# IRving, Texas Memorial wall vandalized



## texasgirl (May 30, 2005)

*This makes me sick!*
*I know that a lot of people are against the wars and that is their right. But, when you deface a memorial that is honoring the men and woman that lost their lives to give them that right, is unforgiving!!!!*
*the words that were written on the wall are " Price of Freedom"*




*Vandals deface Irving memorial 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			



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[size=-1]*11:38 PM CDT on Sunday, May 29, 2005 *[/size]

[size=-1]*By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA-TV *[/size]

Many angry Irving residents are trying to find out who desecrated the city's veterans memorial on a weekend when America honors its war heroes. 

Located in a park on Rock Island Road between Story Lane and MacArthur Boulevard, the memorial carries the names of Irving men and women who died in the service of their country. 

Sometime early Sunday, someone honored their sacrifice with spray paint, all over the structure and on the ground. 

Andy Greenwood came upon the damage on his first visit to Veteran's Memorial Park. 

"What kind of person would do this, I really don't know," Greenwood said. "That's not a sign of respect, and that's what this place is about." 

Irving's memorial was dedicated a year ago this week as a way to commemorate the city's sons and daughters who paid the ultimate price. 

Veterans and supporters sold brick after brick to help get this built; one of those was former Marine Bob Moffatt who served in the Pacific in World War II. 

"(I) went all the way up through the Marshall Islands, Guadalcanal and then on into Japan," Moffatt said. 






 DMN 
The vandals spray-painted across the face of the memorial. 

Nurturing the memorial has been Moffatt's passion. The desecration is hard to take, but not a surprise. People have been stealing letters from the memorial's sign too. 

"The V's gone a lot," Moffatt said. 

He fears the vandalism is a sign of something deeper: diminishing respect for veterans. 

"I can't understand it," he said. 

But others say no, declaring that this nation is still grateful, and a scrawl of grafitti cannot mask or devalue the real price so many have been willing to pay.


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## IcyMist (May 30, 2005)

I hope they catch the person who did that.  I think just punishment would be to be made to clean grafitti off of walls, etc. and made to visit and listen to some of the horror stories of the veterans in the VA hospitals.


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## texasgirl (May 30, 2005)

IcyMist said:
			
		

> I hope they catch the person who did that. I think just punishment would be to be made to clean grafitti off of walls, etc. and made to visit and listen to some of the horror stories of the veterans in the VA hospitals.


 
That would be fitting, I guess, but, I don't think they deserve the honor of meeting any of ours servicemen and woman.

It will probably turn out to be someone that lost a loved one in the fight against terror and are still in pain. No excuse, but, I want to believe that it wasn't malicious, just pain that made them do it.


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## middie (May 30, 2005)

absolutely heart-braking. i hope they're caught. i don't see this as a funny joke at all.


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