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Headstones, veterans' memorial vandalized in Kingston

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 12, 2009 08:07 PM

By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent

A Kingston cemetery was closed for part of today as authorities tried to identify the vandals who toppled dozens of headstones, leaving a trail of destruction that was discovered on the morning of Veterans Day.

Ninety-one headstones were knocked over at the Evergreen Cemetery. More than half of them marked veterans’ graves, officials said. A war memorial across the street was also pushed over.

“It’s cruel -- cruel to the families and disrespectful to the property,” said Derryl Lawrence, the cemetery superintendent, who said he had never before encountered vandalism in his 12 years overseeing the land. “The community is devastated by this.”

Police responded at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday to reports that the Veterans of Foreign Wars memorial had been overturned. The 8-foot-long, 4-foot-high monument honors Kingston servicemembers who were killed in combat during World War I, World War II, Korea, or Vietnam.

Police then noticed the vandalism across the street.

Lawrence said police closed the cemetery for part of today to lift fingerprints off of the polished granite headstones.

“You can get some pretty good prints off of those; they are polished,” he said.

Despite the fact that many of the toppled headstones belonged to veterans, Lawrence, who is a Vietnam veteran, said he didn't think the vandals were targeting them.

He said the vandals were likely oblivious to the holiday.

“Anybody that did this has no clue that it’s Veterans Day or what a cemetery is all about,” he said. “It was a coincidence that it was targeted. … I don’t see any connection at all.”

The destruction, which hit nearly one-eighth of the cemetery’s 800 family plots, occurred in secluded pockets of the 14-acre burial ground, Lawrence said.

“They took their toll out where they wouldn’t be seen, because there are some residential areas nearby,” he said.

And it likely took several hours, Lawrence said.

“I’ve been involved in cemetery work for over 20 years, and this is quite the devastation,” he said. “It would take three or four young people three or four hours to do. There are some 1,500-pound monuments.”

Worried families convened on the cemetery this morning, inspecting family graves for vandalism, Lawrence said. But other than 17 relatively recent plots, most of the overturned headstones marked old, untended graves.

Righting all the fallen stones will take thousands of dollars, and it remains unclear if the insurance of the cemetery, owned by a private association, will cover the damages. But offers of help are already pouring in, Lawrence said.