Quantcast
Bodies of two latest Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan return home – Metro US

Bodies of two latest Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan return home

CFB TRENTON, Ont. – The bodies of the two latest Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan have arrived back in Canada.

A military aircraft carrying the bodies of 38-year-old Master Cpl. Pat Audet of Montreal and 25-year-old Cpl. Martin Joannette of St-Calixte, Que., landed this afternoon at CFB Trenton in eastern Ontario.

The two died Monday when their Griffon CH-146 helicopter crashed at an operating base northeast of Kandahar City.

The family of Joannette says he was a proud soldier who wore his wings tattooed to his forearm, and whose death has left a void in their hearts.

In a statement issued today through the Canadian Forces, his wife, Marie Eve Dionne, says her husband’s smile and his good humour were infectious.

The two men are the 123rd and 124th Canadian soldiers to die on the Afghan mission.

Audet was with 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron while Joannette was with the 3rd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment.

Both were based at Valcartier, Que.

A British soldier was also killed in the crash, and three other Canadian Forces members were injured in the accident, one of them seriously.

Sources have told The Canadian Press the crash occurred when the chopper clipped a security wall while trying to manoeuvre in a blinding cloud of dust.