They caught 2 scumbags spray painting a wall here in my otherwise peaceful Phoenix suburb last year, first offenders - and they received 2 years in jail, and jail in Phoenix is a tent in the desert - literally.
Strangely we haven't had a single incident since.
As for vandalising a war memorial in the US - there's a fair chance you would end up with extra holes in you and I have never personally heard of such an occurrence.
As a young lad I played Last Post and Reveille on Remembrance Sunday at a local war memorial in Cheshire for many years - if nothing else it imbued me with an immense sense of respect for the services.