 The widow Heather Pham watches with tears on her cheeks as her late husband's casket is loaded into the hearse in Wingham, Ont., Friday, March 12, 2010. (MORRIS LAMONT/QMI Agency)
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WINGHAM, ONT. - The widow of slain Huron Ontario Provincial Police Const. Vu Pham fought tears as she forgave her husband's killer and urged others to do the same.
"As hard as it is, I believe forgiveness is the only way to release ourselves from this pain and anger," Heather Pham told more than 8,000 people, including more than 5,000 police officers from across the country, gathered for her husband's funeral.
"To the best of my human ability, and with God's help, I will offer it, and my hope and prayer is that all of you can do the same. I know it is what Vu would have wanted." In a two-hour, emotion-packed service, tears flowed inside and out as tributes to the 15-year OPP veteran were given by his three young sons, brother and father.
Pham's sons - Josh 7, Jordan, 10, and Tyler, 12 - spoke directly to their father's coffin as they said goodbye, each recalling time they spent fishing, hunting and playing sports with their dad.
"You're the best dad in the world," Josh said in his tiny voice. "I wish you were here with us today." Their mother's words tugged at the hearts of everyone as she said goodbye "We were each other's world and I always knew you loved me fully and completely," she said, before offering thanks to Huron Const. Dell Mercey, her husband's partner and the officer who was in the shootout Monday with Fred Preston, 70, who died Thursday of gunshot wounds from the confrontation on the rural North Line, north of Seaforth, Ont., north of London.
"You have shouldered this tragedy, but I want you to know I am so proud and thankful you were there with him," said Heather Pham. "(Vu) loved you. You are my hero." Pham was shot before he even got out of his police cruiser after pulling over Preston's pickup truck over about a kilometre from the home of Preston's sister-in-law, which he had broken into.
No one was at the home and Preston called a daughter and said something that caused her to call police. It's unknown whether Preston had a confrontation with police at the home, or was leaving when Pham arrived, Const. Mercey just seconds behind.
Pham died a few hours later at London's Victoria Hospital where Preston died Thursday after his three daughters asked doctors to remove him from life support.
The funeral procession - including a hearse, two limousines carrying Pham's family and four OPP vehicles - arrived and departed under the escort of the OPP's Golden Helmets precision motorcycle team, members of which later allowed Pham's children to sit on the bikes for photos.
But for so many people in a town of less than 3,000, hardly a word was spoken by anyone, inside or outside the complex where the overflow crowd of at least 2,000 police officers, media and the public listened on loudspeakers during the service and the procession to the cemetery.
Mercey delivered the eulogy and told the crowd about Pham's difficult childhood in war-torn Vietnam - first losing his father, a South Vietnamese officer killed in the war, then being separated from his mother, who sent the boy out of the country on a boat with his uncle, who took him to a refugee camp in Malaysia, before Pham was brought to Canada and adopted by Dan and Terry Thompson.
"With that beginning, you would have thought he wouldn't amount to much," said Mercey.
"He turned out to become a man who has no equal when it comes to the love of a man for his wife, his children, his church and community," said Mercey.
"He knew his purpose in life and he lived his life with a purpose. And I believe his final purpose was helping me. I was sure I was going to die that day, but I didn't die and I believe Vu was there with me. Vu Pham saved my life." Despite the tragic circumstances that led to the funeral, laughter erupted several times as former colleagues and family recalled their years with Pham, several recounting Pham's diminutive, five-foot, five-inch stature.
One-time partner Const. Terri Patterson told a story about Pham's arrest of a six-foot three drunk.
"He asked me, -Who's the Ninja cop?' and I asked him why? And he said, -He's a tough little guy.' Vu didn't say much about it, but I started calling him Ninja Vu. It was a couple of years before Vu told the whole story about how he'd flipped the guy over his shoulder." Among the dignitaries was Premier Dalton McGuinty, who spoke directly to Pham's children about their father.
"He's given you his love and his good character," he said. "He lived his life courageously helping others and devoted to his family. Our world needs more people just like your dad." OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino praised the heroic efforts of Pham and Mercey, saying it's not known what other tragedy could have happened if not for their actions.
"We cannot reverse this tragedy. However, our support can help ease this loss of a truly remarkable police officer," said Fantino, who also spoke to the children.
"I hope as you grow up you'll always remember your father as the exceptional and respected police officer and humanitarian ... and take his lessons he gave you and live up to his teachings." After the service, which included a live band that performed a hymn and Amazing Grace, thousands of police officers marched into the town and lined the street to deliver a final salute to Pham as his hearse passed.
His adoptive father, Rev. Dan Thompson, a Pentecostal minister, and his brother, Michael, praised Pham for his integrity; his devotion to his family and church; and his determination to serve the community.
"He may have died a hero to you, but he lived a hero to me," said Michael Thompson, who lives in Sundridge, Ont., near North Bay, the same town as Preston.
Dan Thompson praised Pham's birth mother for her courage to send him out of the country and away from danger. Pham went to live with the Thompsons in 1981.
"I am proud to call him my son and I was very proud of the man he had become," said Thompson.
