This is the head to a statue of a soldier who died while serving his country during World War I. This statue is located in a cemetery near my home.
The cemetery has always been a place for kids to congregate. There was no power, it's far from any town and it's a great place to spook friends. You see, the statue has lots of legend. Apparently, it turns at night or it's eyes glow. Most everyone in surrounding towns are familiar with this place.
Some people weren't just content with trespassing. No one is to be in the cemetery after dark. Some people couldn't just scare their friends, drink beer or leave change in the soldier's hand. No, they had to vandalize the final resting place for this soldier and many others.
It ends up that there were 2 different sets of vandals. The first group broke windows in the old church, damaged some of the original wood pews as well as spray painted the statue. The second group toppled several gravestones and broke the statue into pieces. They even stole an unmarked gravestone. (It was recovered).
The stolen gravestone was from the grave of a 2 year-old. She died while her parents, traveling in a covered wagon, passed through the area on their way to Oklahoma. They had no money for a gravestone, but promised to send some once they were settled. They did and the stone was purchased.
The cemetery is rich in history as it's nearly 200 years old. So many settlers, so many women and children. Civil War soldiers, Indian War soldiers, World War I & II soldiers....cholera victims. Stories passed along from one generation to another. Trees brought from Germany to plant here. Rich history. Such a shame to vandalize!
As with most clouds, there are "silver linings." Many people have shown support for the cemetery in the way of monetary donations. Everything that was damaged will be repaired and there may even be enough left over to replace other things that need to be fixed. A local monument company is repairing the statue at no cost and the power company donated the materials and manpower to run electricity into the cemetery.
It won't be long and our statue will again stand where he is supposed to be. Hopefully this time, undisturbed.
*This happened in May. I'm just now getting the pictures off of my camera.
No comments:
Post a Comment