Fort McMurray memorial to Afghanistan veterans desecrated by vandals

FORT MCMURRAY The Royal Canadian Legion is asking anyone with information about vandalism to an Afghanistan Fallen Veterans Memorial in Fort McMurray to contact police.

The legion branch said between 12:30 a.m. and 4:40 a.m. on June 4, someone threw paint at the base of the monument.

“Soldiers, and the legions that serve them, do not associate themselves with any political viewpoint

This base act serves no purpose but to underline the reason Canada sends its sons and daughters into conflict.

nor profess opinion on where our country sends us to do its bidding,” said branch president Pat Duggan in a statement.

“To desecrate the monument that reminds us of the 162 of our nation’s fallen is similar to going to the hometowns of those brave souls and desecrating each of their gravestones.”

The monument — a shell of a decommissioned LAV III — arrived at the legion in October and was unveiled later that month.

A plaque on the side of the mon- ument acknowledges the 40,000 Canadian Forces personnel who served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014, as well as the 162 Canadians who died during the mission “in the cause of bringing peace and freedom to the people of Afghanistan.”

The monument allows the legion and the community to “properly honour not only those who paid the ultimate price in serving our country, but those who survived the horrors of war and made it home to us,” said Duggan at the time of its unveiling.

The LAV III served as an eightwheeled, armoured workhorse for the army during Canada’s mission in Afghanistan.

During the conflict, 13 vehicles were destroyed and 159 were damaged.

“It is our hope that the persons involved understand that this base act serves no purpose but to underline the reason Canada sends its sons and daughters into conflict, and that is to help stamp out such blind ignorance and hate,” said Duggan.

“If those involved have any sort of conscience at all they would admit to this injustice to our Armed Forces personnel and allow for some closure for a community that certainly has been through enough.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Wood Buffalo RCMP at 780-788-4040. Tips can be left anonymously with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at www.tipsubmit.com.