COINS LEFT ON TOMBSTONES

When you are visiting some cemeteries, especially National Cemeteries, you may notice that some headstones marking some of the graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.  Well, here is a purported story, and I think it's a good one!

These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those who gave their life while serving in America's military, and these meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.

A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave to pay respect.

Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you visited.

A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp together.

A dime means you served with him in some capacity.

A quarter left at the grave tells the family that you were with the solider when he was killed.

According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are put toward maintaining the cemetery, or for paying burial costs for indigent veterans.

In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam War, due to the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a coin was seen as a more practical way to communicate that you had visited the grave.  It was thought this better than contacting the soldier's family, which could devolve into an uncomfortable argument over politics relating to the war.

Some Vietnam Veterans would leave coins as a "down payment" to buy their fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally be reunited.

The tradition of leaving coins on the headstones of military men and women can be traced to as far back as the Roman Empire.

I did not know of this, but you can bet your dog tags that I will have a pocket full of coins the next time I visit my friends.

Thanks, guys! And RIP!