Community 'disgusted' after vandals trash Victorian war memorial on eve of Anzac Day
Members of a Melbourne RSL club have been left disgusted by an act of vandalism that left a war monument trashed on the eve of Anzac Day.
Warrandyte RSL members this morning woke to find "War is Murder" and an anarchy symbol spray-painted in red on the memorial.
In sharing the image to various Facebook pages, Jake Clancy, who took a photo of the memorial, commented that he was "Pretty disgusted to see our war memorial vandalised the day before Anzac Day.”
A war memorial in Melbourne has been trashed on the eve of Anzac Day.
RSL President Hank Van Der Helm was distraught to learn of the graffiti when he came across the Facebook post, saying the clean-up bill is expected to be costly.
“I’m pretty disgusted. Unfortunately it’s the sort of thing you come to expect from the morons in our society,” Mr Van Der Helm told the Herald Sun.
Manningham Council cleaners were looking into having the graffiti cleaned up ahead of tomorrow's 10.30am service, but the president said protecting the memorial’s gold lettering would be costly.
“Hopefully we can get it fixed up for Anzac Day but the biggest problem is going to be the gold lettering because it’s pretty expensive,” he said.
“We’re all pretty disgusted but we’re optimistic that we’ll get it looking right again for tomorrow.
"All we can do is clear it up and have security on watch overnight."
Up to 600 people are expected to attend the Warrandyte RSL Anzac Day service tomorrow morning to remember the fallen and honour those who have served.
The incident has been reported to the police but no arrests have been made.
Local police are disappointed with both the target and the timing of the criminal damage.
“It’s sad to see this attempt to diminish the spirit of the ANZAC’s with this disrespectful act,” Acting Sergeant Nick Bailey said.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page.
