Comments for Cemetary Visits: Leave a Coin on Military Graves!

Another Meaning of a Nickle
by: Anonymous

In the fighter pilot community, you leave a nickel to honor a fighter pilot who has "flown west."

It harkens back to an old drinking song, a refrain from which was "throw a nickel on the grass, save a fighter pilot's ass."

Today, if you visit the grave of a fighter pilot who has passed, and he still has many friends, there will be nickelss there.

Misunderstanding
by: TLaRochelle

Last Sunday the Patriot Guard Riders completed a special mission of placing placards by the graves of all soldiers from our state that have died in the war on terror since 911.

I just then learned of the coin tradition but misunderstood it a bit. We thought that leaving a nickle meant that you served in the same military branch, not necessarily together. A dime if you served in the same conflict and a quarter if in the same unit at the time of the soldiers death.

Thanks for posting and clearing it up for me.

Wendy: Just googled this again and here is what a military board.. Especially the end, "Today, the denomination of the coin left on the headstone has become less significant because so few people carry coins other than quarters."

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Death of a Spouse.

Return to Cemetary Visits: Leave a Coin on Military Graves!.