Love in soldier's final words

Journal Staff WriterThe conversation fallen Auburn soldier Jesse Mizener had literally moments before his death in Iraq is still bringing comfort to his young widow, his words offering a final goodbye to his family.?He told me that he loved me so much and couldn?t wait to come home to me,? said Auburn resident Nicole Mizener. ?Then he said, ?Nicole, you sit those babies down and you tell them that their daddy loves them.? He said, ?You promise me you?ll do that?? I said, ?Of course, I do all the time. They know.??The call came at 6:14 a.m. Wednesday, less than two minutes before the mortar attack that took Mizener?s life, Nicole Mizener estimated. The couple spoke regularly on the phone during the soldier?s deployment about their children ? Gia, 2, Eve, 1 and Jesse Alexander Jr., less than two months old.?It was the best conversation I?ve ever had,? Mizener said. ?It was the kind of conversation where you just had an opportunity to say everything that you?ve ever wanted to say and take back anything you had said that you regretted.?According to Department of Defense reports, Mizener, 23, was killed in a mortar attack on a military base near Baghdad on Wednesday. The soldier with the Army?s 542nd Maintenance Company had last returned home in November for the birth of his son and was scheduled to return from active duty in early April. The mortar attack that killed Mizener also wounded 33 other troops and a civilian west of Baghdad.Nicole Mizener was 19 and pregnant with Gia when the couple met. Nearly inseparable from their first meeting, Jesse Mizener adopted his wife?s child in a characteristically loving gesture, Mizener said. The Mizeners were married for two years.?Everybody used to say he was such a man to take on such a huge responsibility at such a young age,? she said. ?That?s exactly what he was. He was a man. A great one.?Mizener described her husband as a charmer with a positive outlook who never complained and loved to spend time with his family. He also drove friends to distraction by constantly playing his favorite songs, ?Jack and Diane? by John Mellencamp and ?Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)? by country singer Toby Keith. However, when his children look back on their all-too-brief time with their father, they should remember something else, Nicole Mizener said.?He just lived to love them,? she said. "He was so grateful that he had them. He was so proud that he had them. He always talked about one special thing about all of them. That Gia was his first. That Alex was his only boy. That Eve was named after his uncle who passed away.?Despite the overwhelming grief she feels for her husband, Mizener said she does not regret the life he chose.?Yes, I?m upset that he?s gone. Yes, I?m upset the way that he died was violent, but my husband was very proud to be a soldier and he was honored to be able to defend his country,? she said. ?I support him, I still support my troops, I support my country and I support my president. That will never change.?Mizener and her husband?s family will host a press conference at 4 p.m. today in Stockton to handle media inquiries and address the public. While the outpouring of support from the Auburn and Stockton communities the couple called home, just one thing has gotten her through her initial grief, she said. ?Jesse had told me once, ?Nicole, I?m not scared of dying, I know where I?m going. The only question is, will you be joining me??? Mizener said. ?Honestly, that?s the only thing that has gotten me through this. I can still hear those words going through my head.? The Associated Press contributed to this story.