A Salute To Service: 2026 Veterans Day Special Feature
Navy veteran and muralist Dean Davis at the heart of it all
If you have recently driven under the Veterans Glass City Skyway Bridge, you have probably noticed the new murals on the piers.
In a partnership with the Ohio Department of Transportation, local artist Dean Davis is painting The piers, leading the project, which will decorate 13 of the bridge’s piers each with depictions of two veterans from 13 different conflicts, for a total of 26 murals – making this 52,000 square foot project the world’s largest veteran mural.
“Each pier will represent a different conflict and it’ll also represent a male and a female figure from that conflict. On the base up of each pier will be the number of representatives that went to that conflict from Lucas County,” Davis explains.
The first mural Davis painted as part of the Veterans Project depicts a man and a woman from World War II, each standing 85 feet tall.
“The first one that we did was a representation of World War II and that went off really well. Both the veterans and also the local community loved it,” Davis said.
The next conflict being memorialized is the Vietnam War, depicted with two murals standing 55 feet tall.
“The next pier is the Vietnam conflict and then behind the Vietnam conflict is the Iraqi conflict and then the Civil War conflict after that,” Davis said. “We have permission for the Vietnam conflict and we have the pier selection for the next few. We’re just going through the creative process right now.”
The creative process for each mural requires research to make sure the conflict is depicted correctly and is meaningful for the whole community.
“The goal is not to depict an individual person. The job is to make the viewer think of an
individual from that conflict or someone you know in the military service,” Davis said.
As a large supporter of public art, Davis falls close to home with the culture this project displays. As a Navy veteran himself, he refers to these depictions as “titans.” “This project is going to give a younger generation a little bit of a sense of what these conflicts have done. It really gives a strong salute to all the veterans from this area and across the world. Because when you see these soldiers, I want you to feel like you’re standing underneath the titans that built this country,” Davis said.
Davis hopes to finish the project within the next three to five years. Pay attention to the cityscape and the piers below The Glass City Skyway Bridge to visitors compelling public art.
