WWII Memorial in DC Vandalized With Bubbles and Red Paint

The World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was defaced on Thursday, with a fountain filled with bubbles and the words "Clean hands dirty $" scrawled in red paint.

The Interior Department said in a statement that U.S. Park Police are investigating the incident. "The public should know we will find the person responsible for this disgusting act," the department said.

Veterans' organizations and memorial stewards condemned the act. The Friends of the National World War II Memorial, a nonprofit that helps maintain the site, said a national memorial honoring those who served and those who never returned home should never be used as a canvas for vandalism. The Veterans of Foreign Wars called it "an act of profound disrespect, a slap in the face to the veterans who served and sacrificed and to the families who carried that burden at home."

The memorial sits just east of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The incident follows a separate controversy earlier this year when a botched repair job left the pool with peeling blue sealant and green algae, which President Donald Trump blamed on vandalism without providing evidence.