Major Michelle Linda Knight Mendes - An Exchange in Brazil Inspired her Interest in International Affairs
Born: July 21, 1978 - Wicklow, Ontario
Enlistment: June 21, 1997 – Ottawa, Ontario
Deceased: April 23, 2009 - Kandahar, Afghanistan, Age 30
Force: Army
Battle Group: ISAF (International Security Assistance Force)
Regiment: Intelligence Branch (Canadian Forces)
Assigned to Task Force Afghanistan headquarters, deployed with the Canadian contingent of NATO forces.
Citation(s): Canadian Forces Decoration, Sacrifice Medal (Posthumous)
Major Michelle Knight Mendes chose her military career with purpose after growing up on her family's apple farm near Wicklow, Ontario. Michelle choose the Military as a career after the Cobourg Rotary Club chose her to be an exchange student to Brazil. Michelle was later chosen to speak about her experiences in front of 2,000 people at a Rotary convention in California. Reflecting on her experience in Brazil, she wanted to see the whole world and the military was a good way to do it. Michelle met so many people from around the globe. She graduated in 2001 with a history degree from the Royal Military College in Kingston and later attained a master's degree in international affairs from Carleton University.
A lay chaplain at the base described Mendes, "Mic" to her friends, as a person who tried to make life more enjoyable for those around her by baking cookies, making cards or just being there when they needed a friendly ear. She always strove to do her best and was highly respected for her marvelous intellect, professional knowledge and work ethic.
Michelle was trilingual, fluent in English, Portuguese and French. She spent the majority of her time reading and analyzing things, always keeping up on current events. When she was little, she'd have a book in every room in the house. And she is the only one ever who could do laps in the pool while she was reading.
They say we die twice, first when the last breath leaves our body and second when the last friend stops saying your name … Michelle’s name, along with her legacy, live on in all of our daily lives.