You are reading

Vandals Scrawl Hate-Filled Messages on Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Elmhurst Park

Council Member Bob Holden observing the ugly graffiti at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Elmhurst Park today (twitter)

June 2, 2021 By Christian Murray

Hate-filled vandals scrawled swastikas and other ugly messages on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Elmhurst Park today.

The graffiti blanketed the memorial that features the names of 371 service members from Queens who gave up their lives in the Vietnam war.

“This is the worst vandalism I have seen in all my years,” said Council Member Bob Holden. “It’s very crude. It’s anti God, anti-soldier, anti-police, anti-everything.”

The vandals sprayed the words “baby killers” and lewd statements about God, along with swastikas in several places.

Holden said that the graffiti comes just days after a number of Memorial Day events were held at the park. He said that the police have notified him that they will be pursuing this as a hate crime.

“This is an insult to the United States and to every freedom-loving member of New York City,” Holden said. “It’s an insult to the soldiers who died.”

He noted that some of the graffiti is anti-NYPD, with a swastika scribbled next to the number 110, as in the 110th Precinct.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, who was the borough president when the memorial was completed in 2019, said that she would work with the NYPD to make sure the people responsible are held accountable.

The memorial sits on the northwest corner of Elmhurst Park, by the intersection of Grand Avenue and 79th Street. It features two walls facing each other and a flag poll.

“This is only Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Queens that pays homage to all the fallen service men and women from this borough,” Katz, who visited the ugly scene today, said. “The attack on the memorial, in this park, is a foul, criminal act.”

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz assessing the hate-filled graffiti at the memorial today (Photo: Courtesy of DA Katz)

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Repeat hate crime offender charged in anti-Muslim subway attack in Forest Hills: DA

A Southeast Queens man is being held without bail after he was criminally charged with assault in the first degree as a hate crime and other charges for allegedly punching and kicking a Muslim woman on an E train in Forest Hills during the early morning hours of Wednesday, June 18.

Naved Durrni, 34, of 106th Avenue in Jamaica, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday and additionally charged with aggravated harassment in the first and second degrees.

Hate Crimes Task Force investigating bomb threats against Mamdani: NYPD

The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force launched a probe into multiple death threats made against Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani after his district office at 24-08 32nd St. in Astoria received four expletive-filled phone voicemails, on various dates, making threatening anti-Muslim statements by an unknown individual, including a threat to blow up his car.

The calls were made from an untraceable number and labeled the mayoral candidate a “terrorist who is not welcome in New York or America” in a message phoned in on Wednesday morning.

Seven teens indicted for attempted murder in brutal Kissena Park gang attack on two girls: DA

A Queens grand jury indicted seven teenagers for attempted murder, gang assault, robbery, and other crimes for an attack on two girls inside Kissena Park in Flushing in early May.

The defendants, who are all 17 years old, were variously arraigned in Queens Supreme Court between June 4 and Wednesday in two separate 25-count indictments with two counts of attempted murder in the second degree. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in prison.

Queens Defenders founder charged with stealing nonprofit funds as second scandal unfolds

The founder of the Queens Defenders and her husband have lawyered up after they were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the non-profit organization.

Former Queens Defenders executive director Lori Zeno, 64, surrendered Wednesday at the Brooklyn federal courthouse. Zeno was arraigned on an indictment charging her and Rashad Ruhani, 55, with wire fraud conspiracy, theft, money laundering conspiracy and other crimes.