Plymouth firefighters restore vandalized 9-11 memorial

PLYMOUTH — Chief G. Edward Bradley reports that members of the Plymouth Fire Department cleaned up vandalism this morning at the town’s 9/11 memorial after the site was found to be damaged over the weekend.

Plymouth Firefighters Local 1768 President Brian Baragwanath arranged for 25 Plymouth Firefighters to meet at the memorial this morning at 9 a.m. Many of the firefighters were off-duty and came to help on their own time.

The memorial, which is located at 1 South Spooner Street,was found to be vandalized on Sunday, Feb. 23. A statue of a police officer was knocked to the ground, causing the head of the statue to break off. Additionally, a lamp and electrical box that controlled lighting to the memorial was damaged.

The firefighters worked this morning to clean up the site, add new American flags, new mulch and had the electrical wiring and lamp repaired.

They also wiped down some of the granite stones that were dirty from the winter weather.

The damage to the memorial comes one week after someone spray painted Plymouth Rock and other memorials in town.

“Despite these senseless and despicable acts, our community has shown once again that the people of Plymouth will rally behind one another to do what is right,” Chief Bradley said. “I am so proud of our firefighters who took the time to not only fix the damage that was done to our Sept. 11 Memorial, but to give the site a needed face lift with fresh mulch and new American flags.”

A local masonry company, Triumph Masonry, Restoration & Waterproofing of Wareham, reached out to the department today and has offered to repair the police officer statue and will also restore a firefighter statue that sits at the memorial.

Additionally, TL Edwards, of Avon, donated mulch and Kingston Block, of Kingston, donated stone dust to the project.

“All signs of the vandalism have been cleaned up and I want to thank the Plymouth Firefighters Local 1768 for their efforts and the folks at Triumph Masonry, TL Edwards and Kingston Block for their generous donations,” Chief Bradley said.