BUFFALO, N.Y. — As they prepare for a busy weekend of Memorial Day activities, the staff at the Buffalo Naval and Military Park found itself suddenly having to arrange for repairs to the Korean War Monument, which was damaged by vandals in the overnight hours between Sunday and Monday.
The damage was discovered by volunteer groundskeepers when they arrived for work on Monday morning.
The vandalism involved the spray painting of the rifle of the soldier depicted on the monument's face, and tagging of other parts of the monument and the sidewalk leading up to it.
Among those the most upset was the Buffalo police officer who showed up to take the report, and who used terms like disgusting and sickening to describe what he saw.
"He (the police officer) is a veteran," explained the park's President and CEO Paul Marzello. "This probably means a lot more to someone like him who has served the country...to see monuments defaced in this way, it's very upsetting."
It was upsetting as well to Charles Andrews, who volunteers at the museum and served 20 years aboard submarines in the US Navy.
"It really hurts," said Andrews. "Our monuments are here for the purpose of everyone having something to remember. Something valuable to remember."
"We'll be contacting a stone supplier to find out what's the best way to remove (the graffiti) whether it's chemically, sandblasting whatever and we'll take direction from them," said Marzello. "Sadly, there are individuals who just don't know how to pay respect...whether it's memorial ground or other people's personal property."