Have you heard about Military Challenge coins? Perhaps some people know about these and maybe some do not. These military challenge coins are known to date back several decades. As introduced, many stories or legends circulate about the origin of military challenge coins. The most popular story about military challenge coins concerns a United States service man in World War I. This pilot was shot down and then captured.
When this pilot was captured, the Germans stripped the service man of all identification. However, around his neck in a leather pouch the pilot carried a military challenge coin given by the squadron leader. A short time later, the pilot escaped to France and the only form of identification he had was the military challenge coin. This then started the tradition of giving military challenge coins to service men. These served as another form of identification. And this birthed the primary purpose of military challenge coins at that time.