Boston Rallies To Repair Defaced Vietnam Monument

BOSTON, MA — After the Dorchester Vietnam Memorial was vandalized last week, one woman took to GoFundMe to ask for help to raise funds to repair.

Lisa Zinck who grew up in Dorchester and watched her father, who is president of the Dorchester Vietnam Memorial Committee, develop the site over the past 30 years, said she was shocked when her dad called to tell her what happened. She went down to take a look for herself. It was rough, she said.

It was the first time in 33 years that they've ever had any vandalism to the site.

Dozens of shrubs at the memorial were shredded, the memorial statue defaced, and the flags that were flown were torn, cut down, and trashed. Read more about what happened: Vietnam Veterans Memorial In Boston Vandalized

The memorial honors the 80 Dorchester men who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam War. This memorial has been maintained for more than 30 years by the committee thanks to donations.

"I know how much they work and how much effort [her father and the volunteer committee] put into it. I wanted to do something," she told Patch noting number of friends and neighbors have relatives whose names are on the memorial. "This has become a local landmark around here. It's special to us all."

So with an estimate from the committee in hand — landscaping costs alone range in the $18,000 range —she reached out to the community via the crowdsourcing site GoFundMe.

After only being posted for a week, 128 community members had raised $11,430 of $25,000 goal.

"The support from around the neighborhood has been overwhelming," said Zinck.

She said she just got a call from a local neighbor who owns a business who's gathered another $5,000 in commitments. She said UMass Boston has stepped up, and the City of Boston Credit Union wants to pay for part of the landscaping.

"I just want to thank everyone for their support," she said.

It even caught the eye of at least one of Dorchester's more famous natives. Actor Mark Wahlberg didn't say anything about it, but he did post about it Friday:

Read more about it: Vietnam Veterans Memorial In Boston Vandalized

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Photo credit: Go Fund Me