The Orr’s Island Cemetery discovered dozens of bronze flag holders missing from veterans’ graves just weeks before Memorial Day, an apparent theft that has cemetery associations and the town considering affordable alternatives to the expensive fixtures.

The cemetery found 41 flag holders missing the week of May 11, according to Gerry York, president of the Orr’s Island Cemetery Association. The cemetery has 124 veterans’ graves. The town buys markers for $110 apiece, so replacing 41 holders would cost upward of $4,500.

York believes the markers were stolen to be sold for their scrap value.

Grimmel Industries, a scrap metal buyer with locations in Topsham and Lewiston, said on May 20 that it was paying $2.65 per pound for bronze. With similar grave markers weighing about 2 pounds each, the 41 missing fixtures could have fetched about $200.

As of May 19, York had not reported a theft to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

Flag holders have also gone missing from the Bailey Island Cemetery several times in the last three years, according to Inez Dudley, president of the Willing Helpers group that manages the cemetery.

Dudley said caretakers realized more than 35 markers were missing after an inventory in December 2025. She did not report a theft to the Sheriff’s Office, saying she didn’t think she had enough details, such as when they were taken.

There was no apparent rhyme or reason to the markers taken on Bailey Island, Dudley said. They were missing from graves throughout the cemetery of veterans from the Civil War through the Vietnam War.

York said the pattern was similar on Orr’s Island.

George Swallow, with the Cranberry Horn Cemetery near Cundy’s Harbor, said he was not aware of any flag holders going missing recently. Dave Hackett said all the flag holders are accounted for in Harpswell Center, at the Old Meetinghouse and Hillcrest cemeteries. Hackett said theft has been a problem at those cemeteries in the past, however.

York said theft is an occasional problem at the Orr’s Island Cemetery. Someone took several granite fence posts from a storage shed in 2024. York said those cost a total of more than $3,000 to replace.

The cemeteries have been relying on the town for replacements when markers go missing, as the town funds maintenance of veterans’ graves under state law.

But York said that when the cemetery recently went to the town, its supply of flag holders had been all but used up on Bailey Island.

Town Administrator Kristi Eiane said the Bailey Island Cemetery alerted the town last year that it was replacing markers at a higher rate than usual. Eiane said a town employee had been buying replacements when the supply ran low. She said the town realized then that it probably shouldn’t continue buying bronze holders, but it didn’t come up with a new plan in time to replace the Orr’s Island fixtures.

Harpswell approved $3,000 for flag holders and flags in its 2026 budget, the same amount approved in 2024 and 2025. Last year, the town spent an additional $604.80 on top of the $3,000 to buy replacement markers.

Eiane said the town has ordered some plastic holders with an antique metal look for about $14 each. The town will talk to cemetery officials to see if they are an acceptable alternative.

“We want to honor these veterans and make sure we have something the cemeteries are happy with,” she said.

Dudley said her group had looked at plastic holders but didn’t think they were adequate.

For this Memorial Day, Dudley and York planned to place flags at veterans’ graves without using holders.

Sam Lemonick is a freelance reporter. He lives in Cundy’s Harbor.