A Memorial Day event more than two years in the making honored fallen veterans distinctively from the traditional parades and 21-gun salutes.
The event took place Monday at the VFW Post 1273 in Rapid City.
Bill Casper is the Chairman of the Veteran's Honor Banner Project. His organization commissioned the mural that now covers the side of the building.
"We honor all veterans on Armed Forces Day in June and on Veteran’s Day in November, but today is just for those that didn’t come back," said Casper in addressing the crowd.
The mural features vignettes from World War I though Vietnam, including one highlighting the Lakota Code Talkers.
“The Veteran’s Honor Banner Project thought—in addition to putting up the banners—that we should honor the veterans similar to Art Alley," said Casper. "We wanted a War Alley.”
Muralist Aaron Pearcy started the War Alley project about two-and-a-half years ago and has a personal connection to this work. His dad is retired Air Force and his brother currently serves in the Army. He said he’s seen first-hand the sacrifices military members make and the toll military service can take.
“Mental health wasn’t necessarily a thing that is brought up a lot or at least wasn’t in the beginning, especially with some of these older veterans," said Pearcy. "Now it’s getting a lot more recognition nowadays which is definitely nice. But there’s still the people that are in between that who are struggling with that stuff too though. Hopefully, this helps people maybe have more conversations about that and that would be really cool if that comes of this.”
Pearcy’s work on the mural continues. Casper and Pearcy have plans to add the country's most recent conflicts on the back of the building within the next year or two.