A graffiti attack on the Garden of Memories war memorial in Oamaru has left North Otago Returned and Services Association members aghast, and even people passing the monument have been upset.
The tagging was discovered yesterday on the entrance gate and the memorial pillar at the World War 2 memorial.
A list of names of North Otago service people who lost their lives in the war had been spray-painted.
The plinth on which the Oamaru stone memorial sits at the head of the gardens was also tagged with an obscene message.
People who saw the graffiti were angry.
The twin granite plaques on each of the supporting pillars holding the gates were placed there in 2008 by the Rotary Club of Waitaki in a $6500 project.
Opened in 1950, the Garden of Memories, next to the RSA Club, never had the names of those killed in World War 2. The plaques have about 140 names, recovered from records throughout the district.
Three vehicles in Hull St, just above the Garden of Memories, were spray-painted with an offensive symbol, Oamaru police constable Bruce Dow said.
Two were painted with white enamel and the third with grey paint.
