Regina – The Project Heroes exhibit launched on Thursday at Government House.
Project Heroes is a non-profit initiative that celebrates the lives of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Casualties of war are often reported only as a statistic, but the exhibit aimed to showcase the soldier behind the number.
“People will often say this is the 88th soldier that was killed in Afghanistan. We want people to really know who they were,’ said Cindy Revell, one of the artist’s working on the exhibit.
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The exhibit honours soldiers like 30-year-old Cpl. Shane Keating, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2006.
The exhibit displays hand-painted portraits of each soldier, a description of what they were like when they were younger, and pictures of them growing up
Keating’s mother, Judy Budd attended the exhibit and said it was “lovely to see him and his smile and blue eyes.”
“He’s gone and the fact that things like this, and the war memorials are in existence for them to be remembered is, I don’t even know the word for it, it helps,” said Budd.
To date, not all of the soldier’s families have been located, and as a result not every soldier who died in Afghanistan has a portrait.
According to the Canadian Armed Forces, 158 Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan since the Canadian military began combat operations in 2002.
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