This is not strictly a Naval term more like a military term. It is one of those that you hear from time to time and wonder where it came from. Well, I did wonder and now you can stop wondering.


From World War I onward service members were offered a government funded life insurance policy. The amount of which if the member was killed in action was usually enough to pay off the family’s farm. So when a member of your group was killed it was a polite way to tell others he had died in action. You would say “He bought the farm.” There are reference’s to this in different military movies, “The Longest Day” and “Band of Brothers”