The fountain bubbled over with suds and someone painted “Clean hands Dirty $” on one surface, splattering the area with red and green paint. Uniformed police and National Guard troops converged on the scene, which was cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape, keeping visitors away.
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One investigator in plainclothes bent over the site of the graffiti, measuring the damage with a tape measure, Reuters pictures showed. Workers arrived to remove the graffiti, the Washington Post reported, citing Park Police officers at the site.
Dedicated in 2004, the memorial features 56 granite pillars around the edge of an elliptical plaza on the National Mall as a monument to the 400,000 Americans who died and 16 million who served in the armed forces during the conflict, according to the National Park Service.
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“The vandalism that occurred is an utter disgrace and will not be tolerated,” the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, said in a statement. “Our U.S. Park Police are on the scene and the investigation is ongoing. The public should know we will find the person responsible for this disgusting act.”
The , a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the memorial, called the vandalism “unacceptable,” saying the memorial was a “sacred place of remembrance.”
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“There are many places in our country for expression, debate, and disagreement. A national memorial honoring those who served and those who never returned home should never be used as a canvas for vandalism,” the Friends said in a statement.
The U.S. role in World War Two is largely a matter of national pride and unity even in highly polarising times, though many Americans still debate whether the U.S. should have dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to end the war.
The vandalism comes as President Donald Trump has launched a personal and sometimes politically divisive campaign to alter memorials around Washington.
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