Police looking at CCTV for Anzac vandals

Vandals scrawl "no tears for dead soldiers" on a war memorial near Wollongong. Locals say it will not deter commemorations.

Vandals have written "no tears for dead soldiers" on a Wollongong war memorial just a day before an annual Anzac ceremony.

The Corrimal war memorial was sprayed with offensive graffiti and a chunk was knocked out of a granite pillar on Saturday night, Corrimal RSL sub-branch vice-president Neil McLean said.

The graffiti reads "Scab Eater ... No tears for dead soldiers" with broken bourbon and VB bottles smashed nearby.

Mr McLean told AAP he had to cover up the graffiti with duct tape to hide it from the public.

"Everybody's very, very upset and distressed about it - to think that people could be so cruel," he said.

"It's something that I hold very dearly to my heart being a returned serviceman and to do something like that, especially with 100 years of Anzac coming up as well."

Mr McLean has been trying to get the graffiti removed from the memorial.

"(It's written in) big, wide, thick, black texta and it's soaked into the actual stone," he said.

"I've (even) had a stone mason look at it (and) he's come up with a few other ideas but there's no way to fix it before Anzac Day."

According to The Illawarra Mercury, punk band Scab Eater played at Corrimal Hotel on Friday night.

Police are hoping CCTV footage will help find the culprits.

Mr McLean says the incident won't stop people from attending Anzac Day commemorations.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world