More than 20 headstones at the Kawaiaha‘o Church cemetery were knocked from their pedestals sometime early Wednesday morning, angering and upsetting those whose families are buried there.

“It’s so disgusting,” said Yvonne Jinbo, whose great-great-grandparents William and Esther Brede were interred in the historic cemetery.

The headstone bearing their names and years of death — 1910 and 1914, respectively — had been severed from its pedestal and was lying face up on the ground next to their grave sites.

“It’s part of my routine to walk by and say hello,” said Jinbo, her eyes filling with tears.

She said she was in her office across Punchbowl Street when she heard the news. Jinbo could tell from there that the headstone was down and ran over to check.

>> Photo gallery ‘Headstones overturned at Kawaiahao Church cemetery”

Church officials suspect the vandalism occurred early Wednesday morning.

Brickwood Galuteria, chairman of the church’s board of trustees, said the board is still gathering information about what happened, and a police report was filed.

“It’s very unfortunate what happened,” he said.

Kawaiaha‘o Church, built from massive, hewn blocks of white coral, is the first Christian church built on Oahu, and Hawaiian culture and language continue to be perpetuated there, according to the church’s website.

The church grounds also include a mausoleum for King Lunalilo and the graves of prominent Christian missionary families.

The church, the Mission Houses, Lunalilo’s tomb and the cemetery comprise the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site, a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, chairwoman of the Oahu Island Burial Council, called the desecration “disrespectful, so blatantly hewa (wrong).”

She walked the cemetery and discovered names of her own family members on some of the larger tombstones.

“I think that this is an absolute disgraceful and just awful travesty,” she said. “If this were done in any Western American cemetery with non-ethnic Hawaiians, there would be more of an uproar. But this is an old Hawaiian cemetery. At the end of the day, it’s going to only be our community.

“Imagine if this was done at Punchbowl.”

She said at least 27 gravestones were overturned.

As news of the vandalism spread, people trickled into the cemetery, hugging one another and crying.

Hoku DeFeo, 42, of Pearl City got emotional looking for her great- great-grandparents’ gravestone and was relieved to find it untouched.

“I’m just disappointed in our community for doing something like this,” she said. “It might be one or two individuals, but we need to hold one another responsible.”

Her 7-year-old daughter, Emmalia, is named after DeFeo’s great-great-grandmother Emily Nohoua, who is buried there. The child placed plumeria around her grave marker.

Jinbo said some of her family’s graves at Makiki Cemetery were vandalized two years ago, with crucifixes broken off at the top “like someone kicked them in half.”

She wondered how the heavy Kawaiaha‘o headstone — possibly cut from basalt — could be lifted, the mortar repaired and the stone placed back on its pedestal.

“It’s hard to find forgiveness,” Jinbo said. “I’m sure my great-great-grandparents would want me to.”