The completely restored POW/MIA mural unveiling ceremony will be Memorial Day, 29 May, from 10:30  to 11:15 am at 614 Pacific Ave, Venice.  Councilman Mike Bonin will be the head speaker.

It was this time last year that the mural was vandalized.  Concerned citizens, meaning well, stepped in to remove the graffiti, and in so doing, destroyed many of the names.

SPARC stepped up and said they would restore the mural. They since have done extensive research to make sure the names are all there and in the right places.  Judy Baca, founder of SPARC, said they would keep a “digital copy” so that it would be fixable from now on. She said she thought the wall would be moved or in jeopardy within the next five years because the property where it is located is to be developed.

Peter Charles Stewart did the Wall in 1994
The 2073 names were painted on the black painted surface of a masonry wall on Pacific Ave in Venice in 1994 by Peter Charles Stewart who had served as a naval ordinance man during Vietnam. Leslie Himes, a friend,  helped Stewart collect the names from the Department of Defense.

“Peter slept in his van and had a parrot during this time,” Himes said. “We made friends with Jean and Charlie Raye, whose son’s name in on the wall. Jean was instrumental in starting the Legacy of Families here. Peter finished the wall in 1994 and died in 1996. Peter would be proud today.”