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Check out the Blog Archives to read about our cross country motorcycle road trip from MA to CA in the summer of 2011. During that trip we attended the Annual 2011 National Women On Wheels® Ride-In in San Jose CA. Then we just rode. We traveled over 11,000 motorcycle miles in what ever direction we wanted to go for 61 days. We visited friends and family, saw the country, met some amazing people. We made memories we'll never forget. These memories are what THIS BLOG is made of! That was only the beginning. We've been traveling and riding and blogging every since then. Enjoy our stories while we make MORE memories worthy of posting here for your enjoyment.


Saturday, October 25, 2014

Coins Left On Grave Stones


Sometimes I find something that I didn't write that I want to post on my blog.


 This is a gesture that touches my heart.


And pictures of stones that touch my life.


Here is something most people don't know...

While visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.
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, while a dime means you served with him in some capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling 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 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 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.

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