We thought at first it was just a prank-type deal at first. We were very upset about it and so forth but now we know that this is a real deal," said David Resch, a past commander of American Legion Post 93 in Eastsound, Wash. "This is a **** act, not just somebody going out there and desecrating things for the fun of it."

No one has taken responsibility for back-to-back flag desecrations at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Orcas Island, Wash., according to San Juan County Sheriff Bill Cumming.
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On Sunday morning, members of the Boyle B. Martin American Legion post found desecrated the flags of 97 veterans. Of those, 46 flag standards were empty, 33 contained burned flags and 14 had been replaced with handmade swastika flags, authorities said.
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Resch kept watch early Monday after legionnaires replaced the flags, but the vandals struck again under the cover of darkness.
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Thirty-three flags had been replaced with hand-drawn swastika flags, according to the San Juan County Sheriff's Office in Friday Harbor, Wash.
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Officials are trying to get physical evidence, such as fingerprints, from the paper and duct tape left behind.

The crimes have stunned this small community of approximately 5,000 people.

"It's a small island, and I think if it's local folks that did it, everybody kind of talks to everybody about certain things, you know," said Pierrette Guimond, district commissioner for San Juan Cemetery District No. 3, which includes Woodlawn.
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"If people want to protest something this is not the place to do it," Guimond said. "People go there to think about the people that went to war for their country and stuff like that. It's a really sacred place."

The vandalism is considered a hate crime under Washington state law, Cumming said.

Orcas Island can be reached from the mainland via a leisurely ferry ride from Anacortes or by seaplane from Seattle or Portland