Vandalized Venice Memorial "You Are Not Forgotten" To Be Repaired

locals observe the repair effort

Days before Memorial Day, the well-known Venice Beach mural "You Are Not Forgotten" honoring Vietnam POWs was damaged by major graffiti vandalism, which obliterated nearly the entire the bottom half of Peter Stewart's 100-foot mural.

Venice locals were shocked at both the extensiveness and the timing of the vandalism just before Memorial Day celebrations, and a grass-roots effort is underway to restore as much of the 1992 mural as possible.  The focus will be on restoring the names of 2,273 missing service personnel listed on either side of Stewart's images of servicemen.  City crews were at work Monday covering up the damaged area so that the actual graffiti tagging does not get publicity while repair work is coordinated.

Venice residents posted flags to honor military service personnel