Vandals write 'no tears for dead soldiers' on NSW war memorial

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Vandals have written "no tears for dead soldiers" on a Wollongong war memorial just a day before an annual Anzac ceremony.

The Corrimal war memorial was sprayed with offensive graffiti and a chunk was knocked out of a granite pillar on Saturday night, Corrimal RSL sub-branch vice-president Neil McLean said.

The graffiti reads "Scab Eater ... No tears for dead soldiers" with broken bourbon and VB bottles smashed nearby.

Mr McLean told AAP he had to cover up the graffiti with duct tape to hide it from the public.

"Everybody's very, very upset and distressed about it - to think that people could be so cruel," he said.

"It's something that I hold very dearly to my heart being a returned serviceman and to do something like that, especially with 100 years of Anzac coming up as well."

Mr McLean has been trying to get the graffiti removed from the memorial.

"(It's written in) big, wide, thick, black text and it's soaked into the actual stone," he said.

"I've (even) had a stone mason look at it (and) he's come up with a few other ideas but there's no way to fix it before Anzac Day."

According to The Illawarra Mercury, punk band Scab Eater played at Corrimal Hotel on Friday night.

Police are hoping CCTV footage will help find the culprits.

Mr McLean says the incident won't stop people from attending Anzac Day commemorations.

-AAP