On Monday, May 29, about a half hour before the Memorial Day services were to begin at the Civic Center Drive Maine Veterans’ Memorial cemetery, I placed very nice potted plants on my parents’ graves at this cemetery. It is policy that all flowers or plants are to be removed by the Monday following Memorial Day. On Friday June 2, I went to the cemetery to remove my plants. When I arrived I found my plants gone (stolen would be a better word to describe it). This is the third year in a row for this to happen!

To add salt to the wound, three years ago, somebody stole my parents’ Christmas wreath. I was irate, to say the least. So I went home and made a good-sized sign and went back to the cemetery and placed it on the wreath holder that they had left (how thoughtful of them). The sign read: “My father spent four Christmases in the South Pacific in the United States Army fighting WW II. What have you done for your country besides steal from a veteran’s grave?” Two days later the wreath was back at my parents’ graves. How do I know it was their wreath? I had tied a Dream Catcher to their bow on the wreath; there it was!

So I ask again , is it illegal to steal from a veteran’s grave, and, oh yes, what have you done for your country? If interested you might want to look up on the internet the Veterans’ Cemetery Protection Act of 1997.

A proud daughter of a WWII veteran,

Pattie Paul

Winslow

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