For more photos of the Highway of Heroes Adoption Four One Hundred and Fifty Eight in Honour of Major Michelle Knight Mendes click http://nesphotos.zenfolio.com/p264803370
A labour of love was completed on October 25, 2018 honouring a fallen soldier.
Metal artist Shawn Donnan of Horizon Metalworks from Stirling completed the metal globe called the Highway of Heroes Adoption Four One Hundred and Fifty Eight in Honour of Major Michelle Knight Mendes.
The work was commissioned by Kerri Tadeu who adopted the entire section of the Highway of Heroes along with Cpl. Nick Kerr and Master Cpl. (Retired) Colin Fitzgerald. Twice a year for the last two years, the highway has been cleaned (344 km both ways) in honour of Tadeu’s good friend Major Michelle Knight Mendes who died in Afghanistan.
When Tadeu and Fitzgerald arrived at Donnan’s business on Thursday and viewed the metal globe for the first time they were astounded.
“It’s beyond anything I could ever have possibly imagined,” said Tadeu.
The memorial globe tells the grassroots story of how the Highway of Heroes started in 2002.
The Highway of Heroes Memorial globe has four battle crosses to acknowledge the first four fallen soldiers of the Afghanistan war.
A metal ‘ring’ the memorial globe sits on has the 158 names of the fallen soldiers and the four names of the civilians killed in Afghanistan.
The first four names of the fallen soldiers lines up with the four battle crosses.
A Hercules aircraft with the image of soldiers carrying a fallen comrade on the aircraft is depicted in one scene.
Six hearses acknowledge the devastating events on April 8, 2007 and July 4, 2007 where six soldiers were carried home with civilians atop of a bridge along with firefighters.
An image of former Chief of Defense Staff General (retired) Walter Natynczyk saluting is on the memorial globe to acknowledge the incredible support Tadeu has received from him and acknowledge his service as the CDS during the time of the Afghanistan War.
The letters “PPCLI” (Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry) are on the globe to acknowledge the first four soldiers that fell and the last soldier that fell were PPCLI.
Also two PPCLI veterans from the Afghanistan war moved their “pain to purpose” in adopting the Highway of Heroes to pay their respect to their fallen comrades and combat the epidemic of suicide among veterans.
Medic Paul Franklin lost his legs and Civilian Glyn Berry was killed in a suicide bombing in 2006. The damaged vehicle on the memorial is to acknowledge the civilians that were killed during the Afghanistan war.
The Highway of Heroes image on the globe and the date “May 17 2006” are to acknowledge the death of ‘Canada’s daughter’, the first female to be killed in combat, Captain Nicola Goddard.
A piece of metal from a military vehicle that was in Afghanistan encompasses the bottom of the memorial.
“When I came to Shawn I saw his work and I thought it was incredible,” says Tadeu.
“Every single detail is covered. He went above and beyond with is sister designing and working as a team to create the vision.”
Fitzgerald who served in Afghanistan said it was obvious the work was a labour of love for Donnan.
“It stirred up a lot of emotion because of my involvement over there.”
“The heartfelt scenario that was brought out in this piece of art speaks volumes of the people who brought it to life.”
Donnan who was a dairy farmer for over three decades always enjoyed art. Like every farmer he had to fix things when they broke on the farm and welding was part of that.
“I just knew I wanted to create something that people would enjoy for generations. I decided to combine the art side of what I like to do and fabricating.”
Tadeu gave Donnan and his sister Kelly Baldock ideas and photos of what she wanted on the globe. From there the brother and sister worked on the project.
Donnan, like most Canadians knows about the Highway of Heroes, but said it was a “very, very difficult design.”
“Quite a few hours of drawing to get it right. It was drawn on the globe three or four times and each time it would get better and better and the last time we went around we said – it’s perfect.”
Creating metal works of art for approximately two years, Donnan said the globes are, “memories for people and want to make sure they are left on the property and handed down. I put a lot of special moments in the globes so people ask about it generations down the road.”
Donnan said it was clear speaking to Tadeu about the passion she has for the fallen soldiers and Highway of Heroes.
“It was an absolute honour to work on this. It was by far the most emotional globe I’ve done.”
“Because of this (Afghanistan) and other world wars that were fought, I’m able to be in the shop doing this.”
“This globe was a matter of national pride.”
The globe will be officially unveiled at Our Nations Heroes Hockey game in Kingston on Sunday, October 28, 2018 http://www.leonscentre.com/event/our-nations-heroes-hockey-night/
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
