A fallen Canadian soldier has returned home to a solemn ceremony as the casket of Gunner Sebastian Halmagean arrived in Canada from Latvia.

On a snowy afternoon at CFB Trenton, soldiers in full dress uniform lined the tarmac to pay their final respects. The sounds of a lone bagpiper filled the air as the flag-draped casket was lowered from the plane. Family and friends, some holding white flowers, watched in silence as pallbearers carefully moved the casket to a waiting hearse.

Halmagean, a 24-year-old from Hamilton, Ontario, was serving on his first overseas mission when he passed away. He was a gunner, a soldier trained to operate heavy artillery, and was stationed at the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown in Oromocto, New Brunswick.

His father, Alin Halmagean, remembered his son as a dedicated serviceman who had also helped fight wildfires in Newfoundland and Labrador last year. According to the Department of National Defence, the young soldier died near the city of Riga on January 20.