Man arrested for allegedly vandalizing Iwo Jima monument at in Virginia

Police arrested a man on Wednesday evening whom they say they found vandalizing an Iwo Jima memorial in Quantico, Virginia.

Authorities alleged that 27-year-old Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano used a sledgehammer to damage the limestone statue, NBC 4 reported. He also removed the head of one of the carved soldiers.

The statute is a decades-old carving inspired by Joe Rosenthal's well-known statue of American Marines raising a flag on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima, during the critical battle of World War II.

Maldonado Soriano is in custody and has not been released on bond.

Quantico is home to a major Marine base.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.