CFB TRENTON – The body of Sgt. John Wayne Faught, a Canadian soldier who died Saturday in Afghanistan, returned to Canadian soil Tuesday afternoon.
Faught, 44, a native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., was killed by a landmine while leading his unit on foot patrol near Nakhoney, about 15 kilometres south of Kandahar, in the troubled Panjwai region.
Faught’s flag-draped coffin returned to Canadian Forces Base Trenton at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday while his family members and dignitaries – including Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk – looked on.
From there, Faught’s remains were transported along the stretch of Highway 401, known as the Highway of Heroes, toward Toronto.
He is survived by his mother, Donna Marie, in Sault Ste. Marie, a sister in Toronto and a girlfriend in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Faught, who joined the army 23 years ago, was a section commander of Delta Company, 1 Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry of Edmonton. He was on his sixth foreign tour of duty, three of which were in Afghanistan.
Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard described Faught as a "career soldier" who was "very much a father figure" to the younger troops under his command.
He was the 139th Canadian killed in the conflict.
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