Dozens of brass stakes and grave markers used to hold American flags at the graves of veterans were stolen from Patton Cemetery in LaPorte recently.

More than 70 memorials were affected and likely stolen for the bronze, cemetery president Scott Harris told 95.3 MNC’s news partners, ABC 57. 

Harris arrived at the cemetery in the 1400 block of Rumely Street on Sunday, Sept. 13, and found flags laying everywhere and the grave markers and stakes gone.

The brass in the memorial markers are valued at about $50 each. Harris said that similar thefts are becoming so popular that many antique shops no longer buy brass grave markers because they are likely stolen, ABC 57 reported.

A local VFW will replace the markers.