More than 50 brass flag holders were stolen from an Indiana cemetery last weekend where veterans are buried.
Three brass grave markers were also pried from headstones of veterans at Patton Cemetery in LaPorte County.
The expensive markers and flag holders were bought by the LaPorte county veterans association.
Veterans say thieves are breaking up holders and markers and going to scrap yards in Chicago because the ones in area have been notified to be on the lookout.
Jim Toutloff, who works with the military honor guard that helps bury veterans, was outraged by the thefts.
“People that have served their country deserve better than to have their final resting place bothered,” Toutloff said, who works for American Legion Post 83.
“The worst thing anyone can do is steal from a dead veteran,” Kathy Miller of American Legion Post 83 said. “When a vet goes to his final resting place that is what it should be a final place of rest.”