PDA

View Full Version : Wounded Marines awaited



thedrifter
11-03-05, 03:45 AM
Wounded Marines awaited
Two Metamora-area men coming home
Thursday, November 3, 2005
By ANDY KRAVETZ
of the Journal Star

PEORIA - It's been a long road since that fateful day in 2004 when a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives, critically wounding a Metamora man.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Tyler Ziegel suffered third-degree and full-depth burns on his head, left arm and right hand. Doctors kept him in a coma for a month after the Dec. 22, 2004, attack on his convoy in Iraq that seriously injured five other Peoria County-based Marine reservists. He lost one of his hands.

On Saturday, Ziegel is finally coming home - to a hero's welcome at Greater Peoria Regional Airport with another of the wounded Marines, Lance Cpl. Jesse Schertz, 22, also of the Metamora area. Their flight is expected to arrive at 2 p.m.

The two have spent the better part of the past year in an Army hospital in Texas. They have undergone dozens of operations, been fitted for prosthetics and endured hours of physical therapy.

Both would probably rather arrive without the fanfare. Their parents say their sons don't consider themselves heroesnor do they want the attention. In fact, the official reason for the trip is so they can attend the 230th Marine Corps Ball, the service's annual birthday party.

"He would say he was just doing his job," said Jeffrey Ziegel, Tyler Ziegel's father. "He would say, 'Why, all I did was just get blown up.'

"But his mother explained there are lot of people who care about you and want to thank you for what you have done for your country."

It's important, say the Ziegels and the Schertzes, to have that homecoming because they want to thank the community and all those who have offered support. The Schertzes say they are amazed at the outpouring from people they don't know.

Added Jeffrey Ziegel: "Our little town of Metamora. I can't imagine going through this in any other town. They have been so supportive and caring."

The pair deployed last summer with Company C, 6th Engineer Support Battalion and were on their way back to base after a mission that December day. Their truck passed by a car, which unbeknownst to them, was laden with explosives. It exploded, setting the truck afire and knocking it off the road.

Six reservists, all from Charlie Company, were burned and injured. They were flown to Germany, and then home to the United States. The others, including Jesse Schertz, managed to return to Illinois within two months of the attack. Tyler Ziegel, however, was by far the most seriously injured and hasn't been home except for a weekend visit during the summer for a friend's wedding.

His mom, Becky Ziegel, and his fiance, Renee, stayed by his side for the past 10 months as he's recovered. He's doing better, having moved out of the hospital and into a nearby housing facility for wounded soldiers.

But it's not all roses. He lost his left hand; the burns were too severe.

Schertz's left leg was in a cast for six months after the attack, but in June, his mother noticed something wasn't right. Paula Schertz could tell her son wasn't walking right.

"It kept looking worse and worse," she remembers.

He wasn't in any more pain; there was some nerve damage so Jesse Schertz couldn't tell anything was wrong, but there was. Within a month, doctors had to amputate the leg below the knee.

His father, Sidney Schertz, says it's been a long process for his son, coping with the loss and the different prosthetic legs.

"He's still struggling, which is normal, but he's in really good control of his emotions," said the father.

Jeffrey Ziegel marvels at his son's courage. Tyler Ziegel has gone from patient to helper, greeting wounded Marines from Iraq or Afghanistan and offering support.

"I didn't see that side of him, but he has sure shown his colors now," the proud father said.

Tyler Ziegel's a guitar player and hopes to someday play again. Rocker Ted Nugent visited him and signed a guitar. Country star Toby Keith sent one to his room.

The two young men both are the types, their parents say, not to let things hold them back.

"When doctors asked what his goals were, he said to ride his dirt bike and to skateboard again," Sidney Schertz said.

Ellie