EVERY time news is released from Iraq of another allied casualty, Pewsey soldier's mum Maria Brennan says her heart is in her mouth.

Retired nurse Mrs Brennan knows that her only son Desmond Wintle, 37, is somewhere in Iraq with the advancing British and American Troops.

Normally he serves with the Tank Transporter Squadron but currently is engaged on reconnaissance with the Queen's Hussars.

Mrs Brennan, 67, said: "I guess that means he is with one of the advance parties and is up at the front somewhere."

Cpl Wintle is a veteran of both the Falklands War and the 1991 Gulf War, Desert Storm.

The rugged six footer joined the Army as a boy soldier and, said his mother, has never wanted to be anything other than a soldier.

But like every parent whose offspring is in a situation where they might be facing danger, Mrs Brennan says she cannot help but worry.

She says the TV footage being beamed 24 hours a day from Iraq is too graphic but admits that for much of the day she is glued to the screen watching the 24-hour news programmes and the latest dispatches from the Gulf.

To start with, said Mrs Brennan, she kidded herself that what she was watching on TV was not real.

"I found myself pretending it was a film, just like Saving Private Ryan or something similar because it's hard to accept that it is real and that what we are watching is actually happening."

Cpl Wintle has been based in Germany but came back to England for his mother's birthday on January 6.

She said: "He came over for my birthday and stayed one night with me. That was the last time I saw him.

"He gave me his mobile telephone number and I was able to ring him once several weeks ago but since then there has been no reply."

Mrs Brennan, who was born and brought up in Malawi, said she had heard that soldiers moving up to the front line had their mobile phones taken away for security reasons.

She said: "It would be nice to know where he is and that he is safe but I suppose I must accept that no news is good news."

Mrs Brennan said she is buoyed up by her strong Christian beliefs and by the support shown by friends from her church who are aware that her son is one of the thousands of troops in Iraq.

She said: "A lot of people have said that if I am worried and all alone I can ring them at any time of the day or night. It's wonderful to have that support.

"All I can do is pray and to leave everything in God's hands. That's the best I can do," said Mrs Brennan whose second husband Jim, a classics teacher at Dauntsey's School, died 18 months ago.

Mrs Brennan said she is also experiencing a dilemma with her own family in Africa.

Half of her relatives are Christians while the other half are Muslims.

She said: "In Malawi on my mother's land there is a mosque and a church that quite literally back on to one another.

"I suspect that in the mosque they will be praying for Saddam while just feet away the Christians will be praying for our boys who are out there."

Meanwhile she watches her TV in the hope of catching a glimpse of her son.

She said: "The first day we heard somebody had been killed but no names were given. Can you imagine what was going through my mind?"My heart is in my mouth every time I hear there has been another casualty."Click HERE for our war supplement.