Project Heroes » fallen soldiers

Goodbye Pat and Edmonton soldiers

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Saying goodbye to my cousin’s fiancé Patrick at the Edmonton garrison was difficult to say the least.

The hall was filled with soldiers ready to leave, their parents, siblings, spouses and children.

As the soldiers waited to go into the line-up to have their bodies and their gear searched, they clung to their wives and children. Most of the spouses had welled up tears in their eyes the entire time, but most of the soldiers stayed fairly straight-faced and tearless, putting on a brave face for their families. The look in their eyes told the story of the sadness they felt leaving their loved ones, especially knowing that there was a possibility that it could be the last time.

Although the soldiers kept a brave face throughout the waiting period, as they left their families to be searched and then board the bus, almost all had tears in their eyes.

It’s hard to explain how electric the atmosphere was, full of love, sadness, fear, and even excitement. Even though the soldiers were sad to leave their families, there was a part of them that looked forward to doing what they had been trained to do.

My heart broke as I watched my cousin cry and her daughter wave goodbye to Daddy. As the soldiers walked out of the hall and out of sight, my cousin ran outside the hall and around the building to have a last chance to see her soldier in the bus as it left.

It struck me how solitary life as a military spouse can be. It’s hard to think of a child not seeing her Daddy for six to eight months, and again thinking that the worst case scenario is that she could never see him again. As the parent who stays home, the spouse is a single parent and lonely. There are times when they have no contact with their soldier for long periods of time, and they hold their breath as the names of fallen soldiers are announced. They pray that it’s not their spouse, and yet are so very sad for the family that does have to deal with the loss.

Shairl, Cindy and I have become so close up and personal with this project that we, too, hold our breath every time another fallen soldier’s name is announced. Our hearts break for the families, and we often cry also as we sit with the families and share the stories of the brave soldiers who never made it home alive.

I pray for the safety of my cousin-in-law to be, and all his comrades as they work hard in Afghanistan for a cause they believe is worth dying for. Besides my own family, I don’t know if I’d ever be that brave for anyone else. I am thankful for everything these soldiers are doing for us, for our country, and for the people of Afghanistan.

God bless them all.

—Susan Abma

Painting with friends

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:41:00 +0000

For several summers now, Shairl (centre) and I (right) have spent three weeks in Newfoundland painting scenes there en plein air (outdoor painting).

Although we have a fairly grueling schedule while there, painting from sunup to sundown most days, it is well worth it because it helps keep our painting skills finely tuned, and it is also a lot of fun.

This year was extra special for us. We were very busy painting portraits of fallen Canadian soldiers before we left, so we took a couple of the portraits with us to work on in case there was a rainy day that we couldn’t work outside. We were also very fortunate to also take along Judy Budd, mother of one of the fallen soldiers (left).

Judy used to paint, but for the last three years since her son died in Afghanistan, she had not picked up a paintbrush. When Shairl and I visited her earlier this year, we immediately liked this woman and within a few hours of talking to her we invited her to join us on our painting trip this summer. A day or two later she accepted.

Although she hadn’t painted in several years, she painted with us every day and when our trip was done, she had created as many paintings as I did. For those who don’t paint, that may sound easy, but it is actually hard work and not very comfortable at all. We painted at the edge of the ocean some days and we were so cold that we painted with as many layers of sweaters that we had with us and had shirts tied around our heads and socks on our hands to be able to withstand the wind and bitter cold. Other days, inland, the heat and sun were brutal. In the evenings we had to fend off mosquitos, some days we were rained on…

Not only did Judy stick with the painting (and us), but she created some excellent paintings and she kept us laughing with her great sense of humor.

Now that we are home and getting back to painting ‘our’ fallen heroes, we are doing it with an even greater connection than ever before, and we feel so blessed by the new friendship we have made with Judy, and the friendships that are developing with families of other fallen soldiers.

In the photo above, Shairl is shown with the painting that she painted of Judy while Judy was painting a NFLD scene. It will always remind me of the strength, determination, and wonderful kindness and humor of our amazing new friend, Judy.

- Susan Abma

Personal Time With A War Hero

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:58:00 +0000

This pencil drawing was done with the photos of Cpl. Shane Keating at hand. I wanted to explore his face and get to know his structure before starting the portrait painting.
Drawing out these heroes before I start painting them gives me personal time to get to know them.
I can imagine their strength, their love of Canada, and their dedication to their cause.
It’s important to me to attempt to capture not only their physical self, but their spiritual self as well.
- Shairl

Impersonating a soldier? No way!

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:37:00 +0000

I’m an imposter! I’ll start off with an apology for having the gear on completely wrong, I’m sure. And, I’ll apologize for what might appear to be an impersonation of a soldier.

What this photo actually is, is me attempting to find out if I could actually carry even the lightest gear that a soldier routinely carries.

Well, I found out. I sure can’t!

I’ve read about the weight of military gear, but it never sunk in until today. I was fortunate enough to visit Lancaster Park – the military base in Edmonton – with a soldier giving me a guided tour.

When I left, I literally had almost everything but the pants and shirt Pat was wearing, although I did get other pants and shirts in the collection I took with me. He actually changed his boots and cap so I could take the ones he was wearing.

This warmed my heart to the very core. The reason he shared his gear for a couple of days was to allow us to photograph and paint some of the items for Project Heroes.

The first item he handed me was a helmet. For all intents and purposes it looked like a hard hat, but with camouflage on it. Well I’ve picked up many hard hats before so I had a mental expectation of the weight. Wrong. I almost dropped the helmet. The next thing I picked up was his ‘flack jacket.’ I’m guessing it weighed about 20+ pounds – like a large bag of potatoes. I can’t even begin to guess the weight of the backpack, but I was assured that it was “light” compared to when the soldiers actually have it packed for use.

As I dressed in the heavy gear to take this photo (and I didn’t even wear the helmet), it struck me hard that our soldiers have to endure so much in their duties, and the weight of their gear is only scratching the surface of the amount of sacrifice they make for all Canadians.

I’m compassionate, and my heart breaks for every fallen soldier, but brave I am not. I would never be able to stand in a soldier’s shoes, so I’m incredibly thankful that they do what they do. I guess I technically did stand in his boots, but I couldn’t even stand up straight! I estimated that I was carrying more than half my weight. No, don’t ask and I won’t tell.

Cindy, Shairl and I are all very thankful for the support that we are getting for Project Heroes, and thanks so much to Pat for the military gear that I am able to borrow temporarily.

- Susan

Cpl. David Braun – preliminary drawing

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:46:00 +0000

This is the preliminary drawing of Cpl. David Braun. Since Cindy showed the method of beginning the painting by ‘drawing’ in paint, I’ve done a pencil drawing as the beginning of this painting. I usually do more of a ‘cartoon’ when I’m drawing in pencil to later paint. There is little need for detail – just some markings that tell me the angle of the eyes, nose and mouth, the edge of the face perhaps, and the top of the head and chin. This one has more detail so you can compare the drawing with the painting at a later date.

Now that I’ve completed the preliminary drawing, I’m ready to start applying paint. I’ll supply more photos as I go along.

-Susan

A Visit With Corporal Cole Bartsch’s Family

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Susan and I (Cindy) recently had a visit with the family of Cole Bartsch, one of the soldiers who died on July 4, 2007. We heard about Cole’s love for the outdoors and comics, his antics, his great respect for the military, and his deep love of family. And photos, so many wonderful photos of Cole.

Hearing about him and seeing his pictures and bedroom will make painting his portrait all that more poignant.

Cole’s parents want his name and the wonderful young man that he was to be remembered. Project Heroes is a way we can remember our fallen soldiers and show our deep gratitude, even so it seems as though we can’t say thank you enough for what the soldiers and their parents, siblings, extended family, and friends have given up.

Thank you Bartsch family. Thank you Cole.

We’re in Saskatchewan

admin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:00:00 +0000

After a long day of driving, we (Susan and Shairl) arrived from Leduc, Alberta to our hotel in Saskatoon, SK.

We shared information about our project with people who we met along the way and left them Project Heroes™ business cards.

As we drove we talked about the ultimate sacrifice the soldiers had made, and how we hoped that our project would help Canadians see who these soldiers were – in life, not in death.

Tomorrow we will speak to the mother of a young Corporal. We look forward to the day when we can share his story and his portrait with you in the national exhibition.

Tonight we will research him a bit more and then it will be early to bed because we have to leave Saskatoon early tomorrow to arrive on time.

And we’re off…

admin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:54:00 +0000

This week Shairl and Susan will be heading for Saskatchewan. We will be visiting the families of several of the fallen Canadian soldiers to gather some information to ensure that the paintings we do of our Canadian heroes are as true to their characters as we can possibly achieve post-humously.

Some other information gathered, such as emails and letters they sent home, etc. will be used in the exhibition as well.

If you are interested in reading more about our project, please see www.projectheroes.ca .

The above portrait is a sample painting of a model, not a soldier in the Canadian Military. Paintings of the ‘real’ soldiers will be rotated on the Project Heroes™ site as they are completed.