It was an emotional moment for Shirley Boneca when she saw her son’s face amongst the 157 fallen soldiers painted on the Portraits of Honour mural.
The travelling mural, stationed at Waverley Park Friday, featured portraits of every Canadian man and woman who has lost their life in the war in Afghanistan, including three men from Thunder Bay – Pte. Robert Costall, Pte. Josh Klukie and Cpl. Anthony Boneca.
Boneca’s son Anthony was killed in Afghanistan on July 9, 2006. He was the 17th Canadian soldier lost in Afghanistan. To have her son in the Portraits of Honour meant a lot to her and her husband Tony.
“I was so excited to see this,” she said. “The artwork is fantastic and I’m really overwhelmed. It’s emotional obviously; my son is there. I think it’s a wonderful tribute to all the fallen soldiers.”
The painting is the creation of Cambridge, Ont.’s Dave Sopha. The inspiration for the piece came to him the day the death toll for Canadian military personnel reached 100 in December 2008.
He heard three Canadian soldiers had died and frantically searched the newspaper to see if his nephew was one of the three. He was relieved to discover he wasn’t, but then felt a sadness for all the families that wouldn’t feel that same happiness.
“When I looked at the 100 faces staring at me I had to do something for them,” he said, adding his nephew had told him about all the good work Canadians had been doing in Afghanistan like building schools.
“This is my part,” Sopha said.
A private viewing of the mural was held Friday morning for military members, veterans and friends and family of fallen soldiers. Sopha said the families have a sense of pride after seeing the portraits.
“Their loved ones are going to be remembered for many years,” he said. “That makes me feel very proud and honoured that I could do it.”
Sopha has spent more than 6,700 hours on the mural and unfortunately had to add two more faces in May. He said it’s been a slow work in progress.
In order for all Canadians to get a chance to see the mural, Sopha approached Kin Canada to help him take it across the country.
“This was a project that when it first came to us, when Dave first had this idea, we knew we had to be involved,” said James Doerr, national director for Kin Canada. “It all came together with some great minds. It really made a difference and we’re changing lives by doing this tour.”
Doerr has been at many of the Portraits of Honour stops and said it’s becoming a healing movement as it travels from coast to coast.
“What the families have experienced with the loss of a loved one words can’t possibly describe it,” he said, adding the emotion at every stop is unbelievable.
Portraits of Honour is at Waverley Park until 6:30 p.m. tonight. The next stop is Sudbury and after hitting the East Coast, it will head back west and end at CFB Shiloh in Manitoba.
