San Jose Vietnam War Memorial vandalized over the weekend

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The San Jose Vietnam War Memorial, honoring the "Sons of San Jose" who were killed during the Vietnam War, has been vandalized.

The San Jose Vietnam Memorial Foundation, Inc. erected the Memorial next to the SAP Center in 2013.

Vietnam veteran and San Jose resident Dennis Fernandez led the effort to build the memorial.

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"I came back. I was fortunate. A couple of my buddies came back. So we said let's see if we can build a memorial," said Fernandez.

The group says it wanted to give the city and its residents a quiet place to remember and reflect on the memories of their loved ones and also give others a place to pay their respects and gratitude, but sometime on Saturday someone vandalized the memorial with what's believed to have been some type of "paint pen."

Fernandez says many people have reached out to him in disbelief.

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"They were very hurt about it. We received comments about it telling me who could do such a deplorable thing to a memorial. You know that's a sacred ground. They should respect it," said Fernandez.

This is the second time the memorial has been vandalized. Fernandez says the last time was about two years ago.

This time removing the paint residue has been difficult. The stain of the vandalism remains on the memorial days after it happened. The hope, it will be removed and repaired soon, so only the names and dedication are left on the wall.

"I personally have eight men on there that I went to high school with. So it's personal to me also," says Fernandez.