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My husband must be rolling in his grave, laughing at me now.

The picture is irrelevant widow. The words you speak are significant. Nice job.

Thanks bigrex

I tried to read that stone and I just couldn't make out. Obviously, I need my glasses changed.

I feel bad now.......this don't belong here.

So sorry

Obviously the meaning behind the different coins is long forgotten by most, since there are obviously nobody still alive from the time period that this person served, since the year of death is 1855, a 158 years ago. LOL, if you actually read the tombstone, it says "propietor of the "Lone Star of Texas" (a house of ill fame). In other words, the woman buried here did not serve in the military, but was a Madame at a brothel, so only God knows what the significance is for THOSE coins.

COINS LEFT ON TOMBSTONES OF SOLDIERS

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 solider 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.
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..

can you send me a private message?...tiltingsailor@hotmail.com
cheers
tony dwyer

Nice piece of trivia.
I agree Propat
Very Cool

now that was cool.

propat

I know it's not Canadian related but this story goes even beyond Ripley's Believe it or Not!

Fantastic.

TORONTO - Someone e-mailed me this tale of two stories, which initially struck me as possibly urban myth, and then possibly poetic license adjusting the facts.

Oddly, a check on the Internet tended to confirm the two stories.

FIRST STORY:

Chicago, in the 1920s, was a battleground of mob violence over prohibition. No mobster was as successful as Al Capone.

And no mob boss was a greater target of law enforcement, such as it was, than Capone.

Capone’s partner and lawyer in those early days was known as “Easy Eddie,” who was smart and who managed to keep the notorious “Scarface” Al out of jail while he ran Chicago’s bootlegging and prostitution, and murdered whoever got in his way.

“Easy Eddie” was key to Capone’s survival outside of jail. A shrewd judge of character, Capone knew how important Easy Eddie was to his crime kingdom.

He enabled Easy Eddie to build a lavish mansion, complete with servants, swimming pool, skating rink and all the luxuries of modern life. Easy Eddie thought he had the best job in Chicago, and was untroubled by the way he earned a living. Every man for himself.

Easy Eddie was not a crook. He just manipulated the law to enable crooks to continue being crooks. In doing so, he tainted himself.

He had a so-so marriage, and a son he adored. As the boy grew up, Easy Eddie wanted his son to be a somebody, and not to be known as the son of Capone’s lawyer.

How to cleanse his name, so his son need never feel ashamed of his dad?

Although the FBI never gave up in trying to nail Capone, Easy Eddie thwarted most legal assaults. As if realizing he’d have to do something radical to clear his name and be an example for his son, Easy Eddie volunteered himself to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to bring Capone to justice.

He worked from inside the mob to gather evidence to destroy Capone.

In 1931, Capone was sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion, was paroled in 1939, suffered from syphilis, died from a stroke in his Florida mansion in 1947 with his mind reduced to that of a 12-year-old.

In 1939, a week before Capone was paroled from Alcatraz, Easy Eddie was gunned down in Chicago while driving his car. A salvo of shotgun blasts from a passing car ended the storied life of Easy Eddie, but he was remembered as the man who brought justice to Al Capone, and brought some respectability to the family name.

SECOND STORY:

As a kid, Butch O’Hare became a crack shot with a .22, but was something of a layabout. His father enrolled him in a military academy and persuaded a local congressman that Butch deserved to go to Annapolis Naval College, from which he graduated into the U.S. Navy in 1932.

Assigned to various ships, he became a navy pilot in 1939.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941, Butch O’Hare was already a skilled fighter pilot and ready for war.

It was on mission from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in 1942 that O’Hare spotted nine Mitsubishi bombers headed for the Lexington. His Hellcat was the only aircraft available, and he headed straight into the Japanese formation.

His skill as a marksman paid off. In repeated attacks, he shot down five Japanese bombers. Observers on the Lexington recalled with awe that three of the downed Japanese planes were falling from the sky at the same time.

Not one bomb hit the Lexington. The Japanese formation broke contact and the remaining four bombers headed for home.

O’Hare became the first navy flyer to win the Medal of Honour in Second World War. His citation reads in part: “One of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation — he undoubtedly saved his carrier from serious damage.”

Butch (he insisted all ranks call him that) O’Hare became something of a folk hero. Handsome, modest, articulate, he was used on war bond drives. A year later, in 1943, in the Battle for Tarawa, his plane apparently was caught in a crossfire, and he was never seen again. He was 29.

In 1945, the U.S. named a destroyer in his honour — the USS O’Hare. Then, in 1949, Chicago’s Orchard Park Airport was renamed O’Hare International Airport.

His statue is located between Terminals One and Two.

Lt.-Cmdr. Butch O’Hare was Easy Eddie’s son.

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/02/al-capones-lawyer-gets-his-wish

TORONTO - At the time — 60 years ago — it was no big deal.

Soldiers in the frontline trenches of the Korean War — and I was one of them — were more amused at the impudence, the cheek, of possibly tweaking the Chinese in trenches across the valley by playing our national game, hockey, within the range of Chinese guns.

In a curve of the Imjin river, behind one of the hills on our front lines, a team of Princess Pats faced off against the Van Doos.

The game became something of a battlefield tradition passed on by successive battalions. Brig.-Gen. John Rockingham, commander of Canada’s 25 Brigade, dropped the puck for the first game, Maj.-Gen. MAR West, Commonwealth Division commander, dropped the puck for the last game, in 1953, prior to the truce being signed.

In both those games, the Pats beat the Van Doos — but a replay of the Imjin Memorial Cup in Seoul last month was a 4-1 triumph for the Van Doos.

In the 1952-53 games on the Imjin, the calibre of the hockey was irrelevant. The fact that we Canadians risked shelling and mortar fire to play our national game at the front meant a lot to the troops, and impressed our allies that Canadians were hard to intimidate.

Most of the Pats were on alert in the trench system. The only spectators were troops who were in reserve, or from rear echelon. Every spectator carried his weapon, aware that a surprise Chinese raid was not inconceivable. Just unlikely.

Spin the time clock ahead to around 1990. South Korea is now booming, bursting with democratic affluence. Chris Damboise, a Canadian ex-patriot who owned Gecko’s bar and restaurant in the Seoul suburb of Itaewon, formed a hockey team (Gecko Glaciers) whose sweaters were adorned with the Princess Pats logo.

His pal, Andrew Monteith, happened to find the original Imjin Cup in a Seoul second-hand store, and the Imjin Memorial Cup was reborn with local teams.

Sen. Yonah Martin is credited with bringing a re-enactment of the wartime Imjin hockey to the Rideau Canal this Sunday with the help of Korean vet Vince Courtenay, whose name is engraved on the original trophy.

Martin contacted Don Cherry (whom the Patricia’s view as one of their own), who may make mention of the Imjin Memorial Cup on his Saturday night CBC Coach’s Corner broadcast. It was hoped he might wear a team sweater on TV.

Sunday’s Imjin game will see former Princess Pats vs. a parliamentarian team coached by Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney. One of the Patricia’s players is Ed Staniowski, one-time St. Louis Blues goalie and now a retired lieutenant-colonel with abundant overseas service.

The Patricia’s team is star-studded in a non-hockey sense — two brigadier-generals, seven lieutenant-colonels, four majors, two chief warrant officers and one sergeant. All serving or former Pats (despite organizers billing them as a “military team”).

The Imjin Cup is being flown over from Korea for the presentation.

Whether the game will become an annual event in Ottawa is anyone’s guess, but any Patricia vet who remembers the original Imjin River hockey never expected a small Canadian-run bar in Korea would have immortalized the game to the point where it is now being played in Ottawa.

It is about as “Canadian” as one could get.

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/02/08/battle-for-the-imjin-cup-moves-from-korea-to-the-rideau

Great Story thanks for sharing. I was always wondered what the account was of that day. Everyone has heard SSs comments and account and its nice to hear the other story.
I am impressed with your father. The choice to surrender is difficult. One can only imagine the horrible choice he had to make that night.

Thanks for sharing the story as I am a patricia myself!

Noboby is questioning the decision of the BOI,or the fact that the bunker was probably on the target list for the reason you specified,however evacuation was not scheduled until 0700 the next morning,the IDF attack came at approx 1930 the evening before. Somebody got their messages crossed,or somebody considered it to be a target of such strategic importance that it had to be taken immediately. We all have our own interpretation of the matter.