The bronze eagle statue atop the plinth in Washington Memorial Park was stolen last month. Photo from SCPD
Police are currently looking for the person or people involved in allegedly stealing a statue from the Washington Memorial Park, a cemetery in Mount Sinai.
The bronze eagle statue atop the plinth in Washington Memorial Park was stolen last month. Photo from SCPD
Police said the 4-foot tall bronze eagle statue near the entrance to the park, located at 855 Canal Road, was stolen from atop its plinth Nov. 13 sometime between 5 and 7 p.m. The granite base for the statue was apparently damaged during the theft.
A representative from Washington Memorial Park said the eagle represents the parks emblem, and they were “very upset and surprised” to have seen it stolen. The park is located in a relatively quiet residential area, and has not seen any such acts in recent memory. The park rep said they found pieces of the statue on the ground, leading them to believe it must have fell as it was being taken.
The park has been around since 1926, and the front area where the statue was located was developed in the 1940s.
The park representative stressed that their biggest concern is for families and their loved ones’ graves. There is security at night and gate access to the park is shut after hours. The rep stressed has been no tampering of graves at the park.
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS (8477), utilizing a mobile app which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play by searching P3 Tips, or online at www.P3Tips.com. All calls, text messages and emails are kept confidential.
Bill and Zach Merker, of Riverhead, plants a flag for Miller Place’s Glen “Doc” Moody Jr., a Marine vet who passed in April.
Sophia Seeger plants a flag at Washington Memorial Cemetery. Photo by Kyle Barr
Paul and James Braxton plant flags at Washington Memorial Cemetery. Photo by Kyle Barr
Adam Morris, bottom right, helps his family and friends, clockwise from bottom, Bailee Morris, Skye Sherrard and Jocelynn Morris plant flags. Photo Kyle Barr
Members of the Rocky Point VFW in front of the Rocky Point ACE Hardware. Photo from Rich Acritelli
Joe Cognitore hosts a ceremony at the pocket park behind Tilda's Bakery in Rocky Point. Photo by Gary Pollakusky
From left, Adam Morris, Melora Morris, Jocelynn Morris , Bailee Morris, Skye Sherrard, Kacie Brown, Debbie Brown, Elaine Seeger
and Sophia Seeger join together to plant flags at Washington Memorial Cemetery
Tom Totten, the Port Jeff Fire Department Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners, plays Taps outside the PJ firehouse. Photo from Facebook
Ray Langert, who works at Washington Memorial Cemetery, looks over his parent’s grave. Photo by Kyle Barr
It was a muggy Saturday morning at Washington Memorial Park Cemetery in Mount Sinai, May 23. Across lawns dotted with inset grave markers, small flags were listless in the stagnant air. There, while COVID-19 has meant many could not participate in the large, standout flag planting ceremonies normally seen the weekend before Memorial Day, families, friends, Boy Scouts and active service members still found ways to honor those who are buried there.
Adam Morris, bottom right, helps his family and friends, clockwise from bottom, Bailee Morris, Skye Sherrard and Jocelynn Morris plant flags. Photo Kyle Barr
Riverhead residents Bill Merker and his son Zach visited the grave of Glen “Doc” Moody Jr., an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who had passed away April 8. His grave was still packed with fresh dirt and had not yet even received the stone marking his name on his grave.
“He was a very big inspiration for us,” said the younger Merker, a member of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets program who said Moody would teach them about medical procedures.
Moody, of Miller Place, had been featured in a previous article in TBR News Media papers. The marine veteran had been active helping his fellow veterans adjust to life outside the military and had been active with the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation, which helps provide service and therapy dogs to veterans. Moody, who passed at the age of 39, had his own service dog, a red fox Labrador named Independence, who never left his side.
Scattered around the park were others helping to plant flags. Ray Langert, one of the groundskeepers at the cemetery, helped one group of folks looking to plant flags at veterans’ graves.
Adam and Melora Morris, of Mount Sinai, joined with their children and friends to come out to Washington Memorial to plant flags. They said while they regularly attend the flag planting ceremonies at Calverton National Cemetery, federal orders to ban large gatherings at the cemeteries put a squash to those plans.
Ray Langert, who works at Washington Memorial Cemetery, looks over his parent’s grave. Photo by Kyle Barr
It was a sentiment shared all across the North Shore with people trying to offer memorials to those passed. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D), who had petitioned the federal government to allow the large-scale flag planting events at places like Calverton, still offered condolences and remarks. Bellone also thanked the health care and essential employees continuing to work through the Memorial Day weekend.
“This day is unlike any other we have seen in modern times,” Bellone said. “We could not gather the way we normally do … But we did come together today to recognize, make sure we are honoring those really precious individuals in our community who have served and sacrificed.”
Some still managed to go to the Calverton cemetery to offer what services they could. Members of the Rocky Point VFW Post 6249 went down that Saturday morning to place flags and host small services.
On Memorial Day, May 25, the VFW hosted a small ceremony in the park behind Tilda’s Bakery in Rocky Point. In Sound Beach, community leaders placed a wreath at their own vets memorial on New York Avenue.
Despite restrictions and the need for distancing, it’s still hard to estimate how positive the impact is in memorializing those who’ve passed. Langert’s own father and mother, Robert and Elsie, are buried in the mausoleum on the grounds of the Washington Memorial Cemetery. Robert was a U.S. Army veteran who passed in 2005. The Morris family and friends offered to place a flag by his father’s stone in the mausoleum.
“He would have loved to see that,” Langert said, sitting in his lawnmower’s seat with a smile. “He would have been ecstatic.”
