Cameron Schilling’s memorial honors the 138 fallen Illinois soldiers since Sept. 11 with just a pencil.

The memorial features portraits by Schilling of the soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq since the war on terror began.

Tuesday night, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and Eastern president Lou Hencken officially opened the memorial titled “Portrait of a Soldier.”

Schilling is from Mattoon and will graduate from Eastern in December. His pictures are displayed in the University Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union through Nov. 2.

Below each picture is the soldier’s name, age, military department, hometown and a quick description about the soldier’s death.

Some were long like Steven Menneneyer of Granite City who died on Aug. 8 when his UH-68 crashed in the vicinity of Korean Village in Iraq. His remains were found the next two days.

Some were short, listing the cause of death as non-combat related, aircraft related, because of 12mm rockets, because of a mortar attack or simply just killed.

The memorial began when Schilling was working at his family’s funeral home in Mattoon over the summer. One of the funerals they arranged was that of an Army specialist, Charles Neeley, also from Mattoon.

“I got to see the whole process from the very beginning when they got the body to when they laid it in the cemetery,” Schilling said. “So I got to see how the community got involved and it really had an impression on me so I decided I wanted to (the portrait) for their family.

“I went home and did a sketch and was able to give it to them personally. Just seeing their reaction just inspired me to do more.”

The first time Jane Neeley-Tate saw that portrait was at her son’s funeral. She was shocked at first, but also proud. She also said that it’s not just her son’s picture that has helped, but the other pictures as well.

Seeing the reaction of not just the family, but the community as well inspired him to do more. Schilling tried at first to contact the families, but soon realized how difficult that would be. He then asked the Lieutenant Governor’s office if he could receive portraits of all those from Illinois who died in the war.

“They said why don’t we do you one better, why don’t we make it an exhibit and take it around the state,” Schilling said. “I sent just one e-mail, they e-mailed me back, and I said let’s do it.”

Schilling got the e-mail in February and on May 20 the exhibit officially opened.

He said that most of pictures take about two hours. There was one in the exhibit that took five hours because the picture he drew was of the soldier in full military gear wearing a helmet.

Schilling gets a release from the Lieutenant Governor’s office when someone from Illinois has died, which contains a picture of the fallen soldier. He said there are a lot of instances when he has to get a hold of the family for a better picture. Schilling then sends the portrait to the Lieutenant Governor who distributes them out.

Many of the families don’t know that their son or daughter is being drawn until the picture is done, like Connie Bickers, mother of Cory Hubbell. When she saw the picture, Bickers described it as amazing. She was impressed by how well it was drawn and noted that every characteristic of the portrait was accurate. Bickers admits her heart still mourns, but she’s happy that people care so much about her son.

He has met about half of the families of the soldiers he has drawn and the reaction he gets from the families is what keeps him going.

“Every (family) has been overjoyed by it, ” Schilling said. “Meeting them is what makes it worthwhile.”

He said that in the end, every family will get the original copy of the portrait.

Schilling’s memorial has traveled around Illinois from the James R. Thompson building in Chicago to the old state capitol building in Springfield.

“What was really cool (about the state capitol building visit) was right after the exhibit, there was a lot of people going upstairs in the capitol building to get their rights as citizens,” Schilling said. “Its kind of interesting to see that these people who were fighting for the rights of even those who aren’t citizens yet.”

Barack Obama introduced Schilling when Obama visited Eastern and Schilling was able to meet with him. Schilling was also on CNN and “The Today Show,” but what makes the memorial worth the effort is the reactions he gets from the families.

“Talking to the families was the coolest part of this thing,” Schilling said. Talking to Obama and being on television “was awesome but I wouldn’t trade that to be able to talk with families.”

Schilling hopes that in the future that his portraits become a concrete memorial, an actual place where family and friends can visit to pay their respects.

In terms of plans beyond the memorial, Schilling is just waiting to graduate and plans to go from there.

Connie Bickers stands in front of a portrait of her son SPC Cory Hubbell, drawn by Eastern’s Cameron Schilling, after the opening of “Portrait of a Soldier” in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr university union on Monday evening. Eric H

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