LANCASTER, N.Y. — Many are aware of the graffiti and extensive damage done to Russell Salvatore's Patriots and Heroes Park in early March of this year. Light fixtures, flags, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Battle of the Bulge and America the Land We Love displays were destroyed. 

Months and $500,000 later, the park will be rededicated Wednesday.

The park was built in 2010 after Russell Salvatore scrapped plans to build a strip plaza on the land in front of his iconic hotel and restaurant along Transit Road. For him, the memorial is personal. Salvatore served stateside during World War II for the U.S. Army.

He was inspired to one day build a space honoring veterans of the past, present and future, after the 1977 arrival of the USS The Sullivans to the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park.