It's being called a "despicable crime."
Sometime over the past weekend, someone stole the metal letters from a sign at the Legion Memorial Chapel in Maple Leaf Cemetery in Chatham.
"Everybody's just aghast... words like 'low-life' are in the conversation," said Tom Mountain, chairman of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 642's cemetery committee. "How could anybody even contemplate taking that? It's obviously Legion... the words are right there and there's a plaque right beside it explaining it, but I guess nobody cares."
The sense of shock and outrage is shared among local legion members, including Len Maynard, the first vice-president with the Chatham-based branch.
"The legion has been known for community support -- veteran support is our main goal... to see this kind of treatment, what's next?" asked Maynard. "A lot of us, Tom [Mountain] and myself have served and this is a deep, dark, personal hit."
The sign, which has been in place since 1970, is just one of many items at the cemetery that have been removed by thieves recently according to Chatham-Kent's supervisor of cemetery operations Collin Mardling.
He said theft at municipal cemeteries has been an ongoing problem -- adding that staff are routinely reporting thefts to local police. He believes many of the criminals are looking for some quick cash in exchange for metal, specifically.
"We've had gravestones stolen because there was metal attached to part of the monuments, we've had parts of buildings including doors and vents removed from some of our buildings," said Mardling. "It's just a despicable crime that somebody would do something like that to a community building."
Mardling said municipal officials also keep in contact with local recycling companies to let them know when something specific has been reported stolen.
Unfortunately for the investigation involving the Legion sign, the thieves who targeted the letters were not caught on camera. Mardling said the cemetery does have security cameras at various points, but nothing directly pointed at the Legion's signage.
He said members of the public can help prevent future thefts and other criminal acts by reporting any suspicious activity at local cemeteries.
"If you ever see something happening after hours in the cemetery, please report it to the authorities," said Mardling, adding it's prohibited for anyone to be in a municipal cemetery after dark. "If there is someone in the cemetery during night-time hours, it's usually for some ill intent."
When it comes to repairing the Legion's sign, Mardling said the municipality had already planned to make some renovations to the brick, adding they were planning to use the existing lettering, but they will probably have to revisit that idea.
"If [the letters] were recoverable and they were able to be used again, we'd certainly incorporate them into the sign," said Mardling. "At this point, I don't think we'll ever see them again."