A Vietnam War veteran’s memorial in Venice, California was vandalized just ahead of Memorial Day, an act that has outraged people across the city of Los Angeles.
The monument, painted on the wall 24 years ago, was tagged with a giant swath of silver graffiti, covering many of the 2,273 names of missing veterans from the war. Sunday morning, dozens of volunteers were working to clean it up.
“Vandalizing a monument to brave men and women who served our country in a time of war is a disgusting act,” City Councilman Mike Bonin said. He is asking the mural be restored as soon as possible.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the act and other local officials are expressing their shock.
“Such ignorance and animosity,” said Venice Chamber of Commerce Vice President George Francisco, whose father was a Green Beret in Vietnam.
Stewart Oscars, a Venice local who has driven by the mural daily for about 20 years was one of the residents who got local officials involved.
“The wall represents a significant part of our history,” Oscars said. “Why did this happen right at Memorial Day weekend?” Oscars lamented.
“If you have any sense of history, you’d never do this,” Oscars said. “That’s lots of names. Those are people.”
Copyright 2016 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
The same people that did this are the ones stomping on our Flag !!