A heartbroken Massachusetts mother is demanding accountability after seeing American flags be destroyed once more on a Cape Cod bridge named in honor of her Purple Heart son.
The Yarmouth Police Department says it has ramped up patrols of all overpasses in town after eight flags were vandalized and placed upside down on the Lance Cpl. William Joseph Donovan Jr. Memorial Bridge over the weekend.
Jane Donovan, the mother of the bridge’s namesake, says she would like to see traffic cameras installed on the overpass to help law enforcement capture any future culprits, noting Saturday’s incident is the latest in a troubling pattern.
“Something has to be done, in my eyes,” the Quincy woman told the Herald on Tuesday, through tears.
The bridge honors William Joseph Donovan Jr., a U.S. Marine who received two Purple Heart medals in 2011 for injuries suffered during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He died in 2015 at age 27 in a fatal motorcycle crash in Canton.
The state Legislature designated the bridge, spanning Route 6, in his honor in 2017.
Jane Donovan highlighted how she and her family have seen the overpass sustain vandalism throughout the years. In the past, a bridge sign and flags have been destroyed and removed, while no one has been held accountable, she said.
“We don’t know who it is,” Donovan said. “Is it somebody who has mental issues? We don’t know a single soul who would ever do anything to our flag. It is very nerve-wracking, and it has deeply saddened me not just because it’s my son’s bridge, but how dare anybody do that.”
The mother said she learned about the destroyed flags on Saturday night, receiving a call from state Rep. Steven Xiarhos, a Cape Cod Republican who lost his son at the age of 21 in a roadside bombing in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in 2009.
Xiarhos’ son, Nicholas G. Xiarhos, who served as a Marine corporal, and William Donovan became close friends, with the two graduating together from Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School in 2006. Donovan enlisted following Xiarhos’ death.
Another Yarmouth bridge honors Xiarhos’ son. He told the Herald on Tuesday that he is deeply bothered by the vandalism on Donovan’s bridge, calling it “cowardly,” “calculated,” and “wrong.”
Xiarhos said that all eight of the destroyed American flags had their corners cut out of them, while some were torn, and others appeared to have some kind of substance splattered on them. The flags were turned over to the Yarmouth Police Department as evidence, he said.
Yarmouth PD told the Herald that it has increased police patrols on all of the overpasses in the mid-Cape town in response to the incident.
The Nicholas G. Xiarhos Memorial Fund is covering the cost of replacing the flags, which will have grommets installed on all four corners after they’re produced at a local Barnstable shop.
The goal is to have the flags in time for the 16th annual Big Nick’s Ride, a motorcycle caravan drawing Marines and supporters from all over the country, on Sunday, Xiarhos said.
“When it comes to the American flag, that’s not just a piece of cloth,” he said. “That’s the symbol of freedom, known all over the world. When you do something disrespectful to the American flag, that hurts people who have served and defended under it.”
Jim Seymour, the executive director of the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center, echoed Xiarhos, saying he felt “discouraged and disheartened” when he learned about the recent incident.
“Sometimes it gets lost what the flag truly stands for,” Seymour told the Herald.
“So many people didn’t get to come home, and fought under that flag,” he added, “and provided them the right to do that action that they did, honestly, I feel, to disgrace the flag and desecrate the flag.”
Jane Donovan, 68, recounted being brought up to “respect the flag” and parenting her son to do the same. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, she recalled how she and her son bought a white sheet that they painted the stars and stripes on, on their garage floor.
“If you’re in this country, you need to respect our flag,” Donovan said. “I don’t care if you’re American-born or if you are an immigrant; you need to learn to respect our flag. It stands for much more than a political thing, in my eyes.”
