Vandal attack at memorial

Vandals have attacked a memorial to those who died fighting for their country for the second time in less than a fortnight.

The yobs threw around poppy wreaths laid at the cenotaph in Wednesbury Memorial Gardens at a remembrance service this month.

Flower beds were also trampled during the attack at the site in Walsall Street.

Police were called out to investigate and council parks staff to clear up the damage following an outcry from visitors.

Two weeks ago damage had to be cleared up after wooden crosses laid by relatives of servicemen who lost their lives in the two world wars were found trampled, broken and strewn around the garden, just hours after a huge crowd had gathered to pay its respects on Remembrance Sunday.

Ex-serviceman James Mills. aged 67, who has laid crosses in the gardens for his late father and grandfather, who both died in the Second World War, discovered the first attack and reported the second wave of damage this weekend after noticing it on another visit to the site.

Wednesbury North ward councillor Bill Archer, aged 82, said the situation was "getting beyond a joke."

"It's not the first time this has happened in the memorial gardens, it's consecrated ground and people should treat it with respect," he said. "I just think it is so sad that these kids, or whoever it is, don't realise what hurt it does to our generation remembering the war.

"You can imagine the reaction of people with relatives who died."