Family members approach the hearse carrying the casket of Sgt. James MacNeil at CFB Trenton yesterday. (Pete Fisher, QMI Agency)

CFB TRENTON - Tears flowed at CFB Trenton Friday as the loved ones of Sgt. James Patrick MacNeil said goodbye to their "family hero."

Dozens of family members and friends of the Cape Breton native sobbed as pallbearers carried the flagged casket of MacNeil, 28 from the C-17 Globemaster to a waiting hearse.

Holding Canadian and Cape Breton flags, the mourners, garbed in red and black clothing, walked up to the hearse to place roses on the casket at the military base in eastern Ontario.

MacNeil, who was on his fourth tour in Afghanistan, was killed in a bomb blast near Kandahar City last Monday.

A combat engineer with 2 Combat Engineer Regiment out of CFB Petawawa and native of Glace Bay, N.S., MacNeil is the 148th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002.

The soldier, who had recently become engaged, was on a foot patrol in the Panjwaii district when the improvised explosive device (IED) went off.

He is the second soldier to be killed in the Panjwaii district this month. On June 6, Sgt. Martin Goudreault, 35, was killed while on foot patrol in the same district of Kandahar province.

Back home in Glace Bay, provincial government buildings flew flags at half-mast.