The salute is an centuries old custom that is rendered, and returned, as a form of greeting. The regulation salute is rendered by an enlisted sailor to any officer when they meet. The participants are normally in uniform, and in the Navy, a salute is only given while wearing a hat. To keep from wasting a lot of time, onboard ship a salute is rendered only on the occasion of the first encounter of the day. Since most such encounters occur when the men are in formation at morning quarters saluting on board ship is simply not done most of the time. Encounters with the Captain are an exception. Enlisted sailors do not salute one another. New recruits were often taught to look for the gold band on an officers hat as a clue that the wearer should be saluted.
Navy regulations used to say that a junior should salute a senior whenever passing close enough to identify him. During the Vietnam War it was not uncommon for an enlisted sailor to cross the street in order to avoid passing close enough so that a salute would be required. That’s why the situation I am about to describe was special to me.
I was returning to my ship in the evening, and in civilian clothes. Two sailors from my ship were coming down the pier on the opposite side. When they recognized me they crossed over to my side of the pier and rendered a smart salute accompanied by a verbal “Good Evening, Mister Wetherhorn!”. The men were not part of my department. I was aware that I had a reputation on board for being strict, but fair, and that there were many crew members who valued that. But this particular greeting was important to me because the men concerned could just as easily have stayed on the other side of the pier, I wasn’t in uniform, and the men were not under my direct command. It was just a voluntary expression of respect for an officer they felt deserved it. Because of that the event has remained in my memory over many years.
Wetherhorn 