Fury over memorial swastika

VANDALS daubed a swastika on an Ipswich war memorial which honours some of the town's heroes.

The highly offensive symbol was painted on the war memorial in Christchurch Park, just underneath the list of the soldiers from Ipswich who died during the First and Second World Wars.

The green painted symbol of Neo-Nazi groups had to be ground off the memorial by stone masons.

Peter Thompson from the Ipswich branch of the Royal British Legion said he was appalled at the vandalism.

He said: “It is absolutely crazy and there is no need for it.

“It is really offensive because the memorial is about putting back something for what they gave us and it's something everyone in town should be proud of.

“To me it is so moving that it makes my hair stand on end.”

The swastika, was discovered by the Suffolk Stone Masons who were cleaning the memorial.

Mr Thompson said: “We have had vandalism before such as people writing their names but nothing like this.”

“You can only stop it if there were gates around it but it should be open for everyone to use.

“The people of Ipswich put it there in the first place.”

But Mr Thompson said the memorial was now looking fantastic following its spring clean last week.

He said: “It never looked quite right before but now it has been cleaned it looks better than ever.”

The work cost £1,200 of which half was paid for by Ipswich Borough Council and half came from donations from the people of Ipswich.

Now the Royal British Legion is hoping to add the names of five soldiers who were born in the borough and have died while fighting for their country since 1945.

Mr Thompson said: “We have planning permission to put in the extra five names and we hope we never need to put in any more than that.

“It will cost £1,000 and so we are hoping to get donations from people in Ipswich.”