On the eve of Remembrance Day, Cpl. Richard Newman and Lt. Jason Feyko will meet, for the very first time, the mother of a fallen friend and comrade.

Newman told CTV.ca he hoped his upcoming meeting with Alice Murphy would help them on the path to closure, as he prepared to share with her his fond memories of Cpl. Jamie Brendan Murphy -- who died at age 26 in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul almost two years ago.

"I'm looking forward to finally meeting her," Newman told CTV.ca in a phone interview.

There was a hint of nerves in his voice as he spoke about the prospect of travelling to Ottawa to see Alice Murphy, who was chosen as this year's National Silver Cross Mother. "This really means a lot," he said. "It will be pretty emotional to meet her. A lot's probably going to well up."

The soldiers were members of the Royal Canadian Regiment based in Petawawa, Ont. In Kabul, they were serving as part of Operation ATHENA, Canada's military commitment to the NATO-led mission in the country.

They were on patrol near Camp Julien, the Canadian base near Kabul, on Jan. 27, 2004. Around them was a row of shops where hundreds of Afghans were gathered, when out of the crowd came a bearded man in a green camouflage jacket. He came up to their light Iltis jeep, and detonated a mortar shell he had strapped to his chest.

Murphy died instantly in the terrible blast that followed. Newman and Feyko were thrown forward into the jeep's dashboard, while Cpl. Jeremy MacDonald was knocked unconscious as he hit the vehicle's roll bar. All were struck by flying shrapnel.

Newman told CTV.ca it took him several months to recover from his injuries before he was able to return to duty. There are days the New Brunswick native still feels soreness in his arm where shrapnel had been lodged.

But he and others have called it a miracle that nobody else died in that open vehicle.

Murphy, a Newfoundlander from the tiny community of Conception Harbour, had served in the military since he was 19. After serving a six-month tour, he had just under two weeks left in his tour of duty in Afghanistan before coming home. He was planning to move into a house with his girlfriend when he returned to Newfoundland.

His parents learned of his death when they answered a 5 a.m. knock at their door.

"He was a loving son, and I loved him with all my heart," said Alice. "I'm so proud of him, and he was a very proud soldier."

Newman said he remembers Murphy as a gregarious spirit, an athlete and someone he loved to play cards with. "Yeah, we played a whole lot of cards together," said Newman, laughing. "He was just a great guy to have around and to be part of a team with."

Alice says it's time now for Canadians to remember what her son sacrificed, and to honour all the other soldiers fighting for the security of Canadians and that of others in a country half a world away. "We need to make sure that James, and none of them, died in vain," she said.

Murphy said it was an "honour" to be chosen as this year's National Silver Cross Mother by the Royal Canadian Legion. 

On Nov. 11 she will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial during the annual Remembrance Day Ceremony. The act will be performed on behalf of all Canadian mothers who have lost sons or daughters in the military or the Merchant Navy services.

The event is one of many for Murphy during her whirlwind two-day tour of Ottawa. But first comes the meeting with Feyko and Newman.

"It's gonna be hard, meeting them, to know they were with James," she said. "But I'd very much like to meet them."

When asked what she wants most for Canadians to think about on Nov. 11, Murphy replied: "To think about my son. To thank the soldiers. And to not forget about them. Ever."