A 44-year-old London, Ont. man has been charged after the city’s iconic Holy Roller tank was vandalized over the weekend, less than two weeks after it returned to Victoria Park following a year-long restoration.
The incident occurred around 4:45 p.m. Saturday when police say a man was observed sitting atop the Second World War-era Sherman tank using a grinder.
Officers arrived and say they found the suspect standing on top of the tank, adding that he was arrested without incident.
The accused, a 44-year-old London man, faces a charge of committing mischief in relation to a war memorial. He was released with a July 18 court date.
Speaking with Global News on Monday, Ret. Lt.-Col. Ian Haley said the tank being the target of vandalism wasn’t necessarily surprising — “it’s had worse shots and such taken at it” — but notes it was still disappointing to see.
“It is much the same as knocking over gravestones in a cemetery. It’s deeply disappointing for the members of the regiment and the members of the project team, and obviously for the veterans,” he said.
According to police, the damage caused to the tank was estimated at roughly $6,000. Haley says the damage was confined to a small area on the top of the tank’s back deck.
“He’d taken the grinder to it and just basically scored up the paint on top, so we’ll have to repaint that portion of the tank, and we’re planning on doing that tomorrow,” he said.
Haley says members of the 1st Hussars were getting ready to hold a ceremony in Victoria Park that afternoon to mark the regiment’s losses in the Battle of Le Mesnil-Patry on June 11, 1944.
“The Hussars ran into a formidable German position, and we lost over 30 tanks in one day. It was our highest single loss of the war,” he said.
The 33-ton Holy Roller tank has been back in Victoria Park for less than two weeks after returning from a year-long restoration at Fanshawe College’s School of Transportation Technology and Apprenticeship.
Volunteers and Fanshawe students worked to restore the tank, disassembling, refurbishing, and repainting the 80-year-old WWII relic to save it from further deterioration, after a structural assessment found the tank’s hull to be at risk of collapsing.
The 1st Hussars are discussing with the city ways to keep the Holy Roller from being vandalized in the future, including through additional lighting and potentially surveillance cameras, Haley said.
“The big problem, as you know, with video is you just get an excellent picture of somebody in a hoodie as they’re running away,” he said.
“But as I said, we’re taking a look at all of those, and we’re hoping that this is an isolated incident and that people will leave the Holy Roller alone.”
Built in 1942 in Flint, Mich., the Sherman tank landed on Juno Beach on D-Day with the 1st Hussars, who drove it across northwestern Europe through to the end of the war.
The Holy Roller made it through more than a dozen battles as it traversed France, the Netherlands, and Germany, but several fights almost brought its rolling days to an end. Repairs managed to keep the Holy Roller going until VE Day.
Returning to Canada in early 1946, Holy Roller spent two years outside of the former London Armouries, and then another eight in Queen’s Park near Western Fair. It was later gifted to the city and moved to Victoria Park in 1956 where it has stood since.