brass cannisters with a special charge inside designed to make a loud noise, a bright flash and produce lots of white smoke (tactical artillery ammunition is practically flashless and smokeless).

In Germany, my battery was assigned four 75mm pack howitzers to fire salutes. These date from 1927. Pack artillery, designed to be broken down and carried on muleback, was first used by the US Army in the 1830s. In WW II the 75mm pack was used by Army mountain and airborne units and Marines. It was towed by a jeep.

These guns haven't been manufactured in decades, so getting spare parts for them was always a challenge! My mechanics were very creative in keeping them ready.

Accurate counting is everything in firing salutes properly. Different persons being honored take different numbers of rounds fired. Heads of state get 21 rounds, lesser lights get fewer, according to a protocol worked out over about 200 years.

Of course, salute firing was an extra duty for my battery. We always had to perform our regular mission. Although my battery was the salute battery, manning the four pack howitzers required only a fraction of the soldiers under my command:

On each gun:

– a chief of section who was overall responsible for the gun and his gun's firing. [chief of the piece on a Napoleon]

– a gunner, whose job was the fire the cannon by pulling the lanyard, which released the firing pin to set off the round. This was his only duty once the salute began. [hey, that's MY job]

– a number one cannoneer, who job was to load each round into the cannon's breech. He also had no other duties when the firing began.

Other personnel:

– a chief of battery, a staff sergeant or a sergeant first class, who supervised the firing line and ensured the equipment and soldiers were ready for each salute. He also trained the whole team.

– an officer in charge (my XO, not me) who exercised actual command of the salute battery when performing ceremonies. (Although the artillery battery I commanded had salute battery duties, I assigned the salute sections to be commanded by my XO.)

– a smart NCO to count the rounds fired. For a 21-gun salute (which we never fired) the counter would signal the end is near by about-facing at round 19 and loudly announcing,"Nineteen!" to the chief of battery. On the next round the chief of battery faces about and announces, "Twenty!" This signals the XO to order one more round fired.

– a timer, equipped with a stopwatch, whose job was to ensure the correct interval between rounds was maintained - five seconds for funerals (we never did a funeral) and three seconds for all other occasions. After each round, the timer called, "One, two, three!" and on the word, "three," the XO signaled the next gun to fire.

We also took along several artillery and automotive mechanics who hopefully would have nothing to do. Alas, they were always employed.

Before the salute began, each chief ensured his gun and crew were ready, then faced the XO and raised his right hand straight up. When all guns signaled ready the XO raised his arm likewise. This signaled the ceremony commander (aka, "commander of troops", COT) that the battery was ready.

During the ceremony, the COT would present the ceremony's troops to the honoree by rendering a hand salute. When the XO saw the COT's hand approach his headgear, he would drop his arm at gun number one, which was the gun farthest to the XO's right. The section chief would drop his arm and the gunner would fire the gun. (In actuality, we just had the gunner fire when he saw the XO drop his arm.) Once the gun was reloaded and ready, the section chief would assume the raised-arm position, signaling the XO the gun was again ready.

With three-second intervals, each section had 12 seconds to reload, recock and assume the ready position that visually informed the XO gun in action. For a well-trained crew, 12 seconds is plenty of time to do that and for the section chief ensure all is proper. But when something on the gun broke during the firing sequence, which happened with distressing frequency, the pucker factor went up real fast. The section chief's race against the clock was relentless because the precision of the interval had to be kept!

If the chief decided the gun was out of action, he instantly would order all the crew, including himself, to kneel on one knee, facing the XO, and fold their arms across their chests. The chief of battery, who continually scanned the line, would notice and announce to the XO, "Gun One [or two, three, four] out of action!" the XO would know to skip it and proceed immediately to the next gun.

So each section knew he didn't really have 12 seconds to get ready to fire, they really had only nine. So the crews were very busy. There was one salute we fired with four guns beginning and two guns ending! It was, shall we say, exciting!

Occasionally the gunner would pull the lanyard and the round would not fire. Rare, but it did happen. (The ammo was as old as the guns.) When that happened we told the gunner, who would realize the misfire first, instantly to announce loudly, "Misfire!" The gunner of the next gun would hear and immediately fire with no further command. Three seconds between rounds was all we had!

A misfire always put a gun out of action because misfire procedures required 10 minutes to elapse before the breech could be opened to minimize the chance of a "cookoff" in which the propellant might be burning but not yet exploded. Extracting a misfired round was always very dicey but fortunately they were rare and caused no injuries.

I was especially proud of my salute crews because not one of them was an artilleryman. I assigned mechanics, cooks, supply clerks and other support soldiers to salute-gun duties. They performed magnificently, and at ceremonies the commander of troops and the honoree were always amazed that the salute was not fired by real artillerymen! The only actual artillerymen there were the XO, the chief of battery and the counter.

Not long before my command tour was over, the division-artillery commander reassigned salute duties to another unit on his own kaserne in Hanau. Since we were stationed near Giessen, 55 kilometers away from division headquarters in Frankfurt, the move made a lot of sense, and frankly, we shed no tears to give the salute duties away.

[stainlessbanner]

get over here

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Great post. Thanks, Cannoneer No. 4.

Given President Reagan's love of military tradition, this thread is fitting, bold.

A young boy awaits the arrival of the Presidential motorcade at the gate of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., June 7, 2004. On June 9, Reagan's body will be flown to Washington, D.C., where it will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. A state funeral will be conducted the morning of June 11 at the Washington National Cathedral, where President Bush will give the eulogy. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Arlo K. Abrahamson

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PRESIDENT'S OWN — The U.S. Marine Corps band, called "The President's Own," escorts the body of former President Ronald Reagan to the Capitol Rotunda, in Washington, June 9, 2004. Reagan's remains will lie in state for public viewing until June 11. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Aaron Peterson 

 

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PRESIDENTIAL ESCORT — U.S. Army soldiers escort former President Ronald Reagan's casket to the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, June 9, 2004. The former president died June 5 in his home in California. Reagan's body will lie in state in the rotunda June 10. A state funeral will be conducted June 11 at the Washington National Cathedral, where President Bush will give the eulogy. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Robert R. McRill 

 

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Photo Essay 1
Photo Essay 2

 

    Customs of Military Funerals Reflect History, Tradition

[TASMANIANRED]

Yep they should have shot 21 liberals out of the arty....the clintons gore kerry feingold mcain


That was an excellent suggestion,
Considering that I saw at least 5 salutes , there would have been 105 fewer liberal politicians in DC . Thats what I call a good start.

[prophetic]

bump

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

[dts32041]

I worked salute batteries at Ft. Monroe, VA. Extra gun in place if one fails. They pick up the slack. If gun two fails all additional rounds are move to the two working guns.

Of course the the 1842 12lbs we had were a little trickier.

Yeah I learned to swab a muzzle loader and do manual at arms with a brown bess, carter army don't you know.

[SandRat]

Having served in DIVARTY, 1st INF (MECH) I took to read the posting several times and enjoyed it more each time.

Thanks.

[BurbankKarl]

I thought they were shelling Streisands pad up in Malibu.

[GreyFriar]

I'll have to look it up on Monday, as my artillery reference books are at work, but I think that the "Pack 75" that you used was developed shortly before WWII.

I remember my father-in-law talking about how he trained on WWI French 75's during the 1930s while taking ROTC at Purdue University.

[MountainPatriot]

I have one question concerning overseas salutes--yesterday, 21-gun salutes will sounded at noon on each military according to local time zone. Then, at sunset a 50-gun salute was given what is the significance of that...I understand the 21-gun salute, but a 50-gun salute would have to be extraordinary.

Just let me know...

[PokeyJoe]

ya gotta get one of them there permits elmer.

[OldCorps]

The Marine folding the flag slipped and fell into the grave under the casket carrying the flag with him. He had to be helped out of the grave covered with mud.

Lol, guess he had a bad day.

[fatima]

Ragtime Cowgirl,Bump.

[OldCorps]

Enjoyed reading your post. I was stationed in Weisbaden, 4th bde, 4th ID (assigned to 8th ID). When were you in FRG?

Regards,

[vetvetdoug]

The summer of 1975 I was a member of a USAF Honor Guard and at a funeral at one of the cemeteries in New Orleans the ground underneath me gave way and I went into the grave. Luckily the other five's ground held and were able to set the casket onto the stand. We kept our composure and I crawled out and took my place and everything went on as planned. The M-16s' were notorious for malfunctioning and at the 21 gun salutes many times half fired the second and third volleys. Placing a casket in the top of some of the mausoleums in New Orleans created many problems as to how to get the casket placed right with smart military action and practicality. We came close to watching a casket slide back off the top at one funeral but lucky for us with the help of the officer and the two guards that accompanied the flagbearers we got the casket back to the top. New Orleans is always muddy and the graves in the ground unstable and the mausoleums treacherous. I could write a book on the things that happened.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[OldCorps]

Does anyone know the current procedures for burial of vets? I've heard that with the army overcommitted, taps is being played as a cassette over a loudspeaker, and RC units are now doing the details for burial (which was once done by active duty units). Anyone got the info on this? Just curious.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Of course the the 1842 12lbs we had were a little trickier.

One of these?

[NonValueAdded]

And the number of states is .....

[vetvetdoug]

There were two versions of the 1841 12 Pounders, Cast iron founded at West Point and the 1841 12 pounder field guns, bronze, from Alger and Ames. The bronze 1841 12 pounder tube weighed 1800 pounds and took a 3# black powder charge. I used to own one. The carriage was larger than the one for the 12# Napoleon and was a bitch to pull behind a six horse hitch. The dolphins were a nice touch but was just added weight to the tube. We used flour in front of the gunpowder to make the bang louder and give lots of smoke. I lost the gun in a divorce....women take the most valuable thing a man owns...Gee I miss my cannon.