One by one, they were taken off the plane at CFB Trenton for the last time.
One by one, their families said a tearful and heartbreaking goodbye on the tarmac
And one by one, they made the long journey down the Highway of Heroes to Toronto, as friends and total strangers stood guard on overpasses, waving Canadian flags and saluting in their honour.
The four Canadian soldiers killed in two separate bomb blasts in Afghanistan Friday made their final journey home by plane Monday, in a ritual that has now become all too familiar and painful for those waiting here.
Cpl. Tyler Crooks and Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli (below) were the first to perish when an improvised explosive device detonated in the troubled Zhari district.
Hours later, came another blast and another shock - the deaths of Troopers Corey Hayes and Jack Bouthillier (below) in an explosion in Shah Wali Kot.
The bodies of the 113, 114, 115 and 116th soldiers lost in battle were taken to Toronto's Centre for Forensic Sciences around the dinner hour.
As has become the grim tradition, they were saluted by hundreds of people gathered along each overpass as their transport went by.
"It's sad, but you feel very sad and very grateful at the same time," said Lisa Donnely.
All the dead came back to a nation of loved ones left in limbo, unfinished business forever interrupted.
Cpl. Crooks, from Port Colborne, was getting ready to marry his fiancée, when he died on his 24
th birthday - and the sixth anniversary of their lives together. She clutched a rose in her hand as she walked towards his hearse in Trenton Monday, her grief unbearable.
For those who knew the young man from the Niagara Region, it's a loss that can't be put into words. "He was the type of guy to be the first in line. Just a genuine guy," Pat Weaver recounts. "I talked to him and he was home on leave, and couldn't believe it. He said he'd be home in April ... It hit home."
Master Corporal Vernelli was 28 years old and from Sault Ste. Marie. He leaves a wife and a 6-year-old daughter, who both accompanied his casket from Trenton.
Bouthillier's passing was especially hard for his family and friends to take. He'd been in Afghanistan less than a month. The native of Hearst, Ontario was only 20 years old.
"I asked if he was scared to go," recalled friend
Teresa Jonais. "He wasn't and couldn't wait to go out there and what he's been waiting for since he signed up."
"I'm proud of him, and I know that he died doing what he loved doing, but it's hard to accept it."
Hayes came from Belleville but the 22-year-old called Ripples, New Brunswick home. It will be the eventual final stop on this sad journey.
Ries Boers turned out to show his support and notes you don't have to be a believer in the cause to support the men and women carrying it out. "I think it's terribly sad, even though we may not believe in what they are doing,
they do. We need to support them."
On Monday, hundreds were proving they were prepared to do just that.
List of all Cdn. casualties of war
Cpl. Tyler Crooks with his fiancee in happier times
Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli in action
Trooper Corey Hayes on duty in Afghanistan
Trooper Jack Bouthillier poses with a weapon