The good news is nobody vandalized the Persian Gulf War Memorial in Rock Springs. The bad news is that it had fallen into disrepair enough that a whole side of engraved names crumbled.
“The silver lining in this is it brings out so much good in our community,” said Mayor Max Mickelson about a flood of people asking how they can help fix the memorial since the damage was announced by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department on Tuesday.
“However, it should never have been allowed to reach a point where it is that vulnerable,” the mayor added.
The memorial, which has been in Veterans Park on the east side of Rock Springs for “at least 20 years,” has been a frequent target of vandalism in the past, the mayor said.
That’s why the first reaction was to assume vandalism when it was discovered that the whole right panel of names on the three-panel monument had fallen off.
“That particular (monument) has a history of being vandalized, so some of that damage and decay had come from that,” Mickelson said.
It was revealed that a child, not vandals, had accidentally triggered the collapse after the child’s mother contacted the Rock Springs Police Department to set the record straight.
“Following our initial community release (citing vandalism), a local mother contacted our department to report that her young child was involved,” the RPD says in a report on the incident.
“The mother was attending a sporting event at the park when her younger child returned to her covered in dust,” the report says. “At the time, she was unaware that anything had been damaged.
“The child was trying to read the names when a section of old, deteriorating mortar failed, causing the stone tiles to pull free and fall. We can confirm that this incident was not an act of intentional, criminal vandalism or malicious destruction.”
All Memorials To Be Examined
That’s also good news for city residents who expressed outrage that military veterans could potentially be targeted by vandals, and then disappointment that the memorial had gotten to a state that it could crumble.
When Yellowstone Tile owner Steve Elwood learned about the damage to the memorial, he offered to donate his time to assess the damage and help get it fixed.
“No. 1, I love our country and I honor our troops and fully support them,” he said. “It’s a shame what happened to that wall.”
He also said he feels a sense of duty to his father, who worked to build a memorial wall in San Diego, where they used to live.
“I also want to honor my father, who recently passed away, and my father loved our troops more than anyone,” said Elwood, adding that other family members are veterans. “I want to do my part for our country. I didn’t get the opportunity to fight in a war. I want to do my part.”
He said that while he’s glad the damage wasn’t deliberate, he wants to make sure it’s restored in a way that it’ll last a lot longer.
“I was so glad to hear it was not vandalism. I was worried it was some little Communist teenager making a statement,” Elwood said. “It just broke my heart to see the names of the veterans crumble like that.”
Gilbert Pacheco Jr. is one of the names on the Persian Gulf War Memorial in Rock Springs.
“My name is on the memorial while serving on board the USS Princeton (CG 59), and I find this very sad,” he said in a response to the city’s initial report.
What’s Next?
Now that the condition of the memorial has been brought to light, Mickelson said the city is already assessing the damage, and also will do an assessment of the condition of all the city's memorials.
“Now that we’ve reached a conclusion with how that damage happened, we’re working on how to assess all the memorials we have,” he said. “The intention is to not just reproduce what was there, but to do something that honors those men and women.
“I was very distraught when that was brought to my attention yesterday morning.”
If there’s a silver lining to the story, Elwood said it’s the child’s mother.
“By coming forward to say, ‘Hey, that was my kid,’ she’s showing accountability, which there isn’t much of these days,” he said. “Integrity is lost in today’s age. It was truly a great thing what she did.
“If not, we would all still be sitting here thinking it was vandalism.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
