Prince William County Police have arrested a Stafford man for damaging a monument at Marine Corps Base Quantico.
Officers responded to the monument at approximately 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday. They found Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, 27, striking the statue with a sledgehammer. He was arrested without incident.
One of the figures depicted in the monument had been decapitated, among other damages. Police say repairs could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The nine-foot limestone sculpture by Felix Weihs de Weldon depicts Marines raising a flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. Weldon also sculpted the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in DC. It’s based on a photo taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press.
“There have been generations of promotions and commissionings and retirements and re-enlistments done in front of this iconic monument,” Keil Gentry, director of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, told NBC4. Gentry said repairs to the statue are “likely to be challenging.”
Maldonado Soriano has been charged with felony destruction of property, trespass with intent to damage property, and felony injury to a monument. He is being held without bond.
