My Wife and a Friend of Hers Attended the Vigil

[MineralMan]

at the chapel at Fort Snelling early this morning. Then, they visited the national cemetery there, where her father and her friend's father are buried. Both served in WWII, and both died within the past 10 years. They do this each year, and then have breakfast together. My wife has no religious beliefs at all, but takes part in the vigil, which is not a religious ceremony at all.

That the vigil is held in a chapel is irrelevant, really. She and I go to the cemetery on Veterans day, and I always take a stroll through the lines and lines of headstones there. It is not a Christian cemetery. Many of the headstones include a religious symbol. I see Christian symbols, Jewish symbols, Muslim symbols, and even a few symbols of atheism. Many headstones have no religious symbol at all.

Those visits are sobering, to say the least. The first time I went to that cemetery, I noticed something odd. Along with the flowers, a few children's toys and other objects placed on the graves, some of the headstones always have a coin or two placed on them. I wondered about that, so I googled it. Why were they there?

While “Cleaning of the Stones” at the National Cemetery in Holly. I noticed a quarter placed on one of the stones. Later I also noticed a nickel placed on another stone. I was so touched with this that I took pictures.I googled about the coins, and found this out. I am very proud to share this.

A coin left on a headstone lets the deceased soldiers family know that somebody stopped by to pay their respect. Leaving a penny means you visited.

A nickel means that you and the deceased soldier trained at boot camp together. If you served with the soldier, you leave a dime. A quarter is very significant because it means that you were there when that soldier died.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/coined-tradition/

[Pendrench]

1. Hi MineralMan - I never knew of this (nor the significance of the coins)

Thank you very much for sharing.

Wishing you well and peace!

Tim

[MineralMan]

3. My pleasure. I was curious, so I looked it up.

I do that a lot when something makes me curious.

[MontanaMama]

2. I had no idea.

Very moving.

[guillaumeb]

4. A very tenuous relationship at best to the religion forum.

Perhaps you mis-posted and meant to post in GD.

[MineralMan]

5. No, not at all. How small it is to ignore my mention

of the various religions represented by the gravestones. I must ask: Are you the arbiter of what does and does not belong in this group? If you are not, then what was your point in posting your reply, other than to simply drop a negative thing in the thread?

I'm very curious. Most people seem to appreciate the post on this weekend. But, you seem bent on trying to somehow tell me that I shouldn't have posted it here. Can you explain?

If you have noting relevant to the thread to say, why reply at all?

As for GD, I did post about the meaning of the coins on the grave markers in that forum, without any reference to religion at all.

[guillaumeb]

6. I would think that most people recommended it because of the

reference to Memorial Day.

Otherwise, it has nothing to do with an actual discussion of religion.

[MineralMan]

9. Then why bother replying in it at all?

[guillaumeb]

10. Why post it?

Do only theists observe Memorial Day?

[MineralMan]

11. Because it pleased me to do so.

Again, do you see yourself as the arbiter of content in this group. If so, you are very mistaken.

[coeur_de_lion]

7. Really interesting

Thank you for posting!

[MineralMan]

8. My pleasure.