Fighting Mad : Oxnard: Veterans threaten to take matters into their own hands after vandals deface a monument in Plaza Park.

Angered by the defacement of the Vietnam veterans memorial in downtown Oxnard, a handful of war-hardened veterans are threatening to take matters into their own hands if the city can’t protect the monument.

The Oxnard Veterans Memorial--a circle of five black granite pyramids honoring 132 fallen hometown soldiers from World War I to the Persian Gulf War--has periodically been vandalized with spray paint and markers since its dedication last November in Plaza Park.

But the most recent act, deep etchings across six granite tiles that honor the 43 Oxnard residents who died in the Vietnam War, will require replacement of those tiles if they cannot be buffed clean.

The defacement has veterans in Ventura County preparing for battle.

“I tell you what, if the city can’t handle the gangs, I know a group of veterans who can,” Vietnam veteran Bernard Dunhom told the Oxnard City Council on Tuesday. “There’s 220,000 veterans in Ventura County, including 40,000 combat types. Those are the ones I’ll call on to get rid of these gangs.”

The carvings are barely noticeable from a distance. But they caught Dunhom’s eye as he drove past on Monday. Dunhom said he thought that he could rub out the markings on the downtown monument with his hand.

On Wednesday morning, he tried again to wipe them away. They would not budge.

“We can protect this monument,” said Dunhom, who uses a slender brown cane for balance because of a limp that is a constant reminder of 21 years in the Navy Seabees. “A lot of a good men went to their deaths over there. This just makes me sick to my stomach.”

Steve Olson, Ventura County commander for the American Legion, marched in the color guard during the dedication ceremony for the memorial in November. He said more lighting and police patrols around Plaza Park could curb further vandalism.

“And if that doesn’t help, our members could patrol that area,” said Olson, an Air Force veteran. “We paid our price years ago and now something needs to be done to have our people protected.”

Oxnard Councilman Manuel Lopez spearheaded the effort to erect the monument, which was designed by a local artist. Local unions donated their labor, and local veterans tracked down the names of the deceased and helped raise $55,000 to build the pyramids.

Lopez said he thought that the war memorial would escape attacks by vandals.

“I wish I could grab those people and shake them,” he said of the vandals. “Some things should be sacred.”

Lopez on Wednesday asked the company that erected the monument to assess the damage. He said that if the etchings cannot be polished out, extra tiles purchased when the monument was built can be used for replacement.

But he’s not sure what more the city can do to protect the monument. Oxnard police, who had not been told of the vandalism, said they planned no extra patrols at the park.

If a patrol of war veterans is organized, retired Navy man Lloyd Vancil said he would be among the first to sign up.

Vancil, secretary of the 200-member Vietnam Veterans of Ventura County, said he and other veterans held nightly vigils when the memorial was erected to prevent this kind of vandalism.

“It makes me sick, really,” said Vancil after viewing the defacement. “I guess the only thing that is going to prevent it from happening again is that people will have to learn to respect it.”