24 April 2025 saw a Veterans Can… event, hosted by The Gurkha Museum Trust, to bid farwell to the portraits of the 11 Gurkha soldiers and four British officers who lost their lives in Afghanistan. The portraits have been on display at the Gurkha Museum in Winchester and have now been packed up to be transported to Nepal to be presented to the Gurkha Memorial Museum in Pokhara, Nepal.
Kevin Wills, an artist and Army veteran, painted portraits of each of the 457 British Army officers and soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan and the Brigade of Gurkhas lost 15 members during the Afghanistan conflict. Since November 2023 the Gurkha Museum Trust has been displaying the portraits of 11 Gurkha soldiers who lost their lives while serving in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 o on loan from Kevin, the artist.
The originals of the portraits of the four British officers have already been presented to their families and Veteran Can… have been fundraising to undertake a trip to Nepal to present the remaining portraits to the families of the Nepalese Gurkha fallen heroes.
In May 2025 a small team of Veterans from the Veterans Can… community will travel from Winchester, UK to Kathmandu, Nepal with the portraits. On arrival in Kathmandu they will be joined by Gurkha Veteran Hari Budha Magar MBE, who became the first double above-knee amputee to reach the peak of Mount Everest in 2023 before being attending various events in the nation’s capital. From there, the team will travel by road with members of The Gurkha Welfare Trust to Pokhara – the home of the British Gurkhas. In Pokhara on 11 May, Kev and the team will present his portraits to the families of the fallen Gurkhas during a respectful ceremony at the Gurkha Memorial Museum where they will be kept on display.
Garrath Williams – Co-Founder of Veteran Can… said, “When I first met Kev, I wanted to find a way to show gratitude for this immense commitment, and as this was around the same time we launched Veterans Can… we put an idea to our community about getting behind Kek, and making this trip happen for him. I’m so chuffed we can do this, and it makes it all the more impactful having Hari involved, who has a close personal connection to some of the Gurkhas who were sadly killed in action.”
Kevin Wills The “Fallen of Afghanistan” said, “The project was an idea I had 4 years ago, and it felt like the right thing to do to make sure those who made the ultimate sacrifice are not forgotten. Being able to present the last few portraits to the museum in the presence of the families of fallen Gurkhas is a huge honour; and being able to draw a line under this project with such an expedition is amazing.”
Hari Budha Magar MBE who attended the event in Winchester, said, “I am very happy to get involved with handing over portraits of fallen Gurkhas who were killed in Afghanistan to their families in Nepal. I was wounded in Afghanistan, so this is very close to me and someway brings me closer to my fallen colleagues. This means a lot to me”.
The Director of The Gurkha Museum Trust, Dr Daren Bowyer said, “The Gurkha Museum Trust has the responsibility to preserve and to promote the Brigade of Gurkhas’ history, heritage and ethos. It has been an honour for us to safeguard and display these wonderful portraits while their move to Nepal was being arranged and we are grateful to Veterans Can … for the opportunity.”
Photography by Mr Mick Latter
