Artists paint a new mural honoring military, naval history on Mayport Road

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Thomas Jackson has painted thousands of murals in his 40 years as an artist.

He lives in  Pensacola, but is from Jacksonville.

"Here I am back here painting on this wall. I’ve been here about a week now and getting close to the end," Jackson and fellow artist Joey Lynch are creating the mural for the Fleet Reserve 290 on Mayport Road.

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Marty Martineau, the club manager and a Navy veteran, said he’s been talking about creating a mural for over a year -- one that would depict important moments in naval history.

"Give everyone an idea of what it’s about and let’s not forget what went down especially here at Mayport. It’s a very historic naval community," Martineau said.

But Martineau said the mural wouldn’t have happened without 91-year-old Leon Austin, a Navy veteran who served for 30 years in the military.

"I was looking at this wall here and it was doing nothing, but people parking in front of it and so I told Marty, 'One day, you know, it would be nice to have the American flag or something of that nature,'" Austin said.

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Martineau told us the organization raised about $3,500 to have this mural painted in its parking lot and with Jacksonville being a big military town it wanted to make sure the artwork represented the Coast Guard, Navy and Marines,

Jackson and Lynch hope to finish the mural  by this weekend, a colorful memorial with special meaning for Austin and other veterans who visit the Fleet Reserve.

"It's a beautiful mural and I think the world of it," Austin said.

Cox Media Group