The keepers of a memorial for veterans are being forced to fund a surveillance system so they can thwart future acts of vandalism.

KIMA reports Yakima, Washington’s Veterans Memorial site at Sarge Hubbard Park has been hit more than once by vandals, and they’re installing a surveillance camera so they can catch perpetrators in the act in the future.

“It was just beyond words for someone to come and vandalize something like this that means so much to so many,” Navy veteran Lois Cruikshank tells the news station.

The memorial, a battle cross sculpture, honors local soldiers killed in the war on terrorism.

The Yakima Beta Sigma Phi raised $1,000, KAPP reports. The memorial originally cost $8,000.

KIMA reported last year, vandals broke the top part of the bronze statue off, leaving only the boots and a portion of the gun barrel.

“We helped move it here,” Combat Veterans United member Bryan Gerken told the news station at the time. “We thought it’d be safe, something for the community to enjoy or sit and ponder, and somebody has to come and steal it; it’s a shame.”