Non-US Citizen Veterans

by Alex Menchaca
(Johnson City TN USA)

So, according to this ACT, what are non US citizen Veterans to do? Are non-US citizen servicemen or women free to do as they wish? Stand at attention only, Salute, or place right hand over your heart? I just want to see what your thoughts and comments are about this matter.

Alex,

Thank you for participating in our discussion about appropriate respect for our flag, and for this interesting question.

The language of the act says "veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute."

It makes no distinction between citizen veterans and non-citizen veterans. Our reading of that would be that non-citizen veterans are entitled to take the action of their choice, just as other veterans. We would think they may salute the flag as any other veteran, or simply stand at attention as citizens of other countries are supposed to do when the Stars & Stripes is presented.

Please understand this is our personal opinion only, and not any sort of official guidance, which we were unable to find. This is one of those instances where common sense must come into play.

As an aside, we wonder how many non-citizen veterans there might be, since military service is often an avenue to citizenship. If any of our readers has any information on this topic, please let us hear from you.