Nancy E. Taylor, age 12, of Sarasota, Florida, for her question:

Why do they give 21 gun salutes?

Any salute is a form of courtesy that expresses respect and goodwill. Everyday person to person courtesy calls for a peppering of polite hellos and goodbyes. Military salutes are based on more formal customs. Many young students are curious about the custom behind the 21 gun salute we recently observed to bid our final formal farewells to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Military salutes go way back in history and there is a lot more to them than courteous good manners. Originally the word salute meant health and goodwill    and in the military business actions speak much louder than words. Salutes are formal gestures intended to prove friendly respect and good intentions. A soldier salutes by lifting his right hand to his forehead. In this position, the hand is not free to do anyone harm and the saluting soldier is proving his downright peaceable intentions    just as you do when you shake hands with someone.

In olden days, a regiment kept its colorful flags flying high while the battle lasted. It became the custom to dip the battle colors in salute to show peaceable intentions towards high ranking officers and visiting dignitaries. And in olden days, naval vessels dipped their sails in salute. This gesture of friendly respect proved that the ship was in no shape to execute a brisk aggressive maneuver.

All these salutes are symbols of personal disarmament. Hence it was natural to go farther and demonstrate that the actual weapons were disarmed. This is the origin of firing off gun salutes. When a high ranking visitor arrived, the guns were fired from nearby ships and forts. In those days, reloading cannon took time. After a salute of guns the visitors felt quite safe, at least for a while.

To military men, disarming themselves to show their goodwill was a very big thing. Through the centuries, these salutes became serious gestures of formal respect. The first gun salute made by a foreign nation to a top ranking American was fired on May 8, 1783. Young America had just been through a long, hard war and whacked the British in a fair fight. General George Washington went aboard the British ship Ceres in New York harbor to arrange for the evacuation of stranded English citizens. And Sir Guy Carleton, captain of the Ceres, ordered the firing of a 17 gun salute in Washington's honor. Historians suspect that the courteous captain would have fired 21 guns but that he did not have that many aboard. Let's hope that someboby thought to warn our General Washington of this courteous salute in advance.

Later, larger ships carried more cannon and international customs were established for gun salutes. Nowadays blanks are fired in place of live ammunition. The 21 gun salute is a tribute of respect to the head of a state or government. A 19 gun salute is fired to honor an ambassador or cabinet member, an admiral or general. Persons of lesser rank are saluted with 17 or 15, 13 or 11, seven or five guns. The odd numbers were chosen because suspicious old timers suspected that even numbers were unlucky.

Gestures of courteous respect add human dignity to all important events. Perhaps they convey the most meaning to us when a great person dies. Certainly the 21 gun salutes fired to honor President Eisenhower meant a lot to Andy and his young readers. Our great American patriot was the best kind of soldier because he was a truly courteous person. He would have appreciated your warm response to his 21 gun salute.