Three bronze memorial plaques remain missing after being prised off memorial stones in Whakatāne’s Mitchell Park.

This is the second time the plaques have been taken this year, with the first theft occurring weeks before Anzac Day.

That time the plaques were returned and were able to be reattached to the stones in time for the commemoration.

This time, however, they have not been returned.

RSA president Victor Hape said it was a tragic loss to the RSA and the community, and he was concerned the same thing might happen to other memorials around Whakatāne.

Members of the RSA community have also expressed their frustration at the theft, with some describing it as a disgrace.

“It’s not very good at all. No respect shown,” a member said.

“It’s a straight desecration of a taonga. I wish they had blooming cameras to catch them,” said former RSA president John Bluett.

Cadets from the 35th Squadron also spoke about the theft.

“What makes me angry is how the community can do that. It’s sad … just disappointing and sad,” a cadet said.

RSA vice-president Tim Reynolds said he and other RSA members were shocked it had happened again only months after the first theft.

“It’s not even something, before it happened, that you would ever imagine happening. And now it’s happened twice.”

The plaques were installed to remember the soldiers who left their friends and families to go overseas and put their lives on the line during World Wars I and II.

They have stood on the memorial stones in Mitchell Park to honour the men and women who fought for their country.

“The fact that it was our memorials for those that paid the ultimate sacrifice and how we commemorate them through that plaque shows no respect,” Hape said.

Hape said if the plaques were not returned, the RSA would have to consider an alternative.

“Will they come back as a brass plaque? Probably not. We’ve been bitten twice. We don’t want to be bitten a third time. So, we’ll probably look at a different way of putting a plaque on there.”