The body of a 30-year-old Canadian lieutenant is on a Christmas Eve flight back to Canada from Afghanistan.
Andrew Nuttall was given a ceremonial send-off as thousands packed the Kandahar Airfield to bid him farewell.
The departure came just hours after the military announced his death due to an improvised explosive device.
Nuttall, of Prince George, B.C., was on a routine foot patrol around the village of Nakhoney when he and an Afghan army soldier were killed.
He was praised as a leader who believed in what he was doing.
Nutall is the 134th Canadian soldier to die on the Afghan mission.
A repatriation ceremony will be held at CFB Trenton on Sunday, December 27 at 2 p.m.