Sometime on Sunday, November 20, one week after Remembrance, vandals destroyed the marble engraved top of the first world war Royal Flying Corps memorial on Camber Road, outside Rye. The marble was substantial and would have required many blows from a heavy hammer to damage it.
Col. Anthony Kimber, President of the Rye branch of the Royal British Legion said; “I’m very disappointed, to say the least, that vandals have destroyed the WW1 memorial on the Rye to Camber road.”
The memorial was only established in 2019, after research and support from the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust.
An examination of the site shows hammer damage to the adjacent road sign and an indication that Openreach cables were also taken in the same area.
A report has been made to Sussex Police. If anyone has information about this vandalism please contact, in confidence, Rye Royal British Legion: Info@ryebritishlegion.org.uk
Image Credits: Anthony Kimber , Tony Pierce , Chris Lawson .
How sad, and how baffling… Will there be a fund raised to replace it?
If schools put more emphasis on modern history then perhaps these people would appreciate just what other people went through to give them the freedom to be able to vandalise these monuments.
Of course, if and it’s a big if they are ever caught it’ll be a caution at best, much better to get them cleaning war memorials etc
I do have another suggestion as a punishment but that would never get past the editor .
They do get educated in modern history, my granddaughter studied WW1 at Primary School. There’s no excuse for this vandalism, sickening.
How on earth does someone do something so crass? The mentally deranged walk amongst us.
They also get to vote
Thats a disgrace,
Please let me know when fund raising is set up, I would be happy to cover a fair amount
Surely a good stonemason could use the existing concrete plinth,and keep the cost down,which we all could contribute to the cost.
This has happened in quite a few places this year. Our pride in the sacrifices made by the wartime generation is one of the few things that still unites us as a country. Yet so many, particularly young people, have been encouraged to think of the UK in a negative way, that I am sadly not surprised.
Who has proof that this war memorial has been vandalised by young people,we need to stop being negative, and blaming young people, without proof of the matter.
There is no proof as you well know. It could indeed have been anyone, at least anyone that happened to be passing with a sledge hammer. If the cable went on the same night as the damage then it’s safe to assume it was the same people.
Other war memorial damage has been proven to have been carried out by youngsters. In the same way certain cemeteries have also been targeted. It’s a big problem country wide. Many reasons and by different people.
Well said, John. Let’s not forget, the bulk of our armed forces are ‘young people’…
Thank you for the comments and the offers of help. Rye RBL is talking to Sussex Police and the Airfields of Britain Commemorative Trust. The latter provided the Indian granite plaque. The plinth is over a ton of concrete and will be retained.
There is little evidence of those who vandalised the memorial but it is clear that some substantial tools were used. The large large holes in the nearby roadsign were almost certainly made by the same people.
The intention is to reinstate the memorial. We will update in Rye News as progress is made.
President Rye RBL