[Mr Ramsbotham]

I spent the entirety of my youth as a military dependent living on military installations, from the 1950s through the early 1970s, and we knew the protocol for the playing of the Anthem. Placing the hand over the heart was never part of the protocol. I don't know where this came from, but the placing of the hand over the heart is meant to symbolize fidelity, which is why it's used for the Pledge of Allegiance.

What gets my goat with the Anthem as it's rendered at sporting events nowadays is the singing of it either as a pop-rock piece, or a funeral dirge, with the athletes bowing their heads as if in prayer. None of those things, to my mind, are in keeping with the spirit of the Anthem.

[BIV]

As a civilian, I was taught to place my hand over my heart for the Pledge, but to stand at attention with my hat off for the Anthem. As far as I know, there has never been any protocol requiring that one place his hand over his heart during the Anthem.
Further, I was taught not to applaud at the conclusion of the Anthem.
It’s was not about the performer, at least in those (better) days.