Through the years, Memphis in May has played host to international Ambassadors, exhibits and performance troupes from 38 countries, including Japan (1977 & 1986), Canada (1978 & 2016), Germany (1979), Venezuela (1980), Egypt (1981), The Netherlands (1982 & 2001), Israel (1983), Mexico (1984), Australia (1985), China (1987), The United Kingdom (1988), Kenya (1989), France (1990), New Zealand (1991), Italy (1992), Russia (1993), Cote d’Ivoire (1994), Thailand (1995), Brazil (1997), Portugal (1998), Morocco (1999), India (2000), Argentina (2002), South Korea (2003), South Africa (2004), Ireland (2005), Costa Rica (2006), Spain (2007), Turkey (2008), Chile (2009), Tunisia (2010), Belgium (2011), The Philippines (2012), Sweden (2013), Panama (2014), Poland (2015), Colombia (2017), Czech Republic (2018), Ghana (2022), Malaysia (2023), and France (2024). In 2019, the tradition was broken to celebrate Memphis and mark the city’s bicentennial.

The International Salute has included many firsts throughout the years: the first time France’s famous Lido dancers performed outside their country during the French salute in 1990, a visit by the Maori queen during 1991’s salute to New Zealand, North America’s largest military tattoo at the Pyramid during 1993’s salute to Russia, and the planting of 120,000 tulip bulbs during the second celebration of the Netherlands in 2001.