The Montana National Guard is asking the citizens of Helena to welcome the funeral motorcade of Pvt. Daren Smith when it arrives on Saturday.

Smith's casket will be transported to Helena for a 12:30 p.m. burial at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Harrison.

The military is asking Helenans to wave flags and greet the motorcade as it passes in a show of honor and respect.

"We're tying to get Helena to come out and show support for Daren as he comes home," said Maj. Garth Scott, public relations officer for the Montana Guard. "He'll be arriving at noon at the South Helena Interchange, and picked up for an escort by the Highway Patrol."

The motorcade will travel down Prospect to Montana Avenue, through Malfunction Junction, and down U.S. Highway 12 to the Corner Bar before traveling on to Fort Harrison.

"The Patriot Guard will be part of the motorcade," Scott said. "We're still getting all of the logistics figured out."

Scott said the family will be included in the motorcade, and a mounted cavalry will ride in the funeral. Smith was part of 10th Mountain Division's cavalry unit.

Smith, 19, who died of noncombat related injuries last week in Iraq, became the sixth soldier or Marine from Helena to die in the Iraq war since it began more than four years ago.

The military has yet to announce a cause of death, saying only that it remains under investigation.

Joe Foster, administrator of the Montana Veterans Affairs Division, said Pvt. First Class Kyle Bohrnsen of Philipsburg is also interred at the VA Cemetery. Bohrnsen was killed in Iraq on April 10, 2007.

Chris Dana, an Iraq war veteran who died after his tour, also is interred at the VA Cemetery. Other Montana war fatalities have been interred at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as community cemeteries across the state.