Capt. Nichola Goddard, Canada's first female combat soldier to be killed on the front lines, will be buried at Canada's national military cemetery.

Goddard, 26, died May 17 while fighting Taliban insurgents outside Kandahar, where roughly 2,300 Canadian soldiers are deployed.

Capt. Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard was killed while fighting Taliban forces outside Kandahar.
(Department of National Defence)

She will be buried at the National Military Cemetery, a national historic site established in 2001 at the urging of some who believed Canada needed an equivalent of the U.S. military burial grounds in Arlington, Va.

Some believe the decision to bury Goddard in the two-hectare military cemetery will draw attention to the little-known site.

Few soldiers killed in combat have been buried at the cemetery, military historian Jack Granatstein told Canadian Press. He says he'd like to see that changed.

"I think this is where people who are killed in action, killed overseas, should be buried," Granatstein said.

Goddard's funeral will take place Friday in the same Calgary church where she married Jason Beam less than four years ago.

The Calgary native lived in Shilo, Man. She was the 16th Canadian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan and will be the only one not buried in their hometown.