Visitors to veterans’ graves sometimes leave a coin on the headstone. It is a quiet way of saying that someone came. This page sets out what the custom is said to mean, what can actually be documented about it, and what cemetery rules say, because the three are not the same.
What each coin is said to mean
A widely repeated tradition gives each coin a meaning:
- A penny: you visited.
- A nickel: you trained with the person, at boot camp.
- A dime: you served with them.
- A quarter: you were with them when they died.
A U.S. Army news article from 2019 reports soldiers at Fort Sill describing the penny, nickel and quarter in these terms as they placed coins at the post cemetery.
What is documented, and what is not
This is a tradition, not a regulation, and it appears to be a recent one. The fact-checking site Snopes rates the coin code a “legend”: it reports finding no reference to the meanings earlier than 2009, and no support for the often-repeated claim that the practice descends from the Roman army. Statements that the custom began during the Vietnam War are commonly made, but we have not found a reliable source for them, so we do not repeat them as fact.
What is well attested is simpler and older: people in many cultures leave a small token, such as a coin or a stone, to show that a grave has been visited. The VA’s own policy acknowledges this, noting that placing rocks and coins on a gravesite may reflect religious or military traditions.
What cemetery rules say
In VA national cemeteries, coins are on the list of prohibited items. The VA’s floral policy directive prohibits any object placed on or attached to a headstone, and names coins among small objects that can become projectiles when caught in mowing equipment. The same directive tells cemetery directors to use discretion and sensitivity about when such items are removed, so the custom is tolerated in practice more than the rule suggests.
The directive also says what becomes of the money: cash found at gravesites is deposited into the cemetery’s general gift fund. It does not say what that fund pays for. You may read elsewhere that the coins pay for the burials of indigent veterans; we have found no official source for that.
Arlington National Cemetery is run by the Army and has its own rules. Its visitor guidance prohibits attaching any item to a headstone and says items left at graves are collected. It does not mention coins specifically.
State, tribal and private cemeteries set their own rules. Ask the office.
If you want to leave a coin
- Ask the cemetery office first, or check its floral and grounds policy.
- Consider the alternative one national cemetery director has suggested, as reported by KSAT in San Antonio: place the coin, photograph it, and take it with you. He told the station that coins can stain marble headstones.
- Never attach anything to a headstone, and do not leave anything of value.
A symbolic coin on this site
Every cemetery page on this site lets you leave a symbolic coin. No money is involved and nothing is placed at the cemetery. We keep only a running count of each kind of coin for each cemetery: no names, no messages. It is offered as a small act of remembrance for people who cannot visit in person, or who want to respect the cemetery’s rules, and it is not an official record of anything.
You can also privately mark a cemetery as one you have visited. That list is stored only in your own browser; see cemeteries you have visited.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. NCA Directive 3425, Floral Policy in VA National Cemeteries (PDF, July 16, 2025).
- U.S. Army. Fort Sill air defenders place coins at Post Cemetery (November 8, 2019).
- Arlington National Cemetery, U.S. Army. Visiting a Gravesite.
- Snopes (fact-checking website; not an official source). Why Are Coins Left on Gravestones in Cemeteries?.
- KSAT (news report; not an official source). Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery offers cleaner alternatives to old tradition (May 27, 2024).