Why do people do this? My understanding is that it stains the stone. It had to have started after 2006-2007, because I never remember seeing it there before that.

I've always wondered that. It's been asked on here before.

I don't remember it happening when I was a student. It seemed that for the first year or two after the memorial was built, people were hesitant to even walk on the grass.

Incidentally, I have a co-worker from Macedonia who says that back home, it's a tradition to leave coins on people's graves. And he has an uncle who made a habit of taking coins from graves and rationalizing it by the deceased not needing money anymore.

I googled and found numerous reasons why people leave coins at gravesites, (note - I assume the same would apply to a memorial) but the one I prefer above all is the following:

quote:

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Remembrance

No matter what the original intention of the coin-leaver may be, it seems clear that a coin left on a headstone is a symbol of remembrance and respect. A way of telling all who pass by that the person buried there was loved and visited often.

Maybe next time I wander through a cemetery, I will bring a pocketful of pennies.

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quote:

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I've always wondered that. It's been asked on here before.

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Hah, I forgot, but that was me. I just all these pictures being posted of the memorial and it annoyed me again.

I still need to make a sign to put up there. Next time I pass through CS, hopefully.

It annoys me too. I think some people have confused the Bonfire memorial and Sully's memorial.

From snopes, other sites had similar info:

COINS LEFT ON TOMBSTONES

While visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.

These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those who gave their life while serving in America's military, and these meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.

A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you visited.

A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp together, while a dime means you served with him in some capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were with the soldier when he was killed.

According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent veterans.

In the US, 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 relating to the war.

Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a "down payment" to buy their fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally be reunited.

The tradition of leaving coins on the headstones of military men and women can be traced to as far back as the Roman Empire.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/military/coins.asp#Sxo0Qf1QLVXt5by8.99

I made a couple of visits to the memorial this year and noticed that people are leaving keys on it now.

Last night, I watched the In an Instant show on the Bonfire collapse and I noticed the coins and keys on the marker in the center of the memorial.

Thanks for the explanation about the coins.

What is the meaning/message/purpose of the keys?

Don't know about coins on bonfire memorial but have left a nickel on graves of servicemen I knew. This is a fighter pilot tribute.

"So here's a nickel on the grass to you, my friend, and your spirit, enthusiasm, sacrifice and courage - but most of all to your friendship. Yours is a dying breed and when you are gone, the world will be a lesser place."