A burglar stole several hundred dollars worth of goods from the Spokane Vet Center in Spokane Valley earlier this month. But the kicker for the veterans who use the facility was the dozens of dog tags swiped from a Vietnam War memorial on the center’s campus.
“Some of the guys, this is all they have, and this hurts really deep,” said Bill Allen, a Vietnam veteran who attends a weekly support group called Muddy Boots.
Some 30 dog tags hanging from the memorial at 13109 Mirabeau Parkway were taken at about 2 a.m. Feb. 10. Only the chains remained, said David Baird, the director of the Spokane Vet Center.
“I was spit on when I came back from Vietnam,” said Tom Evans, another Vietnam veteran with Muddy Boots. “It took me back to that.”
Baird said the dog tags are cheap aluminum “wafers” that don’t include any valuable information on them.
“I can’t imagine all of them put together would equal a dollar,” he said.
The burglar also stole propane heaters, parts of an upright heater, a wheel barrow from the Heroes Garden that is maintained by Gold Star families, and the license plates from vehicles parked in the center parking lot, Baird said.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office estimated the losses at about $750.
“I don’t understand why someone could be that hateful to go onto veterans’ property and do that,” Evans said. “What are the dog tags to them?”
The memorial includes the tail rotor of a “Cobra” attack…
