While Canadians prepared to celebrate Canada Day with concerts and parties, solemn celebrations of life took place across the country on Saturday as families and friends said goodbye to three soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Funeral services for Sgt. Christos Karigiannis, Cpl. Stephen Bouzane and Pte. Joel Wiebe were held in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta, respectively.
"(Karigiannis) knew the stakes that lied ahead," Sgt. Dwayne Mac Dougall, who commanded troops alongside Karigiannis, said before the service in Laval, Que., north of Montreal.
"But (he was) more than willing to sacrifice and put his life down for his country and for any member of his section."
Verses of "O Canada" echoed from the open doors of Sainte-Rose-de-Lima Church as more than 500 mourners and military personnel came to remember the 30-year-old soldier.
Karigiannis, like Bouzane and Wiebe, was a member of the Edmonton-based 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
The men were killed June 20 when their unarmoured vehicle, known as a Gator, was struck by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar as they travelled between two checkpoints.
The soldiers' deaths caused the Canadian military to suspend the use of the open-top, six-wheeler Gators outside secure compounds.
Karigiannis, who trained cadets at a Montreal-area school in his early career, was remembered by one colleague as a quiet man with a daring side.
Stephanie Martin said Karigiannis had planned to go parachuting in New Zealand on his next vacation.
Master-Cpl. Emily Cavanaugh, a former trainee under Karigiannis, described the soldier as an inspiration.
"It was his job and he loved it," she said, fighting back tears as she stood in front of the grey-bricked church.
"He could have done anything he wanted and he chose this.
In Edmonton, more than 300 people, including 200 members of Princess Patricia's, shared memories of Wiebe during a private service at Trinity Lutheran Church.
Family members and his fiance, Anna Thede, linked arms under sunny skies as his casket was carried into the church by eight members of the battalion.
The couple had planned to marry in the simple brick building sometime after Wiebe's return in August.
Capt. Mark Peebles, a military spokesman, read a statement from Thede, who had already begun to affectionately call Wiebe her husband.
"Family and friends gathered today to remember the wonderful man that Joel was and the life he had," read Peebles.
"Though we are all sad, we find strength in being together and the many fond memories we have of Joel."
Wiebe, who would have turned 23 last week, was to be buried with full military honours in Sherwood Park, just east of Edmonton.
Peebles said the family has been coping remarkably well given the circumstances.
"They've approached this with admirable courage and strength," he said.
In eastern Newfoundland, several hundred people came to pay their respects to Bouzane.
Like Karigiannis, Bouzane was remembered as a role model who served as source of admiration for younger troops.
"He went out of his way to welcome these young soldiers, to train them, to make them part of the family," said Maj. Glen Zilkahns inside Sacred Heart Parish in St. Patricks, northwest of Grand Falls-Windsor.
"He knew there was a difference between living a life that mattered and merely existing."
Following the service, Bouzane's sister Kelly kissed her brother's casket and delivered an emotional message to soldiers still serving in Afghanistan.
"We love you, we're thinking of you. Come home safe to us," she said, clutching the Canadian flag that had draped her brother's casket.
"Stephen will be watching over all of you."
A service to honour the three soldiers is expected to be held in Edmonton next month after more soldiers are re-deployed.
Sixty Canadian military personnel and one diplomat have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002.
