Warrant Officer Dennis Brown returns home Warrant Officer Dennis Brown returns home
In part provided by: Peter Downs, Don Fraser, Grant LaFleche and Matthew Van Dongen
Welcome home Dad,
We miss you,
We love you.
The simple, heart-wrenching messages were scrolled on handmade posters held up in a teeming rain by the four children of fallen St. Catharines Warrant Officer Dennis Brown as he made his final return home Tuesday.
A week to the day after Brown was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, thousands of people stood on highway overpasses and lined city streets Tuesday to welcome a motorcade carrying his remains from Toronto to St. Catharines.
The huge crowd honouring Brown’s sacrifice included reservists with his Lincoln and Welland Regiment, firefighters from across the region, army cadets and complete strangers who wanted to show their support.
Brown, 38, was killed last Tuesday along with two other Canadian soldiers when their armoured vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb northwest of Kandahar.
A motorcade led by Niagara Regional Police cruisers escorted Brown’s body from the Ontario coroner’s office in downtown Toronto to the Butler Funeral Home on Duke Street by about 1 p.m.
The procession took Brown past the Lake Street Armoury and the Church Street courthouse where Brown worked as a special constable with the NRP.
Lincoln and Welland reservists formed an honour guard out front of the funeral home as Brown arrived.
Brown’s return began as the motorcade pulled out of Toronto about 11 a.m.
Communities along the route from the GTA to Niagara paid their respects to the passing procession, extending the Highway of Heroes all soldiers killed in Afghanistan follow from CFB Trenton to Toronto.
The motorcade crossed into Niagara about noon and made it into Brown’s hometown roughly half an hour later.
12:35 p.m., Seventh Street
About 400 people jammed the Seventh Street bridge over the QEW. At its height, the flag-waving crowd was three and four rows thick.
Members of Brown’s regiment, Niagara firefighters, the NRP and other emergency workers were in full force.
Out of respect, two fire trucks extended their ladders into an inverted “V.” A Lincs and Winks regimental flag and a Canadian flag hung in the middle.
As the procession drove through, members of the regiment saluted. A murmuring crowd fell silent.
Many bowed their heads and some were suddenly in tears.
“What a way for him to come home,” said St. Catharines firefighter Brandon Green.
12:37 p.m., Martindale Road bridge
The row of tightly packed firefighters in their dark blue uniforms on the Martindale Road bridge snapped to attention in unison. Each of them held their right hands to the brim of their caps to salute Brown as the motorcade drove by.
St. Catharines, Thorold and Niagara Falls firefighters joined hundreds of ordinary citizens at the bridge to watch the procession carrying Brown’s body.
Among the throng that packed the bridge were veterans, Ridley College cadets, police officers and the relatives of soldiers.
12:45 p.m., Welland Avenue
“Here they come.”
The anonymous voice brought an instant hush to the large throng waiting for the motorcade on Welland Avenue out front of the armoury.
Those with military ties — the vets, the reservists, the legion members and the cadets — saluted as the hearse carrying Brown’s body stopped for about half a minute, while the remainder of the crowd looked on silently.
12:50 p.m., Duke Street
Rain fell, followed by tears.
Mishelle Brown leaned out of the window clutching a small Canadian flag as her limousine rolled to a stop in front of the courthouse in downtown St. Catharines.
Water dripped off Brown’s face as she craned her neck to see the silent masses lining both sides of Church Street for a full block.
She looked back to see a salute from her husband’s co-workers, 40-plus Niagara Regional Police officers and special constables standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the courthouse.
Then she burst into tears.
Easily a dozen of the nearest bystanders did the same as Brown bowed her head and sobbed into her arms.
“Thank you,” she called out hoarsely to the crowd as the limo slowly moved away. “Thank you.”
The crowd began gathering at noon — about the time the courthouse essentially shut down.
12:55 p.m.
Dennis and Mishelle Brown’s children — Mackenzie, Owen, Benjamin and Jenna — stood on Duke Street across from the funeral home, sheltered from the rain by a reservist holding two umbrellas.
The three boys held individual posters that delivered a joint message. Welcome. Home. Dad.
Their step sister held up another sign — We love you. We miss you.
Mishelle watched as eight of her husband’s closest friends carried his casket on their shoulders to an entrance of the funeral home.
As they took him inside, she closed her eyes and dropped her face to the framed photo of her husband clutched to her chest.
Dennis Brown is home.
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