Merced County War Memorial vandalized again

Veterans and community members are expressing outrage after someone sprayed graffiti on the county’s war memorial in Courthouse Park – the second time the memorial has been desecrated in recent memory.

Merced County sheriff’s Sgt. Delray Shelton said deputies have taken a felony vandalism report and launched an investigation into the incident. Someone apparently sprayed black graffiti on the World War II side of the memorial at night, sometime late Friday or early Saturday morning. Shelton said community volunteers did attempt to clean up the black paint Saturday, although dark stains from the graffiti are still visible.

The memorial in Courthouse Park contains the names of Merced County’s fallen military men and women who served during wars and conflicts. Thus far, no suspects are in custody.

Joe Cortez, 73, an Army veteran who serves on the executive board of Merced American Legion Post 83, went to the memorial Sunday morning to see the damage for himself. “It’s going to take a professional to come and take it off,” Cortez said of the stained wall. “I don’t know what’s wrong with society. ... I don’t know what people are thinking when they attack these memorials.”

The memorial has been targeted by vandals before. In 2009, the World War I side of the memorial was desecrated by a vandal who used a black marker. Merced police made an arrest in that case, and the damage to the memorial was eventually repaired.

However, fixing the damage can be costly, particularly if any of the stones needs to be replaced. When the memorial was vandalized in 2009, Merced’s parks and recreation department estimated that replacing the granite stone could cost up to $4,300. More than five years later, those costs could be even higher.

Ralph Gonzales, 77, an Army veteran who played an active role in establishing the memorial in the park years ago, said extra measures should be taken in order to better protect it. “This is the second or third time they’ve done this,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales suggested more lighting in the area or nighttime security to prevent future incidents from happening. “It seems like that’s what’s going to have to happen,” Gonzales said. “We need to have lights that light up the whole area, big time. I feel really bad that someone would do this to our heroes, who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Hope Silva, one of the volunteers who tried to clean up the graffiti Saturday, also wondered whether better lighting could help prevent future attacks on the memorial. Silva said she and the other volunteers, some of whom were veterans, did “the best they could” to clean up the ugly marks made by the vandals.

Silva said the memorial takes on personal significance because one of her cousins was killed during the Vietnam War. Silva said she also knew someone who was killed while serving in Iraq. “There are a lot of sacrifices people have made – (for vandals) to do this was totally disrespectful,” Silva said.

“Hopefully (law enforcement) finds out who did it,” she added, “and maybe they can get better lighting or security around there, just making sure that it’s well lit and people can see around it.”

This story was originally published January 11, 2015 at 1:36 PM with the headline "Merced County War Memorial vandalized again."