LOS ANGELES, CA – Volunteers have united to clean up a Vietnam War memorial wall in Venice, California, after it was vandalised with graffiti on Sunday.

State media reports the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident and believe the crime happened sometime last week.

The wall is located on a black wall along Pacific Avenue, adjacent to a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus yard in the city’s Venice Beach section.

It was painted by a Vietnam veteran in 1992 and has 2,273 names on it.

Vandals sprayed over most of the Vietnam veterans’ names and graffiti covered the words, “You are not forgotten” which was written on top of the wall.

On Sunday, volunteers managed to remove much of the graffiti over the Memorial Day weekend but it appears more work will be necessary to fully restore the memorial.

In a statement, metro officials said the mural was too badly damaged.

“We were initially hopeful that the graffiti could be removed without damaging the memorial, but Metro’s contractor says the damage is too extensive,” it said.

Metro workers have covered the memorial wall with sheets until it can be repaired, according to The Charlotte Observer.

Meanwhile, other veteran memorials were also damaged including those in a town in Kentucky and a Civil War veterans cemetery in Virginia.

Memorial Day is marked every year in the United States on the last Monday of May.

– TiVi Tuan-san