While visiting some cemeteries you may notice that certain headstones have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.
Oftentimes, people will leave behind a small token at a graveside. Coins, particularly pennies, are sometimes left at gravesides to indicate someone has visited the grave to pay their respects. It has long been a tradition among Jews, for example, to leave a small pebble or stone atop a headstone, to indicate someone who cared for the deceased has stopped by.
In recent years, it has been circulated widely on the Internet that coins on a fallen soldier’s graves have a specific meaning. It’s indicated that the denomination of the coins has significance. For example, a nickel means you served in boot camp with them, a dime meant you served with him, and a quarter means you were with them when they died.
This coin practice appears to be more legend than standard military practice. Although, in the video below, a man is seen laying coins at the graves of fallen military in Cambridge, MA, there is a practice that soldiers have done for many years.
Soldiers have been known to leave behind Challenge coins at a fallen comrade’s grave. These medallions identify their bearers as members of a particular military unit and are prized by those to whom they have been given.
If you happen to see a challenge coin at a gravesite you will know that almost certainly it was left there by a comrade-in-arms of the deceased to pay their respects.
Have you seen such a token or a coin left at a graveside? What do you think of this custom?
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