A grieving father sobbed loudly and slumped over his only son's casket yesterday as the remains of Corporal Anthony Boneca were laid to rest at a cemetery in his hometown.
Antonio Boneca had been calm during the preceding mass, where comrades remembered his 21-year-old son as a "man of courage" and his bride-to-be spoke of him as an "irreplaceable" love.
Affectionately called "T-Bone" by his fellow soldiers, Cpl. Boneca had planned to return to Thunder Bay after his tour of duty in Afghanistan to be with family and girlfriend Megan DeCorte, who recalled their three-week vacation in Italy while Cpl. Boneca was on leave in 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. You are my love, my life, my soulmate and my destiny . . . I love you and I can't wait until the day we're together again."
Cpl. 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 from the end of his latest tour of duty when he was killed July 9 west of Kandahar.
Master Cpl. Craig Loverin burst into tears as he described how Cpl. Boneca returned home from his first tour of duty. He said his comrade 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," MCpl. Loverin told the roughly 1,000 mourners who gathered inside St. Patrick's Cathedral to pay their final respects.
After the service, the flag-draped casket was carried out of the cathedral by nine members of the regiment in their full highland dress uniforms with tartan kilts.
The family then went to the cemetery. Mr. Boneca clutched his anguished wife Shirley and held hands with Ms. DeCorte as soldiers fired a 21-gun salute and 200 military personnel and police officers approached the casket.
MCpl. Boneca's parents were given the flag that accompanied their son's coffin from Afghanistan, his balmoral, and the service medals from his two tours overseas.