World War II monument defaced with paint at Charlotte cemetery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - A 20-foot-tall memorial at a Charlotte cemetery appears to have been defaced with paint covering the names of more than 500 Mecklenburg County residents who died in World War II.

The memorial at Evergreen Cemetery on Central Avenue is covered with the words “Glory to the day of heroism June 19, 1986.” The phrase appears to correspond to the Peruvian prison massacres of 1986, when 224 people died in a series of riots.

The memorial pays tribute to 5,170 people whose bodies rested at the depot on their way to other cemeteries, and it lists the names of 507 Mecklenburg County residents who gave their lives in World War II.

The hammer and sickle symbol of communism was also painted on the memorial. Yellow paint covers a passage reading, “Dedicated to the memory of the Mecklenburg heroes of World War II who made the supreme sacrifice that you might live in liberty, freedom and peace.”

The vandalism is similar to paint left behind on Memorial Day at a memorial in Lawrenceville, Pennsyvlania, according to WPXI. The same phrase was painted onto the National World War I museum in Kansas City, Missouri, last year, according to the Northeast News.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said they hadn’t gotten a report about the incident. A call to the City of Charlotte’s cemetery division went unanswered Sunday.

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