A vandal or vandals have once again hit a Dorchester Vietnam veterans memorial on Morrissey Boulevard.

State Police were on scene at the memorial site on Thursday afternoon. The site had just been beautified and new plantings put in ahead of Monday's Memorial Day observances, which include a ceremony at the Morrissey Boulevard site. It was last targeted by vandals last year.

The Massachusetts State Police said everal dozen recent plantings of shrubs and flowers were "torn out of the ground" and numerous flags were ripped down and thrown into a wooded area.

The vandal left "hate-related graffiti – including a swastika – [that] were written on the stone monuments."

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, UMass Boston's interim Chancellor Katherine Newman said she was "horrified at this callous act of vandalism."

"We recently installed a camera at the site after a previous vandalism incident. We’re reviewing the footage and will help the investigation in any way we can," said Newman, who added that the university's Dorchester campus had committed $15,000 toward the full restoration of the memorial, and assigned workers to clean up the shrubs and debris and hang new flags at the memorial.