Crime

Police investigating after World War II, fallen Marine memorial defaced

A replica of the Iwo Jima Memorial in Fall River was vandalized with what appears to be yellow spray paint last month.

The original U.S. Marine Corps Memorial is seen at sunset with the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument behind in Arlington, Va. The replica of the statue in Fall River was defaced last month. Alex Brandon/AP

By Emily Spatz

2 minutes to read

Fall River police are investigating the most recent act of vandalism of the replica Iwo Jima Memorial in Veteran’s Memorial Bicentennial Park. 

According to a Fall River police spokesperson, initial investigation showed the vandalism occurred on or around Jan. 27. Photos show the monument spray painted with phallic symbols and graffiti in yellow paint. 

The memorial, which features the names of hundreds of veterans, is a replica of the original Iwo Jima Memorials at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The Fall River statue is dedicated to all Marines who have died in service to the U.S. since 1775 and is also a World War II memorial. 

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Bruce Aldrich, the local Marine Corps League Commandant and one of the veterans who has looked after the monument since 2010, posted about the vandalism on Facebook Feb. 4. Aldrich said he had received offers to help clean the monument but would speak to the company that normally cleans it to ensure it is not further damaged. 

“It’s not just veterans that are upset,” Aldrich told The Herald News. “Civilians have been sending me all kind of notes, and on Facebook. They think it’s just disgusting, and it is.”

Aldrich said in the post that he had found several additional monuments in the park vandalized along with the Iwo Jima Memorial. 

The Fall River police spokesperson said the vandalism is being investigated by Major Crimes Detective Nicholas Custadio. There was no additional information available about the vandalism or possible suspects as of Tuesday evening, but the spokesperson said the department is hoping to announce “developments” in the coming days.

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This is not the first time the memorial has been desecrated. In 2017, CBS News reported that two vandals defaced the statue with a fire extinguisher. In 2016, the monument was a target in a string of vandalisms over several months, which included someone smashing an enclosure that stored a Purple Heart Medal, The Herald News reported.

Aldrich wants the culprits of the defacement to have a “teaching moment” and do community service as punishment, he told The Herald News.

“Bring them down there and give them a history lesson of how many thousands of guys died that are named on that monument, including 58,000 that died in the Vietnam War,” Aldrich told The Herald News.

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