WASHINGTON - SERGEANT Kimberly Munley, a 34-year-old mother of two, had already earned the nickname 'Mighty Mouse' before she confronted the gunman at Fort Hood and averted an even greater massacre.

On Wednesday, Americans heard first hand her tale of heroism and that of Senior Sergeant Mark Todd, another civilian police officer with military service who eventually disarmed the gunman.

Sgt Munley told The Oprah Winfrey Show how she remembered every moment of last week's tragic events when alleged gunman Major Nidal Hasan shot dead 13 people and wounded dozens more at the US military base in Texas.

'I never lost consciousness, and I refused to,' said Sgt Munley, in her first interview since Thursday's shootings. 'I wanted to stay awake and know everything that was going on and control my breathing to make sure I was not going to fall into shock.'

According to witnesses, Sgt Munley was one of the first civilian police officers to arrive on the scene, firing on Hasan before he charged and shot at her several times. She suffered bullet wounds in both her legs and her wrist. Sgt Munley, recounting to Oprah how she had been washing her patrol car at the end of a shift when she heard about the shooting, said: 'I was still unaware completely as to what was going on and what we were up against, who we were up against.'

Sgt Munley said she was taking her recovery slowly and was looking forward to getting back to a normal life. -- AFP