Just days after marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day, North Shore branches of the Royal Canadian Legion were dismayed to see one of North Vancouver's most prominent cenotaphs defaced.
A member of Lynn Valley's 114 branch noticed the markings - mainly scribbles and what appears to be a scorecard made in children's sidewalk chalk - drawn onto the cenotaph in Victoria Park on Saturday and alerted her branch president.
Even though the markings were apparently made by children and easily washed away, it is still unacceptable, said Rhonda Thomas, president of North Vancouver Legion 118.
"Where were the parents? And why would you let your kids do that in the first place? I don't understand. That's a monument. That's for veterans for goodness sakes. It's not for playing around by children," Thomas said. "It shouldn't be defaced in any way shape or form by anybody. Whoever did this should take responsibility and come up and say they made a mistake."
City of North Vancouver staff cleaned the memorial off on Tuesday morning.
Seeing any memorial defaced "cuts to the bone," said Bill Calder, Lynn Valley Legion 114 president "It's very demoralizing to us," Calder said. "Legions are a promoter of remembrance and we work very hard to keep that in the forefront. Particularly, on Nov. 11 but all year round there are different events that take place that promote remembrance and we like to ensure our memorials reflect the dignity they deserve."
The incident underscores a failure by parents to teach their children about the sacrifices that cenotaphs represent, according to Calder.
"Even children who have a lack of knowledge, they have parents. They should be teaching them what the importance and value of those monuments are to those that have given us a life we seem to enjoy and take, too often, for granted," he said.
The recent passing of the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy makes the chalk all the more disrespectful.
"If anybody needed a memory jog, that was certainly it," Calder said.
