July 29, 2010

Funeral services will be held today in Bradford for a Canadian soldier killed last week in a makeshift bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Sapper Brian Collier, who was born in Toronto and raised in Bradford, was serving with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group.

The 24-year-old had left his vehicle in a village about 15 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city, when he was killed by an IED blast on July 20.

The service is at the Holy Martyrs of Japan Church at 11 a.m.

Collier had been wounded in an earlier encounter with an improvised explosive device during his tour of duty which began in May.

Collier posted on Facebook and one of his last posts was about longing for a beer, to which a friend replied one would be waiting for him back home.

Collier was the 151st member of the Canadian military to die during the Afghan mission since it began in 2002.