Vandalized veteran's park repaired

HOUGHTON — Repairs have been done to a memorial in Houghton but authorities are still hoping those responsible come forward.

Most visitors to Veterans Park in Houghton won’t even be able to tell what happened…now that repairs have been made to it.

Late last week, someone came through and toppled over a Purple Heart memorial and damaged a plaque dedicated to those who lost their lives in World War II.

Military Order of the Purple Heart Copper Country Chapter Commander Joseph Tormala said, “Anybody the desecrates a war memorial is a special kind of stupid. Today, we righted a wrong. It’s back in place and Houghton City did an awesome job supporting us.”

Houghton County residents raised money for three years to get the memorial in place in May of 2015. The memorial suffered some chips when it fell over but was otherwise undamaged.

Tormala said, “It’s more of a personal injury to the public, I think. We all respect those who served and sacrificed and I think it’s an attack on that. It’s a statement against those people who have given everything for this country.”

Police are still searching for the vandals but the hope is that they won’t have to.

Tormala said, “Whoever’s responsible, I think they you should turn yourself in and face the music of what you’ve done. I think you should take responsibility for the expense to have it reset, because people had to take time out of their day to do it and I think you should make a public apology for what you’ve done.”

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Houghton Police Department.