WEST YARMOUTH — Old Glory in tatters. Grommets ripped clean out. Seams torn. What was left of the American flags hung shredded from the fencing of a Cape Cod bridge that carries a Marine's name — the second time in ten months the memorial to Lance Corporal William Joseph Donovan Jr. has been desecrated.

A Yarmouth Police officer spotted the destruction Friday morning while driving over the Lance Corporal William Joseph Donovan Jr. Memorial Bridge on West Yarmouth Road. It was July 3. The nation was hours away from marking its 250th birthday. The flags meant to honor a Purple Heart recipient had been ripped down and left in ruin.

The Marine Corps flag and the POW/MIA flag lashed to the same fencing were left standing. Only the American flags were targeted.

Lance Corporal Donovan — a West Yarmouth Marine, Purple Heart recipient, and namesake of the bridge — is honored there by his family, his neighbors, and the town's veterans community. The flag display along the fencing is their ongoing tribute.

It has now been attacked twice.

The first strike came in August 2025. The community answered with a rededication ceremony on September 20, 2025 — new flags raised, Donovan's service honored, the memory reaffirmed. In the Yarmouth Police Department's own words, "reaffirming the community's commitment to preserving his memory."

Ten months later, whoever came for the flags the first time came back for them the second.

Two Independence Day weekends in a row, a fallen Cape Cod Marine's memorial has been the target.