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A Canadian soldier wounded in Sunday's deadly roadside bombing in Afghanistan received a special visit from his boss Tuesday.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier met with Cpl. Shaun Fevens, who is recuperating from surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

Canadian Forces medical officer Capt. Richard Hannah was present for the visit, and says Fevens was appreciative of the visit.

Fevens received a broken ankle and a broken leg in the attack, as well as shrapnel in his wrist.

Military officials believe Fevens is alive because he had the presence of mind to orchestrate his own first aid. Though he was bleeding profusely after the blast, he gave order to a nearby gunner, who was lightly injured, on how to save his life.

"The major I was speaking to said at one point, he went up to this corporal and asked him: how are you doing, are you going to make it?' And he answered, 'Yes I will sir, absolutely sir,'" reports CTV's Paul Workman in Kandahar.

Lt.-Col. Rob Walker, commander of the Canadian battle group, said of Fevens: "He's a very lucky man and I'm proud of him.''

"He was seriously injured and he had the wherewithal... to tell the gunner what to do to stop the bleeding, to render first aid, until the platoon medic was able to get there.''

"I was inspired by him.''

Fevens' family is now eager to see him return home.

"We're hoping in the next couple of days that we'll have him on the plane and ship him back to Halifax," his brother Brian Fevens told Â鶹´«Ã½net.

Six of Fevens' colleagues were not so lucky. They were killed when their light armoured vehicle ran over a roadside bomb Sunday. Three others who were not inside the vehicle -- the driver, commander, and gunner -- suffered no injuries or just minor wounds.

The soldiers of Hotel Company were on their way to provide an escort to convoys moving troops and supplies into Helmand province to support Operation Achilles, an offensive targeting the Taliban, when the explosive detonated.

The men had been in the field for a month and were on their last scheduled escort mission before returning to Kandahar for some rest and a refit of their LAV.

Ramp ceremony

A farewell ramp ceremony was held in Kandahar Tuesday for the six victims. In the sombre ceremony, a lone bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" as more than 1,000 troops saluted the six soldiers.

Sixty pallbearers, all members of Hotel Company, slowly carried the flag-draped caskets on their shoulders into an aircraft for the final trip home.

Meanwhile, a commanding officer for the army tells Â鶹´«Ã½ that the Taliban may not have been targeting Canadian troops with the bombing.

"When it hit, it could have been an Afghan National police vehicle. They've been doing operations in the area as well," Maj. Alex Ruff, Hotel Company commander, told CTV's Workman.

"It could have been even just a heavy vehicle that was moving in through that area. That being said, it's a pretty wide open desert, we are the main force moving out there and there are so many limited crossing points across that grid system. So, they got lucky."

There were no explosions from Canadian ammunition when the light armoured vehicle hit the roadside bomb, Ruff added.

There had been speculation there was extra ammunition in the armoured vehicle that detonated after the blast, causing the high death toll.

The commander also told Â鶹´«Ã½ that there were no secondary explosions after the bomb went off and destroyed the LAV-3.

The dead soldiers have been identified as:

• Pte. David Greenslade, 20, of Saint John, N.B.;
• Pte. Kevin Vincent Kennedy, 20, of St. Lawrence, Nfld.;
• Sgt. Donald Lucas, 31, of Burton, N.B.;
• Cpl. Brent Poland, 37, of Sarnia, Ont.;
• Cpl. Christopher Paul Stannix (reservist), 24, of Dartmouth, N.S.;
• Cpl. Aaron E. Williams, 23, of Lincoln, N.B.