Former comrades of a veteran Canadian soldier who died in Bermuda this week following a road crash have been paying tribute to him.

Harry Walter Hughes, 71, died in the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital on Monday after apparently losing control of his motorbike and veering into an oncoming car in Malabar Road, Sandys Parish, on Friday.

Mr. Hughes, from Welland, Ontario, founded a series of ongoing exchanges between the Bermuda Regiment and the Canadian Royal Air Cadets.

Known as "Uncle Harry'' to younger soldiers, he was described yesterday as a long-standing friend of the Regiment and a "true comrade''.

A regular visitor to the Island over the past 20 years, Mr. Hughes arrived on November 8 and was staying at Warwick Camp where he met old friends.

He was due to fly home on Monday.

Following the crash, Mr. Hughes was taken to the hospital with a perforated bowel.

But he succumbed to post-operative problems and died on Monday morning.

He became the second person to die on Bermuda's roads within 24 hours, taking the number of traffic fatalities this year to nine.

On Sunday morning, Brian Campbell, 32, of Traveller's Lane, Pembroke, was also killed when his motorbike struck a fire hydrant near Clearwater Beach, St.

David's.

A local undertaker is arranging to fly Mr. Hughes' body to Ontario tomorrow, and a number of past and present members of the Bermuda Regiment are planning to go to Canada for the funeral.

He began his army career in the Lincoln and Welland Regiment in St.

Catherine's, Ontario, becoming one of its longest-serving regimental sergeant majors.

On retirement from the army, he joined the Royal Air Cadets and established regular training exchange programmes with the Bermuda Regiment.

Retired Bermuda Regiment Major Bernie Gibbons, said yesterday: "He was one of the longest serving RSM's during the seventies and eighties.

"Any Bermudian going to do exercises with the Lincoln and Wellands never came back without having visited Harry, whether it was one, ten or 20. He would arrange marvellous barbeques on his farm.

"Most people that went through Canada used to spend at least one night there.

"He was a great friend of the Bermuda Regiment. He used to visit every year with his wife, Vona, who died three years ago.

"Any one of those young troops who had problems would go and see Uncle Harry.

"He was one of the nicest people you could wish to meet, but he was also one of the most ferocious RSMs you could wish to meet.

"But he had a heart and a lot of humour, without showing it to the young soldiers, and he was always there to help out.

"Everyone has been calling in saying when is the funeral going to be and is it all right if we go? "He was one of the true soldiers that you meet that you can call a true comrade.'' Harry Hughes