Canadian Hero who also serves: Mishelle Brown:

Mishelle Brown, widow of slain Warrant Officer Dennis Raymond Brown, holds a news conference in St. Catharines, Ont., on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. (Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS)


My regular readers all know how much respect I have for the families of our troops. They also serve. I have just listened to a sound bite of a press conference Mishelle Brown did. She is the now widow of WO Dennis Brown who was killed by an IED in Afghanistan. (See my previous post.)

Because I believe it is REALLY important that our precious military families are heard, I am copying a text version of what she said:

Soldier's wife aware of danger

ST. CATHARINES — The wife of one of the three latest Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan said today she and her husband spoke often about the possibility he might die in the line of duty.
Mishelle Brown, the wife of Warrant Officer Dennis Brown, called her husband a hero and her “powerhouse.”
Brown said her husband was a realist, and many times they discussed with their four children what they would do in the event of his death.
“I was expecting this,” she said. “I was prepared for it. Dennis and I talked about it often.”
Brown said she spoke with her husband for more than an hour the day he died from an roadside bomb blast in the Arghandab district.
“I love my husband. Not loved, LOVE! I never took Dennis for granted — not even for a second,” she said.
Brown was a reservist with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment in southern Ontario who served as a police special constable in civilian life.
“He chose to go on this tour, and he fought really hard to get time off from his job with Niagara Regional Police to do it, and I supported him every step of the way — and I still do,” his wife said.
“When I asked him why he wanted to go on this tour, Dennis said, 'If we don’t get them in their back yard, they’re sure to get us in ours.’ ”...(here)

And something she said in the interview that I listened to, really hit home:

"We talked about everything . . . some people say, 'I wish I had one more thing to say to them,' but I said everything, I don't have to say one more thing, I said it all when he was alive," she told reporters in St. Catharines, Ont. "Everyday I spoke to him I reminded him how important he was to me and how lucky I was to have him."

She said they spoke only about the possibility he would die in Afghanistan.

"Dennis was a realist . . . he made me prepare for his death," she said, adding that they discussed with their four children what they would do if he died in the line of duty. "And boy, did we prepare."...

Brown's wife said she was told he was a hero, but that he was always "her hero."

Mishelle Brown said she wanted "the whole world to know what an amazing man he was."

"That's what's keeping me strong, I met my dream come true. Nobody can take that away from me. No roadside bomb can take that away from me. "(source: CTV.ca)

Please keep Mrs Brown and all our military families in your thoughts and prayers. They also serve.