Bronze Theft Problem Disgraces Veterans
Civil War Veterans from both sides of the war are laid to rest only feet apart at Forest Cemetery in Oskaloosa. John L. Moore who was a Sergant with Co. A 117th Illinois Infantry and Confederate Major Thomas Shumate who served with the 18th Virginia Cavalry in Imboden's Brigade. Thieves have have not yet gotten to these bronze markers.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – It’s a common sight at most cemeteries, especially during the week leading up to Memorial Day. But replacing veteran war markers has become expensive the past few years as the bronze they are made out of has become a target of thieves who raid graveyards in search of metal.
They’re not even sure how many of the markers are missing, making it a task to place new ones once a cemetery has been robbed. At a cost of twenty-two dollars each, with the rod that holds them up adding to the cost.
Fred Bridges, a member of the Mahaska County Memorial Association, who helps to maintain the markers, says that they have lost nearly 120 of the markers at the University Park Cemetery alone. “They’ve taken them three different times,” Bridges said. Another problem location has been Bellfountain Cemetery, “they took bunches of them over there.” The majority of those stolen from Bellfountain were GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) for Civil War Veterans, along with the WWII markers as well.
Thankfully, they have maps to help guide them back to the graves for all of the cemeteries with help from the Veterans Affairs Office. This way it helps them replace the stolen markers and, in normal cases, replace damaged ones that may have been hit with a mower or suffered damage from some other mishap. The expense then falls back to the taxpayer of Mahaska County to replace those stolen markers. Once the allotment of money is gone, the ability to replace markers for the year stops, potentially leaving service members graves unmarked.
Currently they are out of WWII markers because so many of them have been stolen. The hefty markers seem to be easy pickings, with the scrap price of bronze being around three dollars per pound, leaving the veteran unrecognized. Initially, the thieves left the markers, and would just steal the heads of the markers. “Most of the places wouldn’t take the heads because they know that those are stolen,” says Joe S. Crookham.
“We’re going to have to go to pot metal”, says Crookham as a way to combat the desire to steal the more valuable metal, but he admits, “about any metal you got, they can get some value out of it.”
Bridges said law enforcement is aware of the problem, but believes another part of the problem is that one or some “pretty sleazy” salvage yards must be accepting the markers.
If you have any information about the stolen markers, contact the Mahaska County Sheriffs Office with your information at 641.673.4322
