Vandalism upsets Natick veterans

NATICK -- His walk is more of a slow shuffle these days, and he uses a cane. Nevertheless, Bob White, a 74-year- old Korean War veteran, helped to stick a dozen flags around four war memorials in Natick this week, the final touches before Memorial Day weekend.

But authorities later discovered that his work had been undone, in what was either badly timed vandalism or what some veterans here call an objectionable act of political expression.

The flags, each about the size of a sheet of legal paper, were found burning inside a trash receptacle at about 4 p.m. Thursday at Moran Park, just north of the city's busy downtown area. A police officer, heading back to the station at the end of his shift, discovered the fire.

"It's kind of crummy," said White, a Marine Corps sergeant in the war. He was dressed in a red cap with a Marine Corps insignia on the side, a plaid short-sleeve shirt, and blue jeans.

White, along with fellow veteran John Crisafulli, said they spent hours this week planting the flags.

He pointed to several names on the Korean War monument, of people he went to high school with and fought alongside. His outstretched right arm revealed a colorful tattoo of a voluptuous woman. "I got it when I was in the Corps, I think I was about 20 years old," he said.

Natick police Lieutenant Brian C. Grassey said authorities are considering the destruction of the flags, along with the destruction of a $5,000 machine that used solar power to compact trash, to be a felony.

"We don't have any suspects, but we're actively investigating," Grassey said yesterday as he stood near one of the monuments at Moran Park. He speculated that the flags may have been set afire with a piece of burning paper.

"It's malicious or wanton destruction of property, but the added desecration of the American flag, especially on a weekend when the nation honors its dead, is alarming," Grassey said.

Moran Park, about a quarter of an acre, is located next to a heavily used MBTA commuter rail station. Three park benches offer a place for commuters to wait.

Yesterday, dozens of arriving passengers hurried through the park and down a row of stairs to the train platform, while several women sat on benches in the park and chatted. Nearby, a boy watered flower beds hanging from a nearby fence on a walkway over the train tracks.

Four granite memorials, to both World Wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, dot the corners of the park. Flowers and small shrubs decorate three small gardens. The names of 99 people who lived in Natick and were either killed in action or died during their service, are engraved in the memorials. The park was built in 1995 at a cost of about $70,000, raised mostly by area veterans through private donations.

Since the park was created, White and other veterans have helped to maintain it. Yesterday, White returned to the park with John MacGillivray, the city's director of veterans services, and the two replaced the flags that were burned. The flags were provided by the city.

"We're very upset by this," MacGillivray said. "I don't know why it was done, and it is certainly upsetting to all the veterans. They are 20th-century warriors, and this is where we honor them. This is the first time that we've ever had any kind of trouble like this."