With red poppies flashing a rare splash of colour against their drab desert fatigues, Canadian soldiers at Kandahar air base marked Remembrance Day on Saturday in a year that has seen the most Canadian combat deaths and injuries since the Korean War.

About 500 soldiers packed the small parade square, standing at attention before a gray cenotaph inscribed with the names and pictures of the 43 Canadians killed in the Afghan mission.

Cpl. Julie Kidson says a ramp ceremony 'hits you hard every time.'
(CBC)

"I just hope that next year we don't have to add so many names to the pedestal as we did this year,' Capt. Pavel Dudek told CBC News on Saturday.

'It hits you hard every time'

Chaplain Maj. Robert Lauder has personally officiated at 21 solemn ramp ceremonies, the first stage of the long journey back to Canada for the bodies of the fallen.

"To all those known to us, and those known to God alone, who gave up their lives in battle and in the name of peace, we give thanks this day, and may God give them eternal rest and peace in his nearer presence," Lauder said during the service. 

The ramp ceremonies may have become more familiar for the soldiers and Canadians back home: 34 soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan this year alone.

But they are no less painful.

"There were just so many ramp ceremonies that we attended," Cpl. Julie Kidson said. "It's hard to pick just one in particular, but I can think of pretty much every time we had a ramp ceremony and what happened and the events surrounding it. It hits you hard every time."

Many of those deaths took place in the volatile Panjwai district, where members of the Canadian battle group marked Remembrance Day with a smaller ceremony.

For many Canadians, this year's events mark the first time in which the veterans on parade are not senior citizens, but young men and women in their prime.

After the Kandahar ceremony, a few soldiers drifted back to the cenotaph for a moment of quiet remembrance before heading back to battle.