# Man charged after limestone Iwo Jima statue damaged near Quantico Developing: Police allege a man used a sledgehammer on the smaller statue near Quantico and estimate damage in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bronze Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington is a separate monument. By The Signal Edition | U.S. / Virginia Published: 2026-10-23T01:38:00Z Updated: 2026-10-23T01:38:00Z Canonical: https://www.thesignaledition.com/article/iwo-jima-statue-quantico-damage-1d87byh Image: https://www.thesignaledition.com/media/ebb1cd664dec42e43aeddfa26f2f114b.jpg (Police-provided photographs show the smaller limestone Iwo Jima statue near Quantico and a detached sculpted head on grass; not the Arlington bronze memorial.; credit: Prince William County Police Department, via FOX 5 DC) ## Summary - Prince William County police reported an October 21 arrest near Richmond Highway and Fuller Road. - Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, 27, faces three charges; the allegations have not been adjudicated. - The damaged work is the smaller limestone flag-raising statue near Quantico, not Arlington's bronze memorial. ## Police report an arrest at the statue A Stafford man has been charged after police said they found him striking the Iwo Jima statue near Quantico with a sledgehammer on Wednesday night. Prince William County police's October 22 daily incident report says officers responded to the area of Richmond Highway and Fuller Road at approximately 10:13 p.m. on October 21 and detained the man without incident. [1](https://www.pwcva.gov/assets/2026-10/Releases%2010.22.2026.pdf) Police identified the accused as Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, 27, and said the damage included the removal of the head of one of the figures. The department estimated the total damage at hundreds of thousands of dollars. That figure is a police estimate, not a published final restoration bill or a court determination of financial loss. [4](https://www.fox5dc.com/news/man-arrested-after-using-sledgehammer-damage-iwo-jima-statue-marine-corps-base-quantico) ## Charges remain allegations The police report lists felony destruction of property, trespass with intent to damage property and felony injury to a monument. It states that Maldonado Soriano was held without bond and that his court date was pending. Those were the conditions reported in the October 22 release; the document does not provide a later court outcome. An arrest and charges are not findings of guilt. [1](https://www.pwcva.gov/assets/2026-10/Releases%2010.22.2026.pdf) The Washington Post reported that a representative of his listed attorney's office could not yet comment. [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/10/22/virginia-man-arrested-damaging-iwo-jima-statue-near-quantico/) NBC Washington reported that police had not released information about a possible motive. The available account therefore does not establish why the damage occurred. Neither the subject of the statue nor the use of a particular tool establishes a political, ideological or personal motive. [3](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/man-broke-head-off-of-iwo-jima-statue-in-quantico-with-sledgehammer-police-say/4170656/) ## Two different Iwo Jima monuments The damaged sculpture is the smaller limestone work near Marine Corps Base Quantico. FOX 5 DC identified it as a work by Felix de Weldon, who also created the much larger bronze Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington. They depict the same flag-raising scene but are distinct objects at different locations. This incident should not be described as damage to the Arlington memorial. [4](https://www.fox5dc.com/news/man-arrested-after-using-sledgehammer-damage-iwo-jima-statue-marine-corps-base-quantico) Marine Corps University's biography of de Weldon says he carved the nine-foot limestone group in 1945 after seeing Joe Rosenthal's photograph. It separately describes the larger bronze statue, dedicated in November 1954 after years of work. The earlier limestone sculpture's scale and material help distinguish it from the better-known memorial; they are not interchangeable versions for purposes of identifying the damaged site. [5](https://www.usmcu.edu/Research/Marine-Corps-History-Division/People/Whos-Who-in-Marine-Corps-History/Dahlgren-Fuller/Dr-Felix-Weihs-de-Weldon/) The National Park Service traces the Arlington memorial to Rosenthal's photograph of the second flag-raising on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. That shared historical image explains the familiar appearance of both works. The current criminal case concerns the smaller sculpture near Quantico, while questions about repairs, their final cost and the defendant's court proceedings remain separate from the monuments' shared artistic history. [6](https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/historyculture/usmcwarmemorial.htm) [1](https://www.pwcva.gov/assets/2026-10/Releases%2010.22.2026.pdf) ## Reporting sources 1. [Prince William County Police Department: Daily Incident Report — October 22, 2026](https://www.pwcva.gov/assets/2026-10/Releases%2010.22.2026.pdf) (2026-10-22) 2. [The Washington Post: Virginia man charged in damage of Iwo Jima statue near Quantico](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/10/22/virginia-man-arrested-damaging-iwo-jima-statue-near-quantico/) (2026-10-22) 3. [NBC Washington: Man broke head off of Iwo Jima statue in Quantico with sledgehammer, police say](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/man-broke-head-off-of-iwo-jima-statue-in-quantico-with-sledgehammer-police-say/4170656/) (2026-10-22) 4. [FOX 5 DC: Man arrested after using sledgehammer to damage Iwo Jima statue at Marine Corps Base Quantico](https://www.fox5dc.com/news/man-arrested-after-using-sledgehammer-damage-iwo-jima-statue-marine-corps-base-quantico) (2026-10-22) 5. [Marine Corps University: Dr. Felix Weihs de Weldon](https://www.usmcu.edu/Research/Marine-Corps-History-Division/People/Whos-Who-in-Marine-Corps-History/Dahlgren-Fuller/Dr-Felix-Weihs-de-Weldon/) 6. [National Park Service: History of the Marine Corps War Memorial](https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/historyculture/usmcwarmemorial.htm)