A Fife village has been left shocked and angered after its brand new war memorial was desecrated just a week after being unveiled and just hours after poppy wreaths were laid on Remembrance Sunday.
Remembrance events in Falkland were soured when it emerged that the memorial on Brunton Green had been dishonoured by someone taping a “Banksy-style” image of a rat to the structure.
No permanent damage has been caused to the memorial as the so-called ‘tag’ had been printed on cardboard and could be removed.
But the act has left local people and representatives from armed forces organisations angry particularly with the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War being marked and all the local efforts to fundraise for the cairn, led by the Falkland War Memorial Committee.
The memorial, which is dedicated to the 77 local men who died in conflicts across the world, was unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of Fife, Margaret Dean on Sunday November 2.
And she told The Courier she was “shocked” at news of the desecration, which was discovered on Monday morning.
She said: “I’m shocked. I think people are very inconsiderate. It’s absolutely appalling.
“We had seven Black Watch funerals in Fife during the Iraq War and I found them really hard going. Very upsetting.
“So it saddens me that something so insulting can happen. Nearly everyone has a connection with the First World War. If whoever was responsible thought for a minute about this then they surely wouldn’t have done it.”
Rob Scott, chairman of the Fife branch of the Black Watch Association, was parade commander when the Falkland memorial was unveiled. He said: “It’s such a shame. They did such a good job with the memorial. Whoever is responsible for this act is making a fool of themselves. They are showing the level of their intellect. They are imbecilic thugs. No better than that. They should be hunted down. I don’t think they should be jailed. But they should be told exactly how it is. Why these people died. They should be made to go round and scrub the memorials from top to bottom”.
Mr Scott said he was pleased so many young people had taken an interest in the wider Remembrance commemorations. One bad act was not reflective of the wider society’s views, he said, and he was delighted with the large turnouts at ceremonies across Fife.
But he had been dismayed to learn of another unsavoury incident at the Methil war memorial on Sunday just minutes before the ceremony there was due to go ahead.
A man got into an argument with a Fife Council worker about war and allowed his dog to defecate on the back of the memorial. The council worker managed to clean up the mess before the ceremony began. But Mr Scott said it was another example of someone showing complete disrespect for the war dead.
Howe of Fife SNP Fife councillor David MacDiarmid said the rat ‘tag’ was also present at a number of other locations in Falkland. He confirmed the matter was being investigated by police. He said: “I’m outraged that someone has had the audacity to vandalise the Falkland war memorial within hours of wreaths being laid to honour the dead. This so-called tagger will be identified. And hell mend them.”
Former Falkland Community Council chairman Anthony Garrett said the matter was “distressing”.
Police Scotland confirmed it did receive a complaint. Whilst “highly disrespectful”, the incident was not being treated as a crime because no permanent damage had been caused to the memorial.