Veterans' memorial garden trashed
IN the space of one night, months of hard work in a memorial garden of Vietnam Veterans Park at Bongaree was destroyed with plants torn from the ground and bulbs scattered into pieces.
The garden is a national memorial for Operation Iron Triangle 1RAR October 8-15, 1965.
Park manager Jeff Korn arrived last Tuesday morning (July 17) to check the gardens, as he does every day, only to be greeted by the sight of a garden in ruins.
"It brought me to tears, plants were torn out of the ground and bulbs were snapped off, it's absolutely disrespectful and disgusting," Mr Korn said.
"We're all volunteers and these gardens are here to remember our mates."
Mr Korn said the plants, which included daffodils, tulips and hyacinths, only went in about three months ago.
"I look after these memorial gardens and it was my idea to put the bulbs in, the tulips were even flowering which is unusual on Bribie Island," he said.
"It was looking so colourful, it's a really big shame."
What makes it even harder to deal with is Vietnam Veterans Day is just a few weeks away with services planned in the park.
"Whoever it was that did this, picked the one garden that didn't have light near it, the one garden that wouldn't be seen, who does something like this?" Mr Korn said.
"We worked hard to get these gardens to this point and now we're right back at the start."
Mr Korn said police had been informed about the incident but there wasn't much that could be done unless someone witnessed what happened.
"It is being treated as a crime so if someone saw what happened, please ring the police because we don't want this sort of thing to happen again," he said.
If you have any relevant information which relates to the damage of the garden in Vietnam Veterans Park overnight on Monday, July 16 please telephone Bribie police on 3410 9222.
