Larry Halbert has worked in southeast Michigan for over 40 years. As a public artist, his work is primarily figurative and ranges in expression from representational to abstract. Raised in a professional studio environment, there he learned the skills needed to make art from his father and other artists. The Michigan World War II Legacy Memorial project has a personal connection for him. “My father served in the US Army in Europe and it’s to him that I owe my ability to produce work.” He has worked with many civic and community organizations to develop the creative ideas that form the basis needed to bring the project to life. He produces his work at his studio in Ann Arbor that is well equipped to handle large scale sculpture projects.

This feature of the design has three life-sized bronze statue scenes representing Land, Air and Sea that tell the Michigan story through both the home front and war front perspectives.
Land: Mail Call
On the home front, families waited eagerly for news of their loved ones overseas. Dad reads the paper, sitting near the radio. Mom has just written a letter to her son.

On the war front, soldiers eagerly await "Mail Call" in anticipation of  words of news and encouragement from home. The scene depicts a son sitting in his foxhole, pouring over his letter from home as he cherishes every word.

Sea: Two Bags Save One Life
On the home front, a young boy and girl each fill a bag with milkweed pods. Kapok, a fiber used to stuff vests was no longer available due to Japan's capture of the East Indies. It took two bags of milkweed pods to make one life jacket, hence the motto that inspired this scene. The area around Petoskey had the greatest concentration of milkweed in the country, which led to building the world's only processing plant of its kind.

On the war front, shipments of raw materials such as iron ore from the upper peninsula along with finished goods from industrial centers required constant military patrols and watches that this seaman, in his life jacket, could be conducting.



Air: Keep 'Em Flying
On the home front, Rosie the Riveter labors on a B-24 Bomber at the Ford Willow Run Assembly Plant. The plant churned out bombers at the absurd rate of one an hour, just as Ford engineers had promised.

On the war front, a Tuskegee airman who was trained at Selfridge Army Air Field prepares for his mission to escort a bomber pilot deep into enemy territory.

This feature of the design is a series of 13 pillars, six of which represent Michigan's contribution to the war effort, including:

• Service to the country

• Sacrifice of lives lost and time given

• Labor in factories and fields

• Industry converted to support the war effort

• Commitment of individuals and communities 

• Change required to fight as well as how we were affected