Massachusetts Iwo Jima memorial vandalized again

By

The Associated Press

Then-Sen, John Kerry, D-Mass., right, meets World War II veteran Edgar J. Moore, 87, of Fall River, Mass., in front of the Iwo Jima memorial at Bicentennial Park in Fall River, Monday, April, 24, 2006. On Oct. 18, 2017, police said they are investigating an act a vandalism to the memorial. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)

FALL RIVER, Mass. — Police in Massachusetts are investigating the latest case of vandalism to an Iwo Jima memorial.

Officials say the memorial in Fall River was doused with the contents of a fire extinguisher last weekend.

Commandant Bruce Aldrich of the city’s Marine Corps League tells the Herald News that surveillance video captured a man and woman vandalizing the statue at about 4 a.m. Saturday. The fire extinguisher was left behind and is being processed for fingerprints.

City Veteran’s Agent Raymond Hague is concerned the statue’s protective coating was damaged.

The memorial is a one-third scale replica of the Iwo Jima memorial in Washington depicting Marines raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, a moment captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph.

The Fall River memorial dedicated in 2005 has frequently been targeted by vandals.

Information from: The (Fall River, Mass.) Herald News, http://www.heraldnews.com