Biloxi National Cemetery ‘lucky’ to avoid extensive damage in weekend truck incident
An investigation is underway after a crash caused damage in the Biloxi National Cemetery on Sunday.
According to cemetery director Alfred Maxwell, a Silverado pickup truck plowed through sections of the national cemetery around 3 p.m. on Sunday, damaging some headstones, a bench, a flag pole and some road signs. No one was hurt in the incident.
A veteran was behind the wheel of the vehicle, Maxwell said, and the driver drove through several sections of the cemetery, before coming to a rest, damaging about 12 headstones in the process.
According to Maxwell, the initial suggestion was that the driver had a medical incident, but that is not known for sure. An investigation is ongoing to determine what happened. At the time of publication, the VA police department, which had investigated the incident, had not responded to questions.
The cemetery dealt with some tornado damage previously, but according to Maxwell, this is the first time they’ve dealt with vehicular damage.
“We had just put wreaths up for the holidays on Saturday,” Maxwell said.
On Monday workers were seen fixing the headstones and putting them back upright. According to Maxwell, most of the damage would be fixed by the end of the day, aside from one headstone that had to be replaced.
Maxwell said it was lucky that there was not more damage, as the truck drove over a section of flat headstones and wreaths that sustained no damage.
This story was originally published December 4, 2023 at 11:37 AM.
