US Naval Funeral Question

I had to attend a funeral for a retired naval person and have a question about one of the military procedures.
ok, here goes...
After the flag was folded and handed to the person to present the flag (NOIC)?, the last one doing the flag fold rendered a salute where the thumb was run down the bridge of the nose as the salute was released.

What did that act signify?

[edit on 1/6/2005 by Notme]