We at Victory Girls know that Memorial Day is not really about the start of the summer season, vacations, and barbecues. We use this weekend to remember those who have died in service to the nation. We also remember those whose fates are unknown, who went missing in action, never to return.

In Venice, CA, there is a mural that was painted by a Vietnam War veteran and dedicated to the 2,273 Vietnam soldiers who were counted as either prisoners of war or missing in action. The fading mural was dedicated in 1992.

Sadly, there are those who do not wish to revere or remember those who disappeared in service to the nation during Vietnam. Sometime last week, the mural was vandalized with graffiti.

Local resident Stewart Oscars was visibly moved by the defaced monument, saying that he felt “nauseous” when he saw the damage. “This knocked me out. So sickening. Just sadness…think of all these people. They’re gone. I remember the Vietnam war and how friends went to war, and bodies came back. Somehow, it has to be taught that this is not a good idea. This is actually stupid.”

George Francisco, the vice president of the Venice Chamber of Commerce who also runs a nonprofit called Veterans Foundation Inc., said that this was more than mere vandalism. To him, this is just further mistreatment of those who served in an unpopular war. “It’s a desecration. I mean it’s very simple. There’s no sort of other way around it. I’ve known the sacrifices these people made in an incredibly unpopular war. So to continue the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans is somewhat shocking, somewhat shocking and quite sad.”

For Francisco, the destruction is also personal — his father was a Green Beret who completed two tours of duty in Vietnam.

Requests have been made to start cleanup on the mural as a priority, and while LAPD is said to be investigating, no arrests have been made as of this writing.

Whether the wall commemorates an unpopular conflict matters not. It is another sign of the deterioration of our social order when a monument to those who went missing while serving the nation is destroyed by those who probably have never donned a uniform or spoken the words “I . . . do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. . .”