More than 1,000 troops saluted and stood to attention at a farewell ramp ceremony in Kandahar Tuesday for the six Canadian soldiers killed by a roadside bomb.
In the sombre ceremony, a lone bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" as 60 pallbearers -- all members of Hotel Company -- slowly carried the flag-draped caskets on their shoulders into an aircraft for the final trip home.
The remains of the fallen soldiers are scheduled to return home to Canada at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday, at 8 Wing Trenton, Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ont. No media coverage will be allowed due to a request by a few of the families that no reporters or television cameras be on the tarmac.
The pallbearers broke into small groups away from other assembled soldiers following Tuesday's ceremony, some of them weeping as they held each other for support.
Their comrades were killed when an IED (improvised explosive device) detonated near their LAV-III armoured vehicle at approximately 1:30 p.m. Kandahar time on April 8, about 75 km. west of Kandahar city.
Meanwhile, the military is still investigating exactly what happened -- although it's becoming increasingly clearer that ammunition inside the vehicle was not a factor.
There had been speculation there was extra ammunition in the vehicle that detonated after the blast, causing the high death toll.
Maj. Alex Ruff, Hotel company commander, said there were no explosions from Canadian ammunition when the light armoured vehicle hit the roadside bomb.
The commander said that there were no secondary explosions either after the bomb went off and destroyed the LAV-3.
Ruff also told 麻豆影视 that the Taliban may not have been targeting Canadian troops with the bombing.
"When it hit, it could have been an Afghan National police vehicle. They've been doing operations in the area as well," Ruff told CTV's Paul Workman.
"It could have been even just a heavy vehicle that was moving in through that area. That being said, it's a pretty wide open desert, we are the main force moving out there and there are so many limited crossing points across that grid system. So, they got lucky."
The devastating explosion caused the highest death toll in a single day since Canadian troops arrived in Afghanistan in 2002.
The dead soldiers have been identified as:
- Pte. David Greenslade, 20, of Saint John, N.B.;
- Pte. Kevin Vincent Kennedy, 20, of St. Lawrence, Nfld.;
- Sgt. Donald Lucas, 31, of Burton, N.B.;
- Cpl. Brent Poland, 37, of Sarnia, Ont.;
- Cpl. Christopher Paul Stannix (reservist), 24, of Dartmouth, N.S.;
- Cpl. Aaron E. Williams, 23, of Lincoln, N.B.
The six men were considered a crack section of Hotel company.
Five of them were from the Gagetown, N.B.-based 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment.
Lucas was known as a charismatic leader and was well respected by his troops and officers. He often spoke of his love for his wife and children.
Williams was seen as mature and strong and wise beyond his years.
Kennedy and Greenslade were friends on their first mission overseas. They were planning to go on leave together to Thailand and New Zealand.
Poland was an intense soldier who took his job and the mission seriously.
Stannix, a reservist from the Halifax-based Princess Louise Fusiliers, gave up his civilian job to serve in the heat and dust of Afghanistan.
Four other soldiers were wounded, the most seriously were flown to Germany.
Cpl. Shaun Fevens, who is recuperating from surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, was visited by Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of defence staff, on Tuesday. The other three remain in Afghanistan with light injuries.
Shortly after the explosion, the soldiers stood together for a moment of silence, gaining strength from each other. Since then, they have leaned heavily on one another for support to get through the pain of their loss.
"Everyone came together as a team .. I was really very glad to see that happen," said 23-year-old Lt. Ben Rogerson, the platoon commander of Hotel Company who was left in charge of the team at the time of the blast.
With reports from CTV's Paul Workman and the Canadian Press in Kandahar
