You may have visited a cemetery before and may have seen a headstone with coins on it. Do you know why? This article descrives the meaning of placing a coin on the grave marker of a soldier that has made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
Of course, for some cultures it has different meanings. The ancients would place coins with the deceased with a belief that it would cover the fee to have them cross the river Styx. The tradition of leaving coins with members of the military, especially men or women that may have died in combat, dates back to the Roman Empire.
For the United States, the practice became popular during the Vietnam War. With all of the political turmoil in the 60’s and 70’s surrounding the war, it was a way for friends and comrades to visit a fallen friend and leave a coin as a marker to the family that they had been there to pay respect, without having to contact the family directly, and possibly make a bad situation worse.
As for meanings of different denominations of coins, a friend, or an acquaintance that visits may only leave a penny. A nickel would be left by someone that may have been through boot camp or trained with them, while someone that served in another platoon in the same company may leave a dime. A quarter would be left by someone that served in the same outfit or was with the soldier when they died.
Some Vietnam veterans would simply leave coins as a “down payment” to buy their fallen comrades a beer or to play a hand of cards when they would finally be reunited.
Pennies are left on graves, most of all, in remembrance of the deceased. Leaving a coin from your pocket is a way to leave a part of yourself at the burial site. The coin is a visual reminder that, even in death, the memory of the deceased lives on. It is also a sign of respect to the dead, as it shows that their memory has value to you and is something you want to commemorate.
This is a tradition that has been held onto by members of the United States Military. The money left at graves in national cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries is left in place for a time, but is eventually collected, and the funds are put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent veterans.
The Air Force fighter pilots throw nickels into the grass at grave sites. This tradition began in the early 50’s when phone calls on public phones were only a nickel. Prior to leaving on a dangerous mission, pilots would toss a nickel into the grass so his team mates could notify the next of kin if he didn’t make it back.
Jewish people leave stones on headstones – there are many variations to this practice, but most popular is that cemetery visitors leave a pebble or stone as a token to commemorate their visit. The amount of pebbles gathered over time, unofficially, represent the level of mourners who had visited the grave site.
No matter what the original intention of the coin or pebble may be, it seems clear that when left on a headstone it’s a symbol of remembrance and respect. A way of telling all who pass by that the person buried there was loved and visited often.
The information used in this article was obtained from Snopes.com
(http://www.snopes.com/military/coins.asp). Variations of this information is also posted on multiple blogs and websites by various authors throughout the internet.
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John, thank you so much for sharing this article! They say that we learn something new every day and we do! I’ve seen coins on headstones and never knew what they meant – now I do. I just read this aloud to my daughter who just lost her great uncle a few months ago, and this meant a lot to her since she goes to visit his grave site often. Now, when she sees coins, the visual will hold special meaning to her.
Thank you, again!
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You are welcome, Nonnie! Teaching about the Vietnam War is one of the main reasons I organized this website, the other, to maintain our legacy. Of course, I also hope to sell some books, too. TY for signing up. / John
On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 5:25 PM CherriesWriter – Vietnam War website wrote:
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my husband was a vietnam vet n died from agent orange i visit his grave weekly to make sure the flowers r still good. i leave pennies on his grave his dads n my uncles only to find someone has taken my pennies, so today i glued them on its sad someone would take a penny off of a vets grave. i pay every mem day to help with mowing so i dont think it is the people in change.
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It was probably the cemetery. Did you read the article?
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What a wonderful way to let a family know that you visited and honor the service of their loved one.
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Very Enlighting, Never new, an I’m 75 an no ne ever old me many times visited my Husband an left Flag Flowers but nevr a coin ,; my dear Husband my next visit you will have a real coper penny remember you liked them.Love never forgotten , ‘:(
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Thank you for the information. I had always wondered the significance of coins on graves but had forgotten to look it up.
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Thank you
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Top knotch
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whew, brought tears remembering the war then and all the chaos on the base, all my dead war buddies, whew
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