Outgoing Ombudsman Arlene Brock has described her inquiry into the desecrated tombstones at Tucker’s Point as the saddest she has had to conduct in eight years in office.

It’s not hard to believe. Who could fail to be moved by the fact that a cemetery — the final resting place for countless loved souls — could command such little respect over the past century?

What is harder to believe is the total lack of remorse or regret shown by those involved in the Tucker’s Town tombstones fiasco.

No one seems able to utter a simple ‘sorry’. Everyone seems to want to shift the blame to someone else or, better still, say nothing at all.

Yet isn’t an apology — from various quarters — exactly what is needed if Bermuda is to get beyond the destruction of the tombs and create a fitting memorial to those left behind in unmarked graves?

Perhaps in 2014 it’s too much to expect a ‘sorry’ for the fact that an entire community had to uproot itself and leave Tucker’s Town to make way for a hotel in 1920 — though Denny Richardson, a descendant of that community, would likely, and, compellingly, disagree.

Perhaps too it’s unlikely that anyone will say sorry that those forced to leave the land got so little in the way of recompense.

Will an apology be forthcoming for the fact that a practice tee was eventually built above the cemetery that community left behind, allowing golf balls to “rain daily” onto the graves? Maybe not.

But surely the October, 2012 act of vandalism at Tucker’s Town — the destruction of historic tombstones marking the graves of enslaved and free blacks — deserves some acknowledgment of culpability.

Perhaps if those to blame admitted they were wrong — if they publicly stated that they didn’t do their job or didn’t bother to check their facts — then we could all admit that we don’t do enough on this Island to highlight and commemorate our history, as shameful as parts of it may be.

Edward Harris, the Island’s best known archaeologist and director of the National Museum of Bermuda, is named in Ms Brock’s report as the person who oversaw the demolition of the tombs, after coming to the wrong conclusion that they were “false”.

But Dr Harris won’t answer questions about the report or explain how he reached his inaccurate opinion.

Neither will John Triggs, the overseas archaeologist whose report prompted Marsden First United Methodist Church to move forward with the destruction of the stones.

Both could say sorry — as could the Department of Planning. It could admit: “The Ombudsman recommended in early 2012 that we take extra steps to protect this crucial piece of our history and we didn’t.”

Instead, as Ms Brock points out, the Department by its own admission let the recommendation “fall under the radar” and then responded to her report by claiming it only ever meant to review her idea.

She likens its “dance around not giving or seeking instructions” to the UK comedy ‘Yes Minister’ but adds: “This was not a laughing matter.”

Marsden Church — whose congregation descends from the very community forced off the land in 1920 — could say sorry for not consulting with Tucker’s Town Historical Society, a group formed by Mr Richardson which can also trace its ancestry back there. Instead, its pastor has made not a single public statement about the report.

And Opposition leader Marc Bean — Environment Minister when the Ombudsman made her recommendation — could tell Bermuda he regrets not making the robust protection of Marsden Methodist Memorial Cemetery a priority when he was in office.

But, as evidenced last week, he would rather badmouth Ms Brock, claiming the report has “tarnished her legacy”.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The report tells Bermuda the real truth about Tucker’s Town — and advises us how we can right this terrible wrong by 2020, the 100th anniversary of the compulsory acquisition order.

If we can all acknowledge the lack of respect we have given this important cemetery, then maybe we can work together to create the right tribute to the souls left behind at Tucker’s Town and their descendants.

The alternative is to do nothing — and let the disrespect go on.