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PPD: Man Damaged Monument At Pensacola Veterans Memorial Park
June 1, 2018
Pensacola Police have arrested a man and charged him with felony criminal mischief after he intentionally caused damage to memorial display at the Veteran’s Memorial Park downtown.
Police charged 55-year old Robert Link of the 5000 block of Paddlewheel Drive in Milton with the incident, which damaged a section of the Global War on Terror Memorial, which contains an actual piece of the World Trade Center.
Link damaged the display on Wednesday of last week, then returned again on Saturday and damaged it a second time. Link was hanging onto the display, and his body weight caused it to bend, according to police.
“It was really devastating to find out that someone would deface a brand new monument like that, that has such significance to everyone in our community and country,” said Paul Entrekin of Walnut Hill, a Veterans Memorial Park board member. “To damage the artifact from the World Trade Center, that was terrible.”
Entrekin said the damage has been repaired, and the new monument will be dedicated on June 14 at 7 p.m. during a Memorial Day ceremony that was delayed due to Subtropical Storm Alberto.
Pensacola Police Chief Tommi Lyter said the park is a place of solemn reflection, and it should be treated in the same manner as a cemetery.
Pictured top: The Global War on Terror Memorial at Pensacola Veterans Memorial Park. Park officials said the “bent” piece in the eagle’s talons was the result of the vandalism and has now been repaired. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
26 Responses to “PPD: Man Damaged Monument At Pensacola Veterans Memorial Park”
i fought mma for this guy and iwill say he is shot out. one hell of a respectable past. down the tubes. scumbag
Don’t they have institutions for people like this?
Molino Jim that’s nonsense. My grandfather is a veteran and uses the VA all the time. Rarely has to wait for anything, the services are fantastic, the nurses and docs know him by name. I’ve been forced to deal with this particular man in the past and his behavior now is not surprising. Veteran or not, he is in need of more than what the VA can provide for him. Stop blaming the president for the wreckless and foolhardy behavior of an undisciplined individual. If he is a menace to society, lock him up. If he can control himself, then let him go free.
Charlie you said ” don’t judge until you are in his place . Maybe this is the only way he could see to get help. I’ve seen our systems at work and it’s very sad that this is the only way he felt he could get help” what about the countless other people who are emotionally or mentally unstable as well sitting in jails and prisons everywhere who’ve committed crimes and still haven’t received the help they needed? I think others deserve as much help as our vets! It’s amazing to me how some people can have compassion on one particular group of people such as vets but totally ignore the needs of others. I hope you’re not one of those…
for BigBill. Are we talking about the same person while he was running for president said he would be spending every week-end at the white house working? The fellow who did the damage at the park needs help and most of the help has dried up. VA is running out of money and there is a long wait time to get any kind of help. I don’t know if you use VA or not, I do not have to. But a number of friends do and it takes months to get glasses/hearing aid/ or most medical care. I can only guess you have a better handle on world news and other information than this old country boy. As far as parroting I do not. I do and have done my research. Turn off Fox and expand to see what’s going on.
People don’t judge until you are in his place . Maybe this is the only way he could see to get help. I’ve seen our systems at work and it’s very sad that this is the only way he felt he could get help.
Molino Jim, you sound just like a parrot that only repeats what he hears from others. Please do a little research before you spout off. As for the guy that did the damage, hand him over to the VFW.
I cannot believe someone would do this. He must be in need of desperate help to purposely damage this monument. He does not need jail or prison. He needs to be talked to by someone who can help him mentally and give him things he needs, perhaps proper medication.
Hey Molino jim it was your buddy obumbull who killed the mental health institutions in america while he played golf every weekend get the facts before you spew your nonsense
Here is a fellow who lives in Milton and travels to Pensacola TWICE to damage a memorial. His actions clearly exhibits anger and the capacity for violence. I don’t know the back story about this man but I would hate to hear about the guy in the future after a more severe demonstration of violence …… Public safety must come first !!!
@Dana,
Why didn’t you file for an Ex-Parte Order through the courts then? Sure he’s a vet and needs help but unless he freely goes with someone to be evaluated, you could have called law enforcement.
With a lot of vet’s needing help i have seen a lot who have “milked the system”. The needs are there but the funds are not. Maybe instead of Trump flying off most week-ends to play golf in south Florida or getting the large parade he wants in washington that money could be funded to V.A. A remove his “pardon” pin for crooks.
This man is a Vet who has PTSD issues and has fallen through the cracks of the VA mental health program. While what he did was wrong I doubt he even realized what he was doing. We all know the after care programs available to our soldiers and vets after combat is in the toilet. Nobody really looks after them like they need and deserve…Before you condemn the man …learn his whole story. He is a Vet in need of help not condemnation and hate…
This makes me so angry. I don’t care what’s wrong with him or right with him. Criminal mischief is damaging another’s property. Glad he’s in jail and he will get the mental help he needs. I know one thing, he needs to get right with God. By the way, it doesn’t matter what part he damaged, a toe, feather, or an eyeball.You people making excuses for him, need to take him in and get him some proper care. He won’t be in jail forever.
So what’s the problem with the global war on terrorism monument. Barbar makes it sound ok to deface it. You sound angry. Way I see it if you have served you have fought terrorism on a global scale so ?
I know him, his is an Army Veteran who loves his country and vets. He has been diagnosed with bipolar/manic depressive, we have been calling everyone for weeks trying to get him help because he lost his mother and fell into a manic episode. We have called many times for help with no one wanting to help him. He helps vets, what he did was not intentional. So before everyone says all kinds of hateful things, maybe you should have the facts. He is a vet who needed help, and no one would help…
I don’t want to crash y’alls little knee-jerk reaction party but…Bobby Link is a veteran and he did not harm the veteran’s memorial. He damaged the memorial to GLOBAL WAR. Two different things. Now ask yourself why a 55 year old vet might do something like that. Could be that he is for America first.
The perp probably needs to go spend a lot of time at Lakeview, or better yet Afghanistan. Maybe he needs to experience the same thing that our troops are enduring and fighting for us are. It takes someone who is missing a few screws to do something like that.
as a member of the VFW Im with TJ .. BRING him to the VFW
My Daddy fought in WWII, came home without an arm. My father-in-law spent twenty years in Navy. My husband was in VietNam, came home with shrapnel and scars. I was at best friends home when family was informed their son was MIA in VietNam. My son served in Air Force, in a position that left us unaware of where he was most of the time. To read about this jackass repeatedly damaging a monument makes my blood boil.
Why not simply allow the police, legal/judiciary, and incarceration/probationary system to administer fair and legal justice, as guided by the U.S. and Florida Constitutions?
Proposals to “chain him to the memorial in the hot sun” and to “teach him some respect” sound akin to the behaviors we would find abhorrent if done (by, perhaps, terrorists or violent criminals?) to an American. Such comments demonstrate a desire that sounds more like a violent retribution style of justice.
If I were teaching my own children or grandchildren a lesson from this story, it would be that both the act against the memorial, as well as the proposals made (particularly the proposal to chain the alleged perpetrator in the sun) are equally wrong.
He should know better! He deserves a butt kickin’ but probably wouldn’t learn a doggone thing from it!
Where can I find this pillar of the community? I’d really enjoy showing him all of the respect he showed this monument and the meaning behind it.
Bring him on over to the VFW and we will teach him some respect.
Why on earth would anybody do this? I just don’t understand.
Let’s chain him to the memorial in the hot sun so we can all go by and ask him what he is thinking.