Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review, May 27, 2022

The meaning behind a coin on a headstone
Have you ever been in a cemetery and saw some coins placed on a headstone?
A coin left on a headstone lets the deceased military members’ family know that someone stopped by to pay their respects.
The tradition of leaving coins on the headstones of military men and women can be traced to as far back as the Roman Empire.
Soldiers would insert a coin into the mouth of a fallen soldier to ensure they could cross the “River Styx” into the afterlife. In the United States, 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 relat- ing to the war.
A penny means you visited.
A nickel means you and the deceased trained at boot camp together.
What happens to the coins?
They are 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.
Courtesy of the Montana Department of Military Affairs.
A dime means you and the deceased served together in some capacity.
A quarter is very signifi- cant because it means the person leaving the coin was there when the service mem- ber died.
What are the origins of “Taps”
Anyone who has attended the funeral or memorial service for a U.S. veteran has heard the mourn- ful sound of Taps being played by a lone bugler.
However, how many know where the tradition came from?
The bugle call known as “Taps” dates from the American Civil War.
In July 1862, while the Army of the Potomac camped near Harrison’s Landing, Va., Brig. Gen.
Daniel Butterfield summoned Pvt. Oliver Willcox Norton, his brigade bugler, to his tent. Butter- field, who disliked the colorless “lights out” call then in use, whistled a different tune and asked the bugler to play it for him. After repeated trials, Norton played a 24-note call which suited the general. According to some interpretations, Butterfield’s tune was a variation on an earlier bugle call, the “Scott Tattoo,” first published in 1835.
Butterfield then ordered that, within his brigade, the new call would replace the regulation Army Taps. The next day, buglers from nearby brigades came to the camp of Butterfield’s brigade to ask about the new call. They liked the tune and copied the music. During the Civil War, its popularity spread throughout Union ranks, and even among some Confederate forces.
Shortly after Butterfield composed the tune, Taps was first sounded at a military funeral for a Union cannoneer killed in action.
The deceased soldier’s commanding officer believed that a bugle call would be less risky than the traditional three-rifle volley, which the enemy could misinterpret as an attack.
In 1874, Butterfield’s Taps became the U.S. Army’s official bugle call. Taps has been used by the U.S. armed forces ever since — at the end of the day, during flag ceremonies and at military funerals.
Whenever a service member is buried with military honors anywhere in the United States, the ceremony concludes with the three-rifle volley and the sounding of Taps on a trumpet or bugle. Melancholy yet serene, the call lingers in memory.
The name “Taps” derives from the fact that the lights-out call was traditionally followed by three drum taps.
Courtesy of Arlington National Cemetery
Poppy Day is the Friday before Memorial Day
After World War I, the poppy flourished in Europe. Scientists at- tributed the growth to soils in France and Belgium becoming enriched with lime from the rubble left by the war. From the dirt and mud grew a beautiful red poppy. The red poppy came to symbolize the blood shed during battle following the publication of the wartime poem “In Flanders Fields.” The poem was written by Lt. Col. John McCrae, M.D. while serving on the front lines.
On Sept. 27, 1920, the poppy became the official flower of The American Legion family to memorialize the soldiers who fought and died during the war. In 1924, the distribution of poppies became a national program of The American Legion.
Led by the American Legion Auxiliary, each year members of The American Legion Family distribute poppies with a request that the person receiving the flower make a donation to support the future of veterans, active-duty military personnel and their families with medical and financial needs.
Poppy Day is celebrated in countries around the world. The American Legion brought National Poppy Day® to the United States by asking Congress to designate the Friday before Memorial Day, as National Poppy Day.
On May 27, wear a red poppy to honor the fallen and support the living who have worn our nation’s uniform.
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