Saturday, August 30, 2014

Vandals burn American flag grave markers in Bensalem

Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Bensalem police believe there's a connection with recent incidents of vandalism involving the burning of American flags that were plucked from the graves of veterans.
The latest incident — the third in the past few weeks — was discovered Tuesday morning by caretakers at Rosedale Memorial Park, in the 3800 block of Richlieu Road. Overnight, vandals pulled a dozen small American flags out of grave markers in the veterans section of the cemetery and burned them, Bensalem Sgt. William McVey said.
The flags were burned on top of a World War II era artillery cannon display in the cemetery, causing minor damage to the memorial, McVey said.
Caretakers at nearby Roosevelt Memorial Park in the 2700 block of Old Lincoln Highway reported Monday that a dozen small American flags were burned on a cemetery monument there, McVey said.
In both of those incidents, not only flags were removed but so were flag holders and graveside decorations, McVey said. The items were placed in a pile and burned.
The flag-burning vandalism was the second time Roosevelt cemetery was hit in the last month; the caretakers didn't report the first to police, the sergeant added. The newspaper was unsuccessful in immediately reaching a caretaker at Rosedale Memorial Park for comment Tuesday.
As part of the investigation, Bensalem police are checking with other local cemeteries seeking any similar incidents, McVey added.
“This is very unusual,” McVey said about the vandalism.

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