Canada Breaks 100 KIA

[Aaron]

CBC.CA

Shedding tears and holding each other for comfort, family members watched as the bodies of three Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan arrived at an Ontario military base Monday afternoon.

The families were joined by Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean and chief of defence staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk at CFB Trenton as the plane carrying the remains of Cpl. Mark McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Warrant Officer Robert Wilson touched down.

The caskets containing the bodies of the soldiers were loaded, one at a time, into three hearses at a runway, while their comrades stood at silent attention. Family members, clutching roses, followed the flag-draped caskets.

People gathered outside the chain-link fence that encircled the base, hands in pockets as temperatures hovered around -10 C, to pay their respects.

The soldiers' remains were then driven west to Toronto along a stretch of Ontario's Highway 401 known as the Highway of Heroes. Hundreds more lined up along overpasses above the highway to watch the motorcade pass.

More than 2,000 Canadian, U.S., Dutch and British soldiers turned out for a ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield on Saturday to pay tribute to their three comrades who were killed west of the city of Kandahar on Friday.
Killed by roadside bomb

They died when their armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb - pushing the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 100 since the mission began in earnest in 2002.

The casket of one of the fallen soldiers is unloaded off a military airplane at a CFB Trenton ramp ceremony on Monday. The casket of one of the fallen soldiers is unloaded off a military airplane at a CFB Trenton ramp ceremony on Monday. (CBC)In addition to the soldier deaths, one Canadian diplomat, Glyn Berry, was killed by a suicide blast in January 2006.

They were all members of the 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment based in Petawawa, Ont.

Wilson, 38, of Keswick, Ont., was on his second tour in Afghanistan. He leaves behind a wife and two small children.

McLaren, 23, of Peterborough, Ont., was also on his second tour in Afghanistan and was engaged to be married.

Diplaros, 24, of Toronto, on his first tour, joined the Canadian Forces three years ago, following in the footsteps of his father, who served in the Greek military.

Canada has about 2,500 soldiers in the province of Kandahar, the former Taliban stronghold.

We've finally hit 100 KIA in Afghanistan. On a personal note, I knew Warrant Wilson.

[Tsukiyumi]

Man, that sucks. I sure hope all of this turns out to have been worth it.

[Aaron]

Man, that sucks. I sure hope all of this turns out to have been worth it.

I fucking hope so. In 20 years if Afghanistan isn't a shining beacon of democracy than we better be calling for former PM Cretiens head.

[Tsukiyumi]

Agreed.

Of course, for us, it'd be Bush and co.

[Mikey]

Of course, for us, it'd be Bush and co.

Well, I think there's plenty of reason to call for Bush's (and his Legion of Doom's) head(s) even ignoring Afghanistan.

[Mark]

And I LOVE that he's ALMOST apologizing, now.

[Aaron]

And I LOVE that he's ALMOST apologizing, now.

Call me when he donates the majority of his personal finances to either the soldiers that got maimed or an Iraqi charity for the same.

[Sionnach Glic]

Fucking seconded. The thing that sickens me most is that this is all going to turn out for nothing (go on, just try and claim that Afghanistan or Iraq are going to turn into good secular nations in the near future) and that the people responsible for this mess are getting off scott-free.

Kendall: My sympathies for your friend.

[Mark]

I whole heartedly agree. When it's all said and done, what will we have accomplished? Bin Laden is still out there. Iraq is still a free nation, nominally democratic, but ripe for another tyrant. This war has been seriously in vain. Hell, it's easy to forget what the hell we were even DOING over there..???

My sypmathies as well, Kendell

[Sionnach Glic]

. Hell, it's easy to forget what the hell we were even DOING over there..???