Vandals Spray Paint Veterans' Memorial In Brackenridge

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TARENTUM, Pa. (KDKA) – A monument in the Brackenridge Memorial Park – that honors service people as far back as World War I – was recently vandalized with silver spray paint.

The memorial, which is next to the American Legion's Post 226 between the Allegheny River and First Avenue, also had paint dripped on a number of raised bronze names of Brackenridge Borough service members. The paint also dripped onto the flags and grave markers.

"Everything that was originally bronze has been spray painted," said Brackenridge Councilman Dino Lopreiato. "And, disrespecting all the veterans, it has splotches of paint everywhere (where the names are raised)."

Lopreiato said police estimated the vandals worked in the middle of the night.

KDKA's Meghan Schiller Reports:

Frank Svitek, the Commander of the Brackenridge American Legion, is the one who discovered the defacing paint job. He was emotional about the monument, which has stars next to service members who were killed in action.

"Personally, I had an uncle who was in Korea. He was the first Brackenridge resident in the Korean War that died," Svitek said. "His name is on there and it has a star so this does mean a lot to mean. It means a lot to our veterans in the Brackenridge American Legion and the residents. This has been here and easy 70 years."

Svitek said that investigators were checking cameras in an attempt to get some leads on who might be responsible for the vandalism.

"Whoever the individual was will probably be found out," he said. "They are just in the process of reviewing the cameras."

Svitek had a warning for the vandals.

"Beware, you're on film. This is 2019."

The Brackenridge Legion had already given money to a borough improvement group to refurbish the monument. Now, the funding is going to have to be increased.

"We were originally working on getting this monument (refurbished), but now, instead of costing us X amount, it's going to cost three times as much," Lopreiato said. "Funding that the community doesn't have. It is a big disrespect to the veterans."

"I'm sure between the Brackenridge Legion, residents, people that do care, we can come up with some extra funds (to get the monument restored)," Svitek said. "Obviously this is going to cost quite a bit extra."

The Brackenridge Improvement Group has a fund set up and donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 160 in Brackenridge. Lopreiato asked that those willing to donate specify Brackenridge Improvement Group Monument Fund so that donations can be earmarked for restoring the monument.