12 Years After A Sergeant Saved Her From Hurricane Katrina, She Floored Him With One Question

it was a moment that would change both of their lives forever Master Sergeant Mike Maroney brought terrified toddler Lachey Brown to safety and held her in his arms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina Brown then just three years old had been caught up in the Hurricanes destructive path at her home in New Orleans and Brown and her family could have faced death had it not been for the actions of the brave air rescuer after all Hurricane Katrina destroyed lives across New Orleans when it struck the city in 2005 and in the hours before the tropical storm city officials seemed to know how hard it would hit when they issued a mandatory evacuation order most of the city's residents were then forced to flee to escape the devastation however some residents who could not escape around 1/5 of the city does not own a car or forced to shelter in a local sports stadium others meanwhile simply prayed for the best as they waited for the storm to die out while staying in their own homes tragically by the time the hurricane was finally over almost two thousand had perished in addition thousands more had become refugees in Katrina's wake and around 90,000 square miles of the country suffered some consequence of the storm New Orleans bore the brunt of Katrina however and astonishing 80 percent of the city was submerged under water after the hurricane hit in the meantime thousands of people remain stranded in the area government officials spent days scrambling to formulate a plan to help the city's residents many of whom were underprivileged and desperately in need of help eventually around 34,000 people were saved by the Coast Guard the US Air Force was also drafted in to save people from the sky and para rescue specialist Mike Maroney was one of the crews sent out to search for and rescue stranded civilians during his mission moreover he spotted brown and her family pleading for help from the deadly torrents below but once Brown was safe from the floods she did something that Moroni probably never anticipated minutes after he rescued the toddler she put her arms around him and gave him a hug so beautiful that it would change his life forever as it happened the touching moment was captured by a press photographer and the image spread around the world it was even used a part of several social campaigns plus the photographer who took the picture gave Maroni a copy of the photo as a keepsake what's more the moment had such a profound effect on Maroni who's a war veteran that he even took the photograph with him on tours of Afghanistan and Iraq it truly was a moment that changed his life and it made him want to seek out the girl he had rescued the sergeant's even claimed to have found comfort in the picture during his inner battle with PTSD Moroni began suffering from the condition following his time serving in war zones around the world on behalf of the US military and as time went on Moroni found himself wanting to meet the girl whose hug it had such an impact on his life tonight Andy launched a social media campaign in a bid to find the youngster sadly however his first attempt failed after his efforts stacked up just 42 likes after that Moroni had all but given up on his dream of encountering Brown ever again in 2015 though he decided to once again attempt to track down the little girl creating the hashtag find Katrina girl as part of the search this time around the Air Force man's luck turned and the pair were finally reunited a decade after the storm first head they met after producers from u.s. reality show the real managed to find Brown in September 2015 and when the two finally met Maroney opened her heart to brown II told her you rescued me more than I rescued you Brown meanwhile had little recollection of the rescue however Moroni claimed that she was extremely brave during the ordeal he added that she'd even shown him her house and school down below as she was being whisked away to safety net meeting would signal the start of a beautiful friendship between the two in fact Maroney now regular calls in on Brown and her family the chew converse on the telephone each week he's even given her swimming lessons and so it isn't only Maroni who's benefited from their meeting it's clear that Maroni has had a positive impact on her life too in fact the youngster has since gone on to become part of the junior Reserve Officer Training Corps JROTC program as a result of maroney's inspiration this scheme is designed to give high school students a taste of life in the US military it also acts as a pre training program for youngsters hoping to join us forces later in life speaking about her move to join the program Brown told people it was very interesting and a challenge and because I'd never done it before I knew if I joined I would have helped from Mike along the way if I needed it or was confused about anything meeting Maroney has had such an impact on Brown's life in fact that when the time came for her to invite somebody to her JROTC ball she had only one person in mind and when Brown asked Maroney to the dance his answer was clear I'm going because I would do anything to repay the hug to Lachey and her family they mean as much to me as my own he told people Brown now plans to follow in maroney's footsteps and take up a role in the military however she's yet to decide if she'll take a post in the Air Force or a position elsewhere in the US forces regardless of what she decides to do however there is one person who says that he'll support her no matter what I'm proud of her no matter what she does and I'll support her in everything she does Maroney told people I think she understands service and I believe that she'll do great things no matter what she chooses as for Maroney he plans to take retirement from his career in the Air Force he also now uses his time and talents to encourage youngsters across America to follow in his footsteps and dig jobs on the battlefield despite having hung up his helmet however Maroney will carry on in his role as a friend and mentor to Brown he told people life in service to the planet is important whether serving in the military or as a teacher nurse or volunteer service makes life that much more appreciated