Hundreds of people lined the streets and filled a New Brunswick chapel and an Ontario armoury to overflowing Saturday for the funerals of two soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Cpl. Kenneth Chad O'Quinn, 24, of Oromocto, N.B., and Warrant Officer Dennis Brown, 38, of St. Catharines, Ont., died when a roadside bomb exploded March 3 northwest of Kandahar City.

The blast also killed Cpl. Dany Fortin, 29, based in Bagotville, Que., and wounded two other soldiers.

Cpl. Kenneth Chad O'Quinn of Oromocto, N.B., (DND)About 600 mourners packed St. Luke's Chapel at CFB Gagetown for O'Quinn's funeral, while 200 watched a video feed of the service in a second church on the base.

Maj. Dave Yarker described O'Quinn as charismatic.

"It is his determination in life that has come to define him," he said. "He died fighting for his country, doing what he believed in and doing it bloody well."

Rev. Bruce McKenna said O'Quinn lifted people up. "His warmth and his smile stayed with you," he said.

Speaking to the soldier's family, McKenna said O'Quinn died "raising up vulnerable people in Afghanistan."

Brown's son reads tearful tribute

In St. Catharines, about 850 people filled an armoury to pay their respects to Brown in a service that was webcast so soldiers in Afghanistan and an overflow crowd at a nearby church could watch and listen.

Warrant Officer Dennis Brown's casket is carried in St. Catharines, Ont., where an overflow crowd packed an armoury and a church for his funeral on Saturday. (Colin Perkel/Canadian Press)His son Mackenzie, 12, read a message praising his father as a "great, brave man" who went far away to fight for freedom.

"I would run a thousand miles just to see his face or hear his voice one more time," Mackenzie said as tears streamed down his face.

"I keep thinking that I'm in a dream, this isn't real, and I think `Why did he have to die?' It isn't fair."

Lt.-Col. Matt Richardson, head of Brown's regiment, praised the fallen soldier as an "instant leader."

"He would not want us to remember him as a victim of war," Richardson said. "He would want us to remember him as a soldier."

Brown's casket was taken to a nearby cemetery, following a journey past his home, for a burial service that included a bugler and an artillery salute.

With files from the Canadian Press