WWII Veteran Gravestone Found in Parking Lot

In a strange discovery Sunday morning, employees at Bertucci’s found a tombstone in their parking lot.

According to Woburn Police, Officer Mark Shaughnessy was dispatched to 17 Commerce Way for the odd discovery at 11 a.m. Sunday.

“It is unknown at this time how the grave marker ended up in Bertucci’s parking lot,” said Officer Shaughnessy. “There was no damage to the stone.”

Restaurant Manager Arghishti Gukasyan told police Sunday he saw an item in the parking lot earlier, but assumed it was trash. When two other employees arrived, they told Gukasyan that it was a gravestone.

Gukasyan went outside and took the gravestone inside the restaurant “out of respect and for safe-keeping,” said police.

When Woburn Police arrived, Officer Shaughnessy discovered that the stone was a granite grave marker for Ralph Meade, S2, U.S. Navy, World War II who died Feb. 2, 1999. A cardboard box with the stone showed that the marker came from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. and was addressed to Veterans Services in Natick.

Officer Shaughnessy attempted to contact the Natick offices, but it was not open yesterday. In an e-mail, Shaughnessy explained the situation and planned to reattempt contact today.

Meade’s gravestone was placed in a cruiser and brought to the Woburn Police Station for safekeeping.

According to police, Meade had a previous address of Ashland.