RESERVIST LAID TO REST

A grieving father sobbed loudly and slumped over his only son's casket as the remains of Cpl. Anthony Boneca were laid to rest yesterday at a cemetery in his hometown.

Antonio Boneca was composed during the preceding mass, where his 21-year-old son was remembered by shaken comrades as a "man of courage" and by his anguished bride-to-be as an "irreplaceable" love.

The younger Boneca had planned to return to Thunder Bay to be with his family and girlfriend Megan DeCorte, to whom he'd given a promise ring during a romantic gondola ride in Venice earlier this year.

At Monday's ceremony, DeCorte recalled the couple's three-week vacation in Italy, while Boneca was on leave last May.

"We spent a lot of the time planning out our future together - going back to school, marriage, children and travel," the 19-year-old told mourners.

"Tony, my sweet, sweet Tony, I hope you know how much I love you and how proud I was to be a part of your life," said DeCorte, whose family lived behind Boneca's.

"You are my love, my life, my soulmate and my destiny - irreplaceable, undeniable and unforgettable. I love you and I can't wait until the day we're together again."

Boneca, a reservist with the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, was the 17th Canadian soldier, and the second from Thunder Bay, to die in Afghanistan. He was just three weeks away from the end of his latest tour of duty when he was killed on July 9 during a sweep of the Taliban region.

Master Cpl. Craig Loverin burst into tears as he described how Boneca returned home from his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. He said Boneca was proud to serve his country and couldn't wait to go back.

"After completing that tour, he was a man ... a man of courage, who, for as long as I live, will never be forgotten," Loverin told some 1,000 mourners who gathered inside St. Patrick's Cathedral to pay their final respects.

When news of his death first broke, his loved ones painted conflicting pictures of Boneca's time with the military.

DeCorte and his best friend, Dylan Bulloch, said the infantry soldier was deeply unhappy in Afghanistan and did not feel prepared for the dangerous mission.

Boneca's father, meanwhile, portrayed a young soldier who "loved being in the army" and was aware of the situation he was facing.

Cpl. Jon O'Connor told mourners during the mass that Boneca believed in Canada's role in Afghanistan: "He believed in what he was fighting for, and he never gave up."


PUBLICATION: Kingston Whig-Standard (ON)
DATE: 2006.07.18
BYLINE: Angela Pacienza