5 artists come together to honor soldiers with mural at Oak Park's Veterans of Foreign Wars post

If you drive down Stockton Boulevard, you've probably seen a massive mural on the side of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Oak Park. 

"It puts tears in my eyes looking at the mural," said David Rasul, a VFW Vietnam veteran. 

"It was just an empty white wall," said Gustavo Reynoso. "Dirty."  

"Actually, it was kind of my idea," Rasul said. "I saw all these murals and said, 'Well, there's no one really honoring our veterans and they deserve that respect and care.'"

The community agreed. The VFW managed to raise about $24,000 for the project. Next came the artists and for a project this size, they'd needed five of them — Reynoso, Jose Lott, Markos Egure, Andy Cohen, and Henry Fisk. 

"We sat down and went over a plan of attack," Reynoso said. "This is our interpretation of our soldiers in combat and in brotherhood. This is in honor of our soldiers."

This painting portrays the men and women who laid it all on the line for the country and those who never came back. 

"They didn't get to have a family, they didn't get to ride their car," Rasul said. "They didn't get to go back to college. Their history was ended there."

"They can look at these stories and hopefully connect with them," Fisk said.

For Fisko, it's personal as his brother is in the military. 

"I thought of my brother every day. It's an honor on many fronts to paint this mural, but thinking about my brother was a real connection to this mural," Fisk said.

Rasul said Post 67 is the only VFW in Sacramento with something like this, a true testament to the men and women who serve our country. 

"It kept my spirit and heart because it represents veterans," Rasul said. "It doesn't just represent Vietnam veterans, or World War II veterans, or one ethnicity. It represents all of our veterans for their sacrafice they made to our country."