Why You Should Leave The Coins You See On Montana Gravestones

Memorial Day in Montana is coming up soon and that means plenty of people will be visiting the cemetery to honor the men and women who served our country. When walking around you may notice some coins on top of gravestones. While you may wonder why there are they, the biggest thing to know is to leave them alone.

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Before we get to the meanings of each coin, here's a few things to know about Memorial Day.

It's a day that we honor the men and women that died while serving in the U.S. military.

It goes all the way back to around the Civil War, but wasn't made a federal holiday until 1971.

Unofficially it marks the start of the summer season.

So this year when you go to honor those that made the ultimate sacrifice and you see the coins on headstones, here is what they mean.

Penny

"A penny means you visited."

Nickel

"A nickel means you and the deceased veteran trained at boot camp together."

Dime

"A dime means you and the deceased veteran served together in some capacity."

Quarter

"A quarter is very significant because it means that you were there when that veteran died."

All this information comes from the Montana.gov website.

You may be wondering what happens to all those coins as they can't be left there year round, well according to the Montana.gov website,

What happens to the coins? It is collected from the gravesites monthly and the money is used for cemetery maintenance, the cost of burial for soldiers, or the care for indigent soldiers.

So this Memorial Day when you see those coins, be respectful and leave them where they are.