Legion cenotaph vandalized
KATE DUBINSKI, EDMONTON SUN
Thu, April 28, 2005

A monument commemorating the nation's war veterans was destroyed by vandals sometime overnight Tuesday, reducing the one-tonne cenotaph to rubble and angering legion members and veterans. "What kind of person would do this?" said legion president Ted Gozley yesterday.

"How tragic and foolish some people are, doing this to people who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Somebody would have to be a fool to do that."

The monument stood at 10416 81 Ave., the former location of the Strathcona Legion, but was going to be relocated to the new building at 9020 51 Ave.

The legion will go ahead with its May 8th VE Day parade, said legion treasurer Ron Bell. They may just prop up the broken cenotaph for people to see or repair it temporarily before a new one can be ordered.

"It's going to cost $6,000 or $7,000 for a new one, and we don't have that kind of money," Bell said.

The cenotaph was erected in 1967 as part of the country's centennial celebrations.

A passerby noticed the broken monument yesterday morning and called Bell, who called police. The damage was done sometime between Tuesday night and yesterday morning, cops say.

"A stone that size, you'd almost need a vehicle to push it over ... A lot of the young generation don't respect a monument that's very important and means a lot to people," said Edmonton Police Service Const. Lael Sauter.

Second World War veteran Miles Daigneault called the vandalism senseless destruction.

"There are some nasty people in this country."

The now-empty Legion building has been vandalized with graffiti before, and a surrounding concrete fence has been regularly chipped away at and destroyed.

Anyone with information about the identity of the vandals is asked to call Edmonton cops.

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