The small, tranquil park at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Sunnyside Avenue in Brookfield is dedicated to the village’s veterans. You wouldn’t know that at the moment, however, since the stone wall at the entrance announcing “Veterans Park” is currently devoid of letters.
And the park is likely to remain anonymous for some months as the village orders a new sign-one, hopefully, that is vandal-proof-to replace the old, much-tampered-with sign.
“It’s right up there with knocking over tombstones in a cemetery,” said Village President Michael Garvey about the repeated vandalism of the Veterans Park sign over the past five years.
The small, triangular park has been a veterans memorial for at least a century. When the American Legion sold its building at 3700 Prairie Ave., just a half block away several years ago, it decided to donate $10,000 (later the amount was increased to $25,000) to create a true memorial instead of the sandlot the park had become.
After a bit of political wrangling in 2002, the park was dedicated in time for a candlelight vigil on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. But early on, it was obvious that the metal letters stating “Veterans Park” attached to the stone wall were just too inviting. Often one letter would disappear from the sign. While the letters may have been simply removed with malicious intent, there were other occasions when the letters were torn off by people trying to climb on top of the wall, using the protruding letters as steps.
The letters were difficult to replace, sometimes taking weeks to be shipped from the manufacturer.
“When I got here the ‘V’ was gone,” said Village Manager Riccardo Ginex, who was hired in September 2005. “It was hard to find a replacement; I can’t remember where we found it. People were upset with the village, but we were doing our best to replace them and then they’d break again.”
In the last six months, however, the problem got worse. By last month there were just two letters -“ER”-left of the word “veterans.” As a result, Ginex ordered all of the letters removed until a new sign could be made.
The vandalism has infuriated local veterans such as Larry Ketchmark, who served in both World War II and the Korean War, and denounced the vandalism at the Oct. 22 meeting of the village board
“I cannot accept this as being a trivial thing,” said Ketchmark, father of village Trustee Kit Ketchmark. “Somebody has to see what’s going on. We have to recognize the problem and do something about it. These vandals are thumbing their nose at the village.”
Ginex said that the village has contacted the Peter Troost Monument Company to get details on creating a plaque that can be bolted into the stone wall. The reverse side of the wall already holds several bronze plaques dedicated to the different branches of the armed forces and noting the generosity of the American Legion and the Brookfield AMVETS for their roles in refurbishing the park.
Ginex said he did not yet have an estimate of cost for the plaque, but hinted that it could be expensive. The new plaque could also take three months to make.
“The ultimate solution is to do the right thing and get this plaque,” Garvey said. “We’ll have an added expense, but at least we can do the right thing for the veterans.”