It’s a Language of Grief, and Respect.
The beauty of the tradition is how unspoken it is. There is no ceremony, no formal rule book. You do not have to check in or fill out a form. You do not even have to leave your name. But if you know, you know. And once you know, the next time you see a coin on a grave—particularly in one of the military cemeteries—you cannot walk past it.
There is also something calming about it for families. Imagine visiting the resting place for your loved one and coming across a few coins left to your loved one by someone whose relationship to your loved one you may never know. You might never know who left it. But you will know someone remembers. Someone was there. That the story of the person you lost did not leave when they did.
