Please give our troops more respect...

THE widow of a bomb disposal expert killed in Afghanistan has made an impassioned plea for the public to give more backing to serving soldiers.

Christina Schmid, whose husband Olaf Schmid died in a bomb explosion earlier this month, wants the nation to show solidarity and support for British troops in Afghanistan the same way that they do for the fallen of the two World Wars.

In a national newspaper interview, she said: "There is so much moral scrutiny about the conflict and the troops are caught in the middle.

"I believe that they are there to protect our homeland – and they should feel loved and appreciated.

"In my own little way, I will value those people in any way I can.

"The families of serving soldiers need to feel our respect and pride."

She added: "Harry Patch and the other lost gentlemen of the Great War have gone and it is time for Olaf and the others to become the new faces of war.

"It's time for us to take that fresh warmth for them forward, I have felt every one of those deaths because I have always had a sense of heritage.

"I want to respect them and talk to my son about them."

S/Sgt Schmid, 30, who was known as Oz, made safe 64 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during his five months in Afghanistan as an ammunition technician.

He died just a week before he was due to return home to his family for a fortnight's break from duty.

His funeral will be held at Truro Cathedral on Tuesday.

Mrs Schmid has gained much national attention since she first spoke out following the death of her husband.

In the same interview, she also explained how she has appeared so composed in the media spotlight over the last month. She said: "Oz said that if anything happened to him I was to go for it.

"He wanted me to find the energy to speak candidly about how important it is to raise the game, to talk about IEDs and about the triple amputees who are coming back.

"The fatalities are horrendous and they ripple through families. I speak because I must harness the moment."

At her husband's request, Mrs Schmid attended the repatriations of members of his team and said a few words for each of the men in her head, as the hearses passed by.

Mrs Schmid revealed to the Daily Telegraph that she told her husband: "Don't ever make me stand on the other side of the street, honey", the side where grieving relatives traditionally wait.

To which he replied: "I know you'll stand there proud and beaming. We'll always be a unit. Don't forget that if I'm down."