SALTSBURG, Pa. -- The American Legion scrambled for replacement markers and flags for Memorial Day after vandals stole war markers and trampled headstones at two Indiana County cemeteries.
A state police statement released Sunday indicated that someone stole 90 veterans' war markers from gravesites at the Edgewood Cemetery on Edgewood Drive at Saltsburg Road in Conemaugh Township at some point from February to Sunday.
The markers, made of brass, are valued at $1,800. The markers left behind are mainly aluminum.
Saltsburg Police Chief Frank Stanley, an American Legion member, said the theft cound not have occurred overnight.
"It makes me feel terrible," Stanley said. "These men laid down heir lives for their country, and we honor them by putting that flag and marker (there) as a token of what they did for this country."
The cemetery is a final resting place for veterans buried from as far back as the Spanish-American War. The American Legion informed families that if their loved ones' markers were stolen, it will be replaced.
When Dick Rossi and his wife heard the news, they checked the graves of their family members to make sure nothing was disturbed.
"That never used to happen. Long ago, you never heard of anything like this," Rossi said. "I hope they can catch whoever did it and do whatever is necessary to take care of them."
"These people, when they take (the markers) somewhere to sell them, anybody that takes one of those markers has to know it was stolen because where else could it come from?" Stanley said.
The American Legion told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that they are hopeful the thieves will take the grave markers to salvage yard whose owners will turn them in.
In Cherry Tree, troopers are investigating 38 headstones pushed off their base at the Uniontown Cemetery on Route 580 at Route 240 in Green Township.
Contact state police if you have information regarding this investigation.
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