Photography by John Michael

Back in May 2008, I was allowed to visit and photograph another salute battery located at FT Monroe, VA.

In speaking with a previous commander of the Presidential Salute Battery of the 3d Infantry regiment of the US Army – The Old Guard, who commanded them in the 1980′s, he mentioned that he saw a battery there at one of the oldest fortified locations in the United States. And that they fired a different gun than what is used in “THE BIGGEST GUNS of THE OLD GUARD”

I was thrilled to learn of this, since it would provide me a comparison with that I could use and provide additional learning of how salutes are carried out in different locations.

After several phone calls and logistics of when they were going to fire, I took a field trip down to the Virginia peninsula and spent the day on Fort Monroe. The first mission they had was a retirement ceremony and in attendance was a 3 star general, who the battery was to fire a corresponding 15 gun salute.

Getting on post was a bit easier than here in the Washington DC area. It was the drive that was the challenge since the ceremony began at 0900. I was up and out by 0400 just to make sure that I had plenty of time to do some reconnaissance and get familiar with the area.

Fort Monroe, VA home of US Army’s TRADOC command, is a very historic location in military history. The current perimeter surrounds one of the rarities in the US Military – Fortress Monroe the largest stone fortification in the United States. Its engineer included a one rather sharp Robert E. Lee who had a residence that was inside the fortress. His contribution included the engineering of the moat that surrounds the fortress. Not too far around the corner so to speak is the chapel of the centurion — the OLDEST wooden structure in continuous use for religious services in the US Army. The construction began in 1856 and it was consecrated in May of 1858.