Al Cameron was baffled as he pulled the tattered Canadian flag out of the ditch.

Two weeks before Remembrance Day, a tribute to the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers had been vandalized.

Near Sylvan Lake, 128 flags line a section of Highway 11. The Flags of Remembrance was created by Veterans Voices of Canada, as a memorial to those who have served and died in combat.

But last week, one flag was torn down and one of the plaques that accompany the memorial went missing.

'Somebody went out of their way to do this'

"One of the flagpoles was taken down, the flag was ripped off it and was thrown into the ditch about 20 feet away," Cameron said in an interview with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"It was fairly obvious that somebody went out of their way to do this."

The flags were put up on the first Saturday in October, with an opening ceremony held in conjunction with others at nearly 40 different tribute sites across the country.

In each community, 128 Canadian flags were raised, representing 128,000 Canadian war dead, and those missing in action.

Under each flag there is a plaque to honour military personnel.

"Any damage or any vandalism to these sites is disrespectful," Cameron said. "It's disrespectful to the veterans. It's disrespectful to all the people that put so much time into these across Canada.

"People may think they're making a statement, but they're actually disrespecting many more people than even these flags represent."

'I just hope it was a one time thing'

Though this is the first incident of vandalism the group has faced in Sylvan Lake, some other memorials have been targeted repeatedly.

There has been so much vandalism at the site in Kingston, Ont., where flags were stolen on a nightly basis, that organizers brought in volunteer officers to guard the site.

Cameron said one of those guards was spit on by a passing car of people who cursed the military.

"Can you believe that? Nothing surprises me in this life anymore, but things like this surprise me," Cameron said.

"I just don't get it. I truly don't get it.

"These guys and gals fought for the freedom that person has to do something like that. These people don't get that. There is actually a lot of irony in what happened there."

Cameron said the incident in Sylvan Lake is equally incomprehensible. It has been reported to police.

"I just hope it was a one-time thing, and whatever it was that they needed to get out of their system, I hope they did that and we can move on and we can make this tribute exactly what is needs to be."