By Maria Babbage
CFB TRENTON, Ont. (CP) - Family members wept and clutched each other for moral and emotional support Friday at a heart-wrenching repatriatrion ceremony marking the return to Canada of the latest young soldier to lose his life in Afghanistan.
A CC-150 Polaris aircraft bearing the flag-draped casket of Cpl. Kevin Megeney touched down at CFB Trenton shortly after 1 p.m., bringing with it the many still-unanswered questions about his tragic death.
The 25-year-old reservist from Stellarton, N.S., a member of the base-security platoon in Kandahar, was in his tent Tuesday evening when he was shot in the chest. He died 20 minutes later in hospital.
The military has described his death as accidental, but remains tight-lipped about the details. The soldier's family has said they were told it was a "friendly-fire" shooting, and a newspaper reported Friday that Megeney was shot by a fellow soldier in his platoon.
Four military investigators in Kandahar are currently probing the soldier's death.
Megeney's remains were placed aboard a C-130 Hercules aircraft in Kandahar on Wednesday night following a ramp ceremony, then were transferred to the Polaris at a German base before making the final leg of the long journey home.
Family members clutched roses as they led a procession of about a dozen relatives and loved ones onto the tarmac Friday, joined by by Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, military brass and other armed forces personnel.
Uniformed pallbearers silently carried Megeney's casket to a waiting hearse as a lone bagpiper and a guard of honour played a solemn tribute. The family group, which officials said included Megeny's sisters Lisa Megeney and Sherrie Lawand, looked on in a silent huddle against the freezing wind.
One woman leaned into the man beside her, tears streaming down her face as she watched the pallbearers slowly advance towards the waiting hearse.
Members of the family placed a rose on the casket, weeping openly as they bent foward to pay their respects.
Megeney's mother Karen, wearing dark sunglasses and a long winter coat, wavered slightly as she turned from the hearse, steadying herself with the help of family members before being led away.
She returned one final time to her son's casket, bending forward towards the open doors of the hearse, before O'Connor shook her hand and spoke to her in what appeared to be an offering of condolences.
Cpl. Brent Bowden, who accompanied his friend's body back from Afghanistan and served as pallbearer at the ramp ceremony in Kandahar, joined family members as they huddled together in tears by the building, embracing some in the group before they moved towards the waiting black limousines.
One person's sobs carried across the distance to where reporters and photographers stood, eventually subsiding in the harsh wind.
Bowden, 22, who was in the same militia regiment and from the same hometown as Megeney, wiped away his own tears before climbing into the passenger side of the hearse, still clad in his beige Afghanistan fatigues.
The procession then left the military base, headed for Toronto where the group is expected to stay overnight before flying home to Nova Scotia on Saturday.
The red-headed infantryman, whose sister Lisa described as excited to be going to Afghanistan, was the 45th Canadian soldier to die there since the Canadian mission began in 2002. A Canadian diplomat has also been killed.
Six Canadian soldiers have been killed in accidental or friendly-fire incidents since 2002.
Canada has about 2,500 soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
Copyright © 2007 Canadian Press
