WELLSVILLE — The investigation is continuing into the theft of military service plaques from the gravesites of 13 veterans in Sacred Heart Cemetery.
Two weeks ago, on his daily walk through the cemetery, Mike Baldwin noticed something horrifying to most people. He discovered that several bronze plaques noting military service had been forcibly removed from the backs of veterans’ graves.
He notified police and it was determined that 13 plaques had been stolen.
Police Chief Tim O’Grady said this week that the investigation of the thefts continues.
“We’ve been in contact with all the scrap metal dealers around to be on the lookout for these bronze military plaques, but I expect the plaques have been cut up,” the chief said.
He added that the department received a response from a scrap yard after the department issued to statewide notice, but that the plaques in their possession were not stolen from Wellsville.
Scrap bronze was worth between $2.30 and $2.60 a pound within the last month, according to dealers’ website listings.
O’Grady said the $13,000 reward for information is a far greater amount than the thieves would have received for cashing in the plaques — and a far greater incentive for someone to step forward with information.
O’Grady said due to the rough surface of the gravestones that were desecrated, his department was not able to lift fingerprints to be used in solving the crime.
The response to the desecration of the veterans’ graves was immediate. The Wellsville American Legion Post 702 put up a $2,000 reward that was quickly increased by local clubs, politicians, families and individuals.
The reward currently stands at $13,000. Further donations can be made by calling the Legion at (585) 593-5345.
For Allegany County Veteran’s Services Coordinator Mike Henessey, the desecration of veterans’ graves and the theft of memorial plaques is personal: One of the stolen plaques is from the graves of his relatives.
“People are mad. People are very mad,” he said. “They are angry that someone wood do this. I can’t understand it. Nothin’ but slugs would do this kind of thing.”
He said the word went out right away when the American Legion 8th District released the information to other posts urging members to check their cemeteries for the same vandalism.
Henessey, in his county position, is involved in obtaining the memorial plaques for veterans at the request of families. The cost of obtaining a plaque, which records the date of birth and death of the veteran along with the date of his or her military service, rank and branch of service, is $1,800. Locally, they are installed at a cost of $150.
The plaques are bolted and glued to the stone, making it no easy task to remove them.
Henessey said efforts to replace the plaques are already underway, but that it will take several months before they arrive. He hopes they will be in place by Veterans Day. When the plaques do arrive, Henessey said that Hart’s Memorials has said they will install them at no cost.
“I don’t understand why anyone would do such a thing to the graves of men and women who fought for their lives and liberty,” he said.
The names of the men whose graves were desecrated are:
Richard Brunell, Chester Kensek, Edward Curtis, Donald Aiken, Theodore Jedinak, Merle Shay, William Hennessy, John Hennessy, Dennis Shea, Howard Englebaugh, Robert Healey, James or Patrick Hennessy and Richard Deschler.
Contact the Wellsville Police Department at (585) 593-5600 with any information concerning the theft of the bronze military plaques.