Tribute to Our Fallen Heroes: Courage, Sacrifice, Loyalty

Tribute to Our Fallen Heroes: Courage, Sacrifice, Loyalty is a mural in memory of fallen officers Lieutenant Walter Szwajkowski and Police Officers Louis Vasger, Richard Lendell, and John Pawlowski. The mural was designed by David McShane and painted by David McShane & Desiree Bender, with painting assistance from the families and friends of the honorees.

The mural is a companion to Tribute to Our Fallen Heroes: Honor, Integrity, Service, painted in 2008. That mural honors fallen officers Walter Barclay, Robert Hayes, and Charles Cassidy, all from the 35th District.

Both murals are on the Broad Street façade of the Philadelphia Police District 35 building, flanking the main entrance. Artist McShane thinks of them as essentially as one mural.

The families and friends of the officers provided feedback on the murals’ designs and were invited to attend a community paint day at the mural, where they helped paint the mural on the wall itself, and also helped fill in the paint-by number portraits of the officers on cloth, which were later glued up onto the wall mural.

Many symbolic elements in the background of the mural help to portray who these men were and what they meant to their families, to their fellow officers, and to the community. The eagle with spread wings represents protection, the lion represents courage, and the dog represents loyalty. St. Michael is the Patron Saint of Police Officers.