Don Foreman wrote:

it is astounding that you militaristic bigots feel that receiving the
medal, along with a speech honoring his actions is insufficient, and
that a civilian must give a gratuitous and unnatural hand gesture to
appease YOUR misplaced sense of honor. The good sergeant can speak for
himself if he feels offended. I honor his actions. You are attempting
to impugn his honor and this country with trivialities. Perhaps you
have forgotten that at this time we are a country governed by civilians.
If you want a country where salutes are mandatory, there are countries
where the military is in charge - take your idiocy there and begone.

You were obviously never in the military. The hand salute is an
obligatory gesture when an enlisted man meets an officer, but it is
intended as a gesture of respect rather than obsequience. Military
courtesy requires the officer return the salute smartly and correctly.

Perhaps the President, while being CIC but having never served
himself, may have felt that he did not deserve or was not qualified
to render the hand salute to a heroic soldier.

Or perhaps, in his role as Commander In Chief, he regards himself as
above military courtesy to the soldiers under his command.

He does seem to know how to bow to foreign dignitaries.

I've been trying to avoid this stuff but our current President is showing his lack of
immersion in our American culture.

The Medal of Honor is a above and beyond award where some one put them self at incredible
risk to in order to prevail. Quite often this award is delivered posthumosly.

To sum it up, saluting the medal is paying respect to those that went further than
expected and often gave up their last measure of devotion serving our country. Pretty
simple to understand for those that served.

Wes