Wes wrote:

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.

I was at the street corner just today, waiting for the light to change. Some
Highway Patrol guy drove by, eyeing me suspiciously (long hair, scraggly
beard, missing teeth, and dressed like a street bum) I saluted him.

He returned the salute. It felt good. :-)

A salute is just a sign of respect - gentlemen used to tip their hats to
other gentlemen and to ladies; the hand salute was invented when we were
fighting the Redcoats; they had these pristine white hats, but when you load
your blunderbuss with black powder, it gets all over your hands, and soils
the hat. (the military would tip their hat to officers), so they came up
with the salute as a substitute for hat-tipping just to keep the hats
clean.

At least, that's the story I heard. :-)

Once, in South Korea, I was walking back from some detail, and there were
a bunch of ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers walking the other way, and they
kept insisting on saluting ME! I was a buck sergeant at the time (E-4, three
stripes, USAF). It got tiresome returning their salutes and trying to
explain to them that it wasn't necessary, but I didn't know how to
say, "Please don't do that, it makes me uncomfortable" in Korean. :-)

I did, however, learn "Don't Shoot! I know secrets!" for just in case the
Reds came over the hill. ;-P

Cheers!
Rich