Five military graves in a cemetery on the New South Wales South Coast have been desecrated by vandals.

Key points: Police are investigating after five WWII servicemen's gravesites were vandalised in Nowra

Police are investigating after five WWII servicemen's gravesites were vandalised in Nowra A local Navy veteran says it appears an instrument of some kind was used in the crime

A local Navy veteran says it appears an instrument of some kind was used in the crime The Department of Veterans Affairs has vowed to repair the sites as quickly as possible

Police say the marble headstones, which were in the military section at Nowra Cemetery, were pulled from the ground and smashed sometime between Wednesday, September 11 and Monday, September 16.

Navy veteran Fred Campbell said the area's former servicemen are devastated by the act, which was reported to police yesterday.

"They haven't just kicked it, they have used something bigger," Mr Campbell said.

"I would really like someone to come forward and say 'yep, I did this,' and put their hand up — or someone who knows about it.

"People have got to be held accountable for this sort of thing."

Mr Campbell said some of the graves were damaged beyond repair.

Soldiers, sailors and airmen

Most of the graves belonged to World War II diggers who died in RAAF training accidents.

Flight Sergeant John Frederick Frances Doepel and wireless air gunner Lloyd George Freeman, both 25, were killed along with two other men while training in an aircraft over Jervis Bay on January 17, 1944.

Lloyd George Freeman was 25 when he died in the training accident. ( Supplied: Department of Veterans Affairs )

Flight Sergeant Eric James Lovell, 32, was also attached to the Base Torpedo Unit/6 Operational Training Unit.

He died on January 11, 1944 when his Beaufort bomber crashed into Jervis Bay during a training exercise.

Flying Officer Maurice Francis Hoban, 30, was assigned to a Beaufort bomber aircraft that was demonstrating torpedo flights for war correspondents and photographers visiting the base.

An anti-submarine ship, HMAS Burra Bra, had sailed past a rendezvous point and the Beaufort's crew was ordered to perform a new manoeuvre on April 14, 1943.

A still taken from newsreel footage of the crash that killed Maurice Francis Hoban. ( Fox Movietone )

In a collision captured on newsreel, the bomber clipped another plane and crashed into the bay, sinking in water about 30 metres deep.

Flying Officer Hoban's body was recovered from the wreckage and he was buried with full RAAF honours at Nowra War Cemetery.

The fifth vandalised headstone marked the grave of signalman John Coulthart, who hailed from a large local family.

He served with the Australian Corps of Signals at AIF Signals, Army Headquarters, during the Second World War, before dying suddenly on April 6, 1947.

'A disgraceful act'

Personnel from Commonwealth War Graves have visited the cemetery to inspect the damage, and the Department of Veterans Affairs said it will ensure the repairs and replacements required are carried out.

The Federal Minister for Veterans and Defence Personnel, Darren Chester, said in a statement that the desecration of any memorial or gravesite is a disgraceful act.

Fred Campbell says local veterans are devastated by the acts of vandalism. ( Supplied: Fred Campbell. )

He said it is particularly disappointing to see the official commemorations for those who have served and died for our nation defaced in this manner.

He said the Office of Australian War Graves staff will be working to ensure the vandalised headstones are repaired, as a priority, at no cost to the families of the servicemen.

Shoalhaven City Council has expressed shock at the vandalism and said a report into security options for the site will be included in a review of CCTV in the area.