In 2008, cross supporters got a victory when U.S. District Judge Larry Burns in San Diego ruled that the cross was not a religious symbol, but one of service and sacrifice.

The cross was erected in the park in 1934 as a war memorial by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In 1999, the National Park Service denied a Buddhist’s request to erect a shrine near the cross.

A stolen war memorial that was at the center of a prominent legal battle over the display of religious symbols on public land was found this week tied to a fence post near San Francisco.