Slain soldier honoured at public ceremony

About 1,300 people packed a church Monday afternoon in Lacombe, Alta., for a public memorial in honour of Master Cpl. Byron Greff.

Greff was killed on Oct. 29 in a suicide car bombing near Kabul, Afghanistan.

The 28-year-old, whoserved with the Edmonton-based 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was married and had two young children.

A private family ceremony was heldMonday morning in Lacombe, Greff's hometown.

After the public memorial, Greff's wife Lindsay walked outside the church, holding her infant daughter Brielle, who was born just 10 days before Greff's deployment.

Greff was one of 17 people, including four other NATO troops, killed when a suicide car bomb exploded Oct. 28.

Outside Monday's public service in Lacombe, a town of about 11,000 south of Edmonton, a number of people stood, waving Canada flags.

"We just wanted to show our respects," said Ronda Ziakris, standing with her husband and eight-year-old daughter, Kalista.

Kalista said that Greff's death, along with the sacrifice of the other 157 Canadian soldiers who have died in the Afghanistan conflict, to be a brave act.

Sam Asante brought his two young children as a way to teach them about the meaning of Remembrance Day.

"It's one of those things that happens somewhere else, not in your neighbourhood," Asante told CBC News.

"But I think that the community has come together as a result of that, unfortunately."