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Outrage as vandals desecrate war memorial

6:18am Thursday 17th July 2008

comment Comments (27)   Have your say »


Vandals have attacked a memorial to war heroes from a Hampshire village.

The millennium project was built by Bishopstoke Parish Council to salute those who sacrificed their lives in the two world wars.

But it has been knocked off its support and left lying face down on the ground.

The village authority's insurance company is assessing the damage and it is hoped that it can be repaired.

The attack on the memorial at Riverside has angered community and Royal British Legion leaders.

Shocked' Council chairman Anne Winstanley: "I am shocked that someone should vandalise the memorial which was in memory of the village dead. It has never been touched before.

"There are a few cracks on the stone but we hope it can be repaired."

Norman Brown, chairman of Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford and District Branch of The Royal British Legion, said: "It's disgusting that youngsters have got no respect for the ones who gave their lives so they could have their liberty."

He said that if the offenders were caught they should do two or three years in the armed services.

The memorial stone is close to a roll of honour inscribed with about 60 names from both world wars.

They include the late Vernon Cook who died when HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy's Second World War fleet, was sunk by the German battleship Bismark in 1941, with the loss of all but three of her crew of 1,419.

A police spokesman said the vandalism was being investigated.


Your Say YourThis is Hampshire

Bright Spark, Stubbington says...
6:41am Thu 17 Jul 08

How do they know it was youngsters? Probably was but ... anyway, let me get my hands on the vandals, I would do more than give them a bloody warning. Make them march through Eastleigh with placards saying "We vandalised the war memorial", then give them a bloody good kicking. That's what I would do.

Infantryman, soton says...
6:53am Thu 17 Jul 08

We have replaced respect of human life and those who gave their lives with something called "human rights" - .

Go, tell the Spartans though passest by that faithful to their precepts here we lie.

They offered all, and gave all !

Condor Man, Southampton says...
7:39am Thu 17 Jul 08

Perhaps these hard guys should test their courage out in Afghanistan at the moment?

JB Soton, Gosport says...
7:48am Thu 17 Jul 08

Dispicable act by mindless morons.
They have no respect for the living, terrorising neighbours,the elderly etc.
Suppose we should not be surprised they have none for the dead.

Fred, says...
8:02am Thu 17 Jul 08

"He said that if the offenders were caught they should do two or three years in the armed services"

Ah the old national service punishment. Real members of the armed services do not want scumbags fighting alongside them - they need men and women they can trust their lives with.

A far more useful job would be community service such as sorting my garbage or dismantling old electrical equipment into component parts - rather than sending it half way around the World to be done.

offended, says...
8:09am Thu 17 Jul 08

Fred wrote:
\"He said that if the offenders were caught they should do two or three years in the armed services\"

Ah the old national service punishment. Real members of the armed services do not want scumbags fighting alongside them - they need men and women they can trust their lives with.

A far more useful job would be community service such as sorting my garbage or dismantling old electrical equipment into component parts - rather than sending it half way around the World to be done.
Put the offending, offensive, culprits in public stocks built by existing community service workers and invite the local community to bombard them with old rotting vegetables or something similar, then put photographs of them in local newspapers to further shame them.

Mark, Moscow, Russia says...
8:10am Thu 17 Jul 08

Having emigrated to Russia, from Hampshire, last weekend I visited Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) where close to 1.5 million people were either injured or killed, (the bloodiest battle in history). The dead are remembered throughout the city in many memorials and shrines, all in an immaculate condition.

What makes me angry about this report, and made me feel compelled to write, was the complete lack of respect and understanding of these youngsters. Nobody can blame this due to poverty, or that the local council don't provide facilities for the community. Volgograd is a much poorer city than anywhere in the UK. Drug and alcohol abuse are common in the city, as is organised crime, but never would anyone desecrate a memorial to the war dead.

All I can say, is that I am glad to have left Britain, as it is not the country it once was.

Perhaps National Service is the only option to restore law and order into British society.

How those lost in war would feel about the Britain they sacrificed their lives for.

We will remember them...

Is it too early for you, says...
8:17am Thu 17 Jul 08

Bright Spark wrote:
How do they know it was youngsters? Probably was but ... anyway, let me get my hands on the vandals, I would do more than give them a bloody warning. Make them march through Eastleigh with placards saying \"We vandalised the war memorial\", then give them a bloody good kicking. That\'s what I would do.
It doesnt say it was youngsters,it says it was vandels.That could be people of any agegroup!!

Bright Spark, Selsey says...
8:29am Thu 17 Jul 08

"Norman Brown, chairman of Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford and District Branch of The Royal British Legion, said: "It's disgusting that youngsters have got no respect for the ones who gave their lives so they could have their liberty." ... I rest my case, get back in your box.


Merckxy, Eastleigh says...
9:34am Thu 17 Jul 08

Most of the yobs that probably did this have no respect for authority, there elders or there parents!!! Lock em up and throw away the key. Bring back conscription!!!

Veteran, Blackfield says...
9:52am Thu 17 Jul 08

I agree with Fred. The armed forces recruit men and women who want to make it their career. If they wanted to work with criminals, they would join the prison service. To give these people the choice of prison or a term in the forces, degrades the job that our troops do.

CyberWarriror, so'ton says...
9:52am Thu 17 Jul 08

Brainless chavSCUM, dragged up by brainless chavSCUM. What else can we expect from these maggots? A slap on the wrist is what they'll get (if they're caught) when what they really need is either 6 months in military boot camp, or a lead pill.

Duh, Southampton says...
10:11am Thu 17 Jul 08

What has this country turned into? There are some truly sick people walking our streets these days.
It's about time we invested in several new prisons and started locking more people up!

George, says...
10:32am Thu 17 Jul 08

Fred wrote:
Real members of the armed services do not want scumbags fighting alongside them - they need men and women they can trust their lives with.


Very true. Maybe they've got potential as landmine detectors, cannon fodder and the like, instead

Ryan K. A., Middle-East of Europe says...
10:46am Thu 17 Jul 08

Of course the youth of Great Britain have very little understanding of their history and the sacrifice of the Generations before them, when its hardly covered in their Educational Curriculum, and the go softly softly approach with criminals forced onto us by the do-gooders and lick-spittles of the Labour Party, what now comrades?
If the Gulags of Siberia were good enough for the citizens of the former Soviet Union, perhaps we should look to rent a few off Tsar Putin and send the trouble makers there, and feck prisoners rights, remember the rights of the victims, or in this case the rights the names on these memorial fought to give us.

cyberman, Southampton says...
10:53am Thu 17 Jul 08

"Norman Brown, chairman of Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford and District Branch of The Royal British Legion, said: "It's disgusting that youngsters have got no respect for the ones who gave their lives so they could have their liberty."

Does Norman Brown know anything we or the police don't? What makes him think that "youngsters" carried out this vandalism?


Mark, Moscow, Russia says...
10:57am Thu 17 Jul 08

Ryan K A ... the gulags are empty now, so plenty of space to send across all the scumbags. The only problem is, Russia doesn't really want them just as you do.

Personally, I'd like to see a Russian-style OMOH (pronounced Amon) on the streets of the UK. They take no prisoners, literally, and you're lucky to be told just once.

To the Veteran, my comment about National Service was to enlist them in the forces, before they get to become yobs, think Air/Army/Sea Cadets ... but compulsory through schools. Or the regular services could use the scumbags as target practice.

Billy Bongo, Beastleigh says...
11:24am Thu 17 Jul 08

I think its about time they used some of the old dis-used army barracks/camps and brought in American style Boot Camps & chain gangs.

Finlay, Des Moines, Iowa says...
11:38am Thu 17 Jul 08

...If the purpurtators went to school they would be taught why they are actually able to 'do what they like' because the worshipped heroes whose memorials they are destroying gave their live's for them to do that.

Those that squinney when they get 3 months in boot camp dont realise it could well have been like that for everyone on the British Isles permanently lest these true heroes went out and sacrificed themselves, not for themselves but for everyone in Britain.

It is a miniscule debt to repay to donate care and respect to them in death. RIP (Sorry. The people of England whom you died for have let you down.... again)

Im going to throw up - This is despicable

Stuart Jebbitt, Eastleigh says...
12:27pm Thu 17 Jul 08

When I was growing up in the 70's, we wouldn't have done this in a million years, because many of us had grandparents and parents who had fought in WW2. (My father fought at Arnhem) That direct link is now gone.
They don't appreciate or understand where their freedom came from...and it doesn't help that this Government is constantly eroding those freedoms and that more recent conflicts are all about oil and not freedom.
Anyway, meaningful punishment (unlikely with this current administration) AND education about the two wrold wars is needed.
(again unlikely as it's probably not PC)




Stuart Jebbitt, Eastleigh says...
12:34pm Thu 17 Jul 08

Also, Can I just say, the VAST MAJORITY of young people,(despite the impression the media like to portray), are decent, hardworking, and respectful. I work with some really fantastic young people.
This is a feral minority and the problems begin with the total lack of parenting.

bob, Stoneham says...
2:06pm Thu 17 Jul 08

Is it too early for you wrote:
Bright Spark wrote: How do they know it was youngsters? Probably was but ... anyway, let me get my hands on the vandals, I would do more than give them a bloody warning. Make them march through Eastleigh with placards saying \"We vandalised the war memorial\", then give them a bloody good kicking. That\'s what I would do.
It doesnt say it was youngsters,it says it was vandels.That could be people of any agegroup!!
Good come back Bright Spark!

bob, Stoneham says...
2:07pm Thu 17 Jul 08

Bright Spark wrote:
"Norman Brown, chairman of Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford and District Branch of The Royal British Legion, said: "It's disgusting that youngsters have got no respect for the ones who gave their lives so they could have their liberty." ... I rest my case, get back in your box.
I meant this bit!

Infantryman, Soton says...
5:13pm Thu 17 Jul 08

When my turn comes and I re-join the colours, what a sorry tale I will have to tell those who have gone afore me, 8 of my good friends - who fell on Tumbledown mountain. They marched into regimental history, honourable good men.

R.I.P., Southampton says...
6:34pm Thu 17 Jul 08

Mark wrote:
Having emigrated to Russia, from Hampshire, last weekend I visited Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) where close to 1.5 million people were either injured or killed, (the bloodiest battle in history). The dead are remembered throughout the city in many memorials and shrines, all in an immaculate condition. What makes me angry about this report, and made me feel compelled to write, was the complete lack of respect and understanding of these youngsters. Nobody can blame this due to poverty, or that the local council don't provide facilities for the community. Volgograd is a much poorer city than anywhere in the UK. Drug and alcohol abuse are common in the city, as is organised crime, but never would anyone desecrate a memorial to the war dead. All I can say, is that I am glad to have left Britain, as it is not the country it once was. Perhaps National Service is the only option to restore law and order into British society. How those lost in war would feel about the Britain they sacrificed their lives for. We will remember them...
Ditto............wel
l said

Derek, Dibden Purlieu says...
6:42pm Thu 17 Jul 08

I expect the memorial is close to the local council estate or 'social housing'

STOP YAPPING!!!, head in a vice says...
10:51pm Thu 17 Jul 08

Seriously, why can't women just shut the f**k up sometimes? Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah whittering on about mindless boring sh!t I care so little about I'm almost comatose. For f**ks sake, I couldn't give a toss what raffle tickets you're selling at the office, and I have no idea who any of these people you're talking about even are. And why the f@@k do you need to read entire bl00dy websites out to me? Can't you see I'm busy? On and on and on and on and on and on they go, are they scared of a bit of peace and quiet or something? Jesus, I've never heard such unrelenting drivel in all my life. I know Hammond's on the telly you stupid b!tch! I'm watching the same bl00dy thing you are!

Jesus

Rant over. Sorry for being off-topic, needed to vent

Bye

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