Although the full damage has yet to be assessed, work to clean the fire-damaged monuments at the St. Paul Legion is set to begin this week.
In early September, unidentified persons lit the two monuments on fire, which were part of a memorial park still under construction east of the Legion Hall. The fire caused what is most likely thousands of dollars worth of damage.
The Legion is “looking to salvage the sculptures,” confirmed Russ Whitford, project coordinator for the memorial park.
Local sculptor Stephen Yettaw was hired to create the monuments for the Legion and says that once the sculptures are cleaned, he will know how serious the damage is. Yettaw is looking to start raising funds to cover costs associated with repairing the monuments, and any funds that are raised above those costs will be given to the St. Paul Legion for further development of the park.
Yettaw and local business owner Darryl Lotoski have both offered rewards to help find whoever was responsible for setting the monuments ablaze on Sept. 8.
Yettaw strongly believes that whoever set the monuments on fire needs to be made aware of what they did, and what the sculptures stand for. The memorial park being developed is being done in honour of all the veterans who served after 1953.
