Worcester veteran paints memorial pictures of Afghanistan soldiers

Kevin Wills has just sixteen of the 457 portraits left to paint

An army veteran is painting portraits of every British soldier who died in 20 years of deployment in Afghanistan.

Kevin Wills, of Worcestershire, set a target to paint all 457 tribute portraits of those who died between 2001 and 2021, and has just 16 to go.

He has sent the digital works to all the soldiers' next-of-kin, and said the response had been "overwhelming".

Mr Wills , a father-of-four, said: "I needed all the families to remember what we thought about the soldiers."

A coalition of international forces - led by the US - completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 20-year campaign in the country.

The UK sent forces but ended its combat operations in 2014, leaving hundreds of troops to help train the Afghan government's army.

Each portrait takes Mr Wills around five or six hours to complete

Mr Wills, who works at Jaguar Land Rover and served for six years in the Royal Logistical Corps, said his idea started somewhat by accident.

"It all started from painting a friend of a friend, a fallen soldier," he said.

"The family absolutely loved the portrait and they put it on social media and it just blew up from there.

"Another family got involved and they wanted their son painted."

A friend asked him how many he would paint and it was then he decided to paint all the fallen soldiers.

Mr Wills began the project in 2020 and currently has 150 to 160 ready to be framed and sent out to the families.

Each portrait takes between five and six hours and said finishing the project would be "emotional", he said.

Among those painted is Rifleman William Aldridge of Bromyard, Herefordshire, who was 18 when he died in 2009