In 1960 one of my father's favorite LPs included those by Oscar Brand who sang the tune, "Throw a Nickel on the Grass". I still have the lyrics booklet from the album. The folk artist belted out hundreds of songs honoring our military, with lyrics for the same tune rewritten for a different service. A couple of years ago I found someone had remastered a goodly number of the albums on CD and bought a collection of that online auction site. Sorry I can't recall the squadron of origin (Korean War), but I also heard it was a resurrection of a WWII fighter squadron tradition-- kinda like the drinking cups on walls of contemporaneous bomber squadrons.
Within the U.S. Air Force fighter pilot community, the term “throw a nickel on the grass” embodies an expression of mutual respect and good luck from one warrior to another. the term was later used in an unknown author’s closing words in "Tribute to the Fighter Pilot" … “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. Your’s is a dying breed and when you are gone, the world will be a lesser place.”
Funny I found this thread... Not long ago, I put, "When throwing a nickel on grass just even enough..." outside my cube at a Marine aircraft manufacturing facility. More than one has asked, "What the F**K is THAT supposed to mean?".