At the Memorial Day Rolling Thunder event in 2002, Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers thanked the thousands of veterans riding motorcycles by marching into the center of the road and “popping up a salute.”

Since then, the man—known as “The Saluting Marine”
—has become a major draw at the yearly march in Washington, DC, where he honors fallen soldiers with a torturous, hours-long salute.

Chambers’ commitment to the cause moves many people, and they express their gratitude by giving him hugs, tears, or salutes. Millions of people across the world were moved by what a female soldier did after stopping her blue sportster next to the Saluting Marine in 2012.

Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers snapped his right hand into a hard salute that precisely matched his brow, slammed his heels together, and lined his fist with the seam of his trousers.