Posted on Aug 21, 2014
Have you ever noticed coins left on the gravestones in a cemetery?
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Posted for the benefit of the civilian supporters.
http://kygl.com/tradition-of-coins-left-on-the-gravestone-of-a-soldier/
http://kygl.com/tradition-of-coins-left-on-the-gravestone-of-a-soldier/
Posted in these groups: 
Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
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Yes! I saw this on the path from USASOC to Third Group's Battalion headquarters. I wondered what they meant too.
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SFC Mark Merino
Back in the old Cav days, coins had a lot more worth. It really was about helping pay for expenses.
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SSG V. Michelle Woods
An awesome explanation from a MSG.
"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, while a dime means you served with him/her in some capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were with the soldier when he/she was killed. The tradition started in the US during Vietnam but as a whole dates back to the Roman Empire. Within 5th group we link it back to the Roman Empire since the unit is known as the Legion."
"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, while a dime means you served with him/her in some capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were with the soldier when he/she was killed. The tradition started in the US during Vietnam but as a whole dates back to the Roman Empire. Within 5th group we link it back to the Roman Empire since the unit is known as the Legion."
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CPT (Join to see)
That is awesome. I never heard of such a thing. Great job SSG V. Michelle Woods for sharing that.
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PV2 Charles Lagois
It is an ancient custom. military messages According to some, leaving coins on a headstone has very specific meaning for military burials. Leaving a penny indicates that you knew the deceased, a nickel meant you trained in boot camp together, a dime signified serving in the same company, a quarter told the family that you were with them when they died. Apparently this tradition dates back to Roman times, but in the United States started during the Vietnam War as a way to leave messages to the family of the deceased without contacting them directly. Additionally, sometimes coins are left as a “down payment” for the deceased, a promise to buy their comrade a drink in the afterlife. http://gravingwithjenn.com/paying-respects-why-coins-are-left-on-headstones/
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CPO Jon Campbell
MOH recipient Gary Gordon's Delta Force challenge coin was set into a circular recess specially cut into the stone. A young kid took a screwdriver and pried it out. The kid was caught and admitted stealing the coin. I don't think there was a single person in the entire state that didn't want give that kid a sound thrashing. His coin was the first I had seen on a grave, but I have seen many placed on grave stones and permanently set into stones recently.
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SFC (Join to see)
I escorted my buddies remains and since he always have me crap about being a brown noser and having 2 SMA coins one was buried with him in his left breast ASU pocket
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Just recently I was out at a National cemetery but I did not see any coins.However there were 2 of us paying respects to a former AI and SAI from the JROTC from our high school.We brought flowers and placed them.It was later in the day and there were some renovations being done to the cemetery.So it maybe possible money had already been collected.
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