News-Info-Alerts

Re: Flags Stolen From Ex-POWs Grave

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: June 21, 2003

"Flags reported stolen from graves

By ERIK ORTIZ - HERALD NEWS

Her brother's grave was bare. The American flag, half the size of a newspaper, was gone. So was the black prisoner-of-war flag she had hammered into the ground.

"I couldn't believe it happened again," said Rose Schopperth, of Hawthorne, after visiting the gravesite of Vincent Poladoro, her brother, in Laurel Grove Memorial Park on Flag Day a week ago.

While local cemetery owners said it's rare for thieves to hit or vandalize graves, at least two incidents of flag stealing have been reported at Laurel Grove in the past month.

CMS Mid-Atlantic Inc., of Pittsburgh, the company that owns the cemetery, did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Bob Williams, a cemetery employee, said he had heard nothing concerning a rash of flag thefts.

Schopperth, who visits her brother's grave weekly, said she went to the main office and asked if an employee had removed the flags while mowing the grounds.

"They told me 'No,'" said Schopperth, who works part-time doling out food samples at a supermarket. "Then they gave me smaller flags to replace it with."

She returned to the site and stuck them beside the grave of her brother, a World War II veteran who spent five years as a POW of the Japanese. He died four years ago.

Since Memorial Day, Schopperth said her flags were stolen six times and that she isn't the only victim.

"Last week, I asked a woman if she had any flags missing," Schopperth said. "She told me 'No,' but she did have a (religious) ornament taken."

Ruth Barbaris, of Wayne, also lost an American flag, she said, after having placed it on her husband's grave on Memorial Day. The following week it was gone.

"I can believe someone took it," Barbaris said. "I was at another cemetery one time, and a woman told me she had taken flowers from someone's grave. It's a shame."

While only one flag of Barbaris was stolen, Schopperth, who has four other family members buried at the cemetery, including her husband, estimated 16 of her flags were taken.

"I know that most of the flags are put in by the veterans, but nothing about them being taken," said Williams, the Laurel Grove office worker.

Cemetery owners in the area said Halloween is the time of year when kids like to pull pranks, such as vandalizing headstones or destroying flowers left for loved ones.

Ed Sciarrino, general manager of East Ridgelawn Cemetery in Clifton, said someone broke into the graveyard after hours on Thursday night, vandalized construction equipment and pulled up water spigots.

"Something like this hasn't happened here in five to seven years," Sciarrino said. He estimated the damage at between $500 and $700. "Fortunately, nothing was done to the headstones. Those can be expensive."

Superintendent John Walker of Cedar Lawn Cemetery and Crematory in Paterson said he has heard stories recently about people stealing purses and belongings from cars, while the owners were preoccupied at a gravesite.

But flags?

"Never," Walker said.

Schopperth can't imagine who would take her flags. "Maybe crazy people, or dope addicts who are trying to sell them to get money," she said. "I don't buy the tiny, inexpensive ones."

On a rainy Friday, Schopperth visited her family's graves, scattered along the Pine Hill section of the cemetery. On Memorial Day, she said, the hill was inundated with flags.

"Now there's hardly any," she said solemnly, looking around at plots adorned with flowers and Father's Day signs. "The unfortunate thing is, there are a lot of veterans buried here. They don't deserve this."

But when she saw her brother's grave, with the POW and American flags still standing, she smiled.

"I plan on leaving those up until July 4 and I hope they'll still be there," she said. "But if it's missing, what can I do? I'll just have to buy another one."

Reach E rik Ortiz at (973) 569-7162 or ortize@northjersey.com.


© 2003 North Jersey Media Group Inc."