War Memorial in Merced County vandalized again

MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Stains remain on a vandalized War Memorial in Merced County. But now we're learning more about the plan to restore the monument to its former glory. Volunteers did their best to clean the World War II Memorial, but the graffiti is still visible.

Vietnam Veteran Bob Fredericks can't understand why anyone would desecrate a memorial honoring local residents who died while serving our country.

Fredericks said, "It's disturbing and leads one to believe what was the intent of these people were because we don't see anything that would give them reason to harm this park because it belongs to the whole community."

The wall was covered with black writing sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning. Volunteers immediately came together to clean as much of the vandalism as possible.

Fredericks said, "I think they did a wonderful job, and I'm amazed they were here as quick as they were."

But now the county has its own plan to repair the rest of the damage.

Merced County Spokesperson Mike North said, "Over the next couple of weeks, parks and rec will go out there and using a sanding process to remove some of the remaining paint, and then eventually an acid wash will be done to further clean up the monument, but it has to be dry in order to do this process or it won't work. It can't be raining, it can't be foggy when we restore this stone."

This same park has been the target of vandals in the past. Officials are looking for ways to protect these meaningful monuments in the future.

North said, "We've been discussing ways to deter this from happening again, including additional lighting and additional security options, but those are very preliminary talks at this time."

Merced County sheriff's deputies tell me their investigation is open, active, and progressing. But they could not comment on whether they're following any specific leads at this point.