After travelling 47,000 kilometres through 118 communities to pay respect to Canada’s 158 fallen soldiers, sailors and aircrew, the Portraits of Honour tour was officially wrapped up at a ceremony in Mount Forest on June 21.
The Portraits of Honour Tour was a Kin Canada National Project featuring a 10- by 50-foot hand painted mural depicting the 158 Canadian Forces personnel who lost their lives serving in Afghanistan.
The mural was created by Cambridge Kinsman and artist Dave Sopha in a project that began in 2008 after he learned of the death of the 100th Canadian solider in Afghanistan.
The tour began on May 28, 2011 in Kitchener and the last stop was on Dec. 10, 2011, in Cambridge.
Along the way, the mural touched the hearts of people across the country, raised $200,000 to support military charities that assist families of the fallen and military personnel returning home with physical or emotional injuries, and was declared a national monument by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Two Wellington County men played key roles in organizing and coordinating the tour.
Bruce Lloyd of the Fergus Kinsmen Club was the national project manager for the Portraits of Honour Tour.
“Something twigged in Dave and he said ‘I have to do something,’” said Lloyd of the artist who created the massive mural.
One of the accomplishments of the project, said Lloyd, was to remind Canadians of the sacrifices made by Canada’s soldiers and their families in the process of defending freedom.
“When we go across the country, we say to people ‘There’s your cost – freedom is not free,’” said Lloyd, who hopes the mural will eventually end up being housed and displayed in Ottawa.
Mount Forest Kinsman Gord Trecartin, one of the national directors for the project, said the tour was an unforgettable experience.
“Some days it was the greatest thing and some days it was the hardest thing; but people really did enjoy us doing it,” he said.
The ceremony at the Mount Forest branch of the Royal Canadian Legion (Branch 134) included a presentation of a Canadian flag to Tina Smith, the mother of Sergeant Kirk Taylor, one of the fallen soldiers whose portrait is on the mural.
While Taylor’s hometown is in Nova Scotia and Smith now lives the United States, Taylor has ties to the local area, as his aunt Lyn Chappel and grandmother Mary Whyte, both live in Normanby Township.
“These kindnesses such as this flag, such as the Portraits of Honour, it makes people remember Kirk’s family. I don’t have the words to tell you how much this means,” said Smith at the ceremony.
