Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

FT. BRAGG STORIES: Challenge Coins

Portrait of Steven Moore
Matt Couch
/
WUNC

Steven Moore has never served in the military, but for the past 16 years he's been serving the Fort Bragg community, specializing in the design of military challenge coins.

More than just collectible tokens, the coins are a concrete way to commemorate shared service and personal achievement. Commanders award them with a solemn handshake, and soldiers often treasure them as keepsakes.

Ft. Bragg Stories logo

“I’m told by the soldiers that they are highly coveted items, and gives them incentive to earn them,” Moore said.

According to military lore, the tradition of issuing challenge coins dates back to World War I, though Moore acknowledges that might be something of an urban legend.

Moore has designed more than 2,200 coins throughout his career, and while he can’t pick a favorite, he said he’s drawn to the coin he produced for the 82nd Airborne’s Purple Heart recipients.

“It’s the only coin that nobody really wants to get,” he said.

Moore has another connection to the military. Both his son and daughter are on active-duty.

“I love hearing their stories about their work and their love for their fellow soldiers,” he said. “The only part that’s been rough is when they’ve been deployed.”

He recalled many sleepless nights while his children were deployed overseas.

Moore said he will always cherish the coin his son, an Infantry officer, ordered for his platoon while deployed to Afghanistan.

“It really was something that came full circle, to actually be producing a challenge coin for my own flesh and blood,” he recalled.

Ft. Bragg Stories is a collaboration between the Fayetteville Observer and WUNC's American Homefront Project to commemorate a century of history at Fort Bragg through personal narratives. You can hear other stories in the serieshere. If you'd like to share your Fort Bragg story, you can send it here, or email fortbraggstories@wunc.org

A table displaying hundreds of challenge coins designed by Steven Moore.
Credit Courtesy of Steven Moore
Moore displays some of the challenge coins he's designed over the years.

Related Stories
More Stories