CFB TRENTON, Ont. — The body of the first Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan this year is back home.
A military plane carrying the body of Cpl. Yannick Scherrer arrived at CFB Trenton, in eastern Ontario, this afternoon.
The soldier’s grieving family members clutched red roses as they watched his flag-draped casket being carried from the plane.
His body was then driven along a section of Highway 401 called the Highway of Heroes to the coroner’s office in Toronto.
Scherrer was a member of the 1st Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment, and was on his first tour in Afghanistan.
The 24-year-old Montreal native was conducting a security foot patrol with the Afghan National Army when he was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb in eastern Panjwaii.
His death brings to 155 the total number of Canadian military members who have died as part of the Afghan mission since it began in 2002.