Butler County Veterans Affairs Director John Cyprian prepares markers for veterans' graves at his office in the government center. The traditional bronze markers, a favorite target of thieves who sell them for scrap, are being replaced with aluminum types.

Butler County has a long-standing tradition of recognizing the final resting places of its veterans.

But it's no secret that thieves have long coveted, stolen and sold the bronze plaques that have marked their grave sites.

For Memorial Day, in addition to an American flag for each grave, cemeteries will again put out the markers. But, slowly those markers have come to be replaced by less expensive aluminum types.

According to a proclamation dated May 30, 1932, Butler County was the first in the state to make a concerted effort to record and recognize the graves of veterans.

“The work of that committee is still in use today,” said county Veterans Affairs Director John Cyprian, who notes that the number of veterans buried in this county — about 40,000 — can only increase.

The county code, enacted in 1955, mandated the plaques be made of bronze. Long before Cyprian became director of Veterans Affairs in 1993 it was well known the plaques were targeted by thieves.

So about seven years ago, the code was changed to allow the bronze plaques to be replaced with less expensive and less salable aluminum ones.

The bronze markers cost about $35 each; the aluminum markers run about $6.

Each cemetery for Memorial Day makes note of how many new veterans have been buried there and need markers as well as how many of the older bronze markers have gone missing or fallen into disrepair. The county supplies new aluminum markers.

Although officials know that between today and Memorial Day last year, 409 Butler County veterans have died, Cyprian said it's impossible to tell how many of the new plaques will go toward those newly deceased veterans versus plaques that replace those that have been damaged or stolen.

However, part of the money to cover the costs for the new plaques comes from the bronze markers themselves.When they are “decommissioned,” meaning cemeteries note damage and turn them in to the county, the county takes the bronze markers to a salvage yard. The proceeds are returned to the Veterans' Materials and Supply account. Generally, that generates a couple hundred dollars a year.Cyprian said he doesn't know how many of the bronze markers still exist in the county.However, he said, the community has made it more difficult for thieves. Salvage yards, Cyprian said, have started turning away people who show up wishing to sell recognizable bronze markers.“The plaques say right on the back that they were presented by the county commissioners,” he said.<BR><BR><BR><BR>

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