Body of Cpl. Yannick Scherrer to return Wednesday

OTTAWA - The body of the first Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan this year will return home Wednesday afternoon.

A military plane carrying the body of Cpl. Yannick Scherrer is due to arrive at CFB Trenton, Ont., at 2 p.m.

The 24-year-old Montreal native was killed by a roadside bomb Sunday while on a foot patrol in the Panjwaii district.

He was a member of the 1st Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment, and on his first tour in the country.

Scherrer was the first Canadian to die in Afghanistan since Dec. 18, when Cpl. Steve Martin was also killed by a roadside bomb.

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  Cpl. Yannick Scherrer, shown in this undated handout photo, was on a foot patrol Sunday near Nakhonay, southwest of Kandahar city, when he was killed by an improvised explosive device. (DND-HO / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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  Comrades of Canadian Cpl. Yannick Scherrer bid farewell to the slain soldier during an overnight ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, Tuesday, March 29, 2011. (Tara Brautigam / THE CANADIAN PRESS)