thedrifter
12-02-06, 07:28 AM
Sheboygan Marine OK after Iraq wounding
By Bob Petrie
Sheboygan Press staff
Laurie Walter of Sheboygan says her son, Marine Cpl. Harley Herron, is "lucky to be alive."
Herron, 21, a gunner assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in Anah, a village in the Anbar Province in Iraq, suffered serious shrapnel wounds to his left leg, lower back, left arm and left hand the night of Nov. 25, when a roadside bomb exploded from about a foot away.
Herron is recuperating at a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, awaiting a flight to the United States for rehabilitation at Camp Lejeune, N.C., or Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. He may return to the states this weekend, his mother said.
"I'm going to leave immediately after they tell me where he's going," said Walter, 51, who works at Shorewest United Realtors in Sheboygan.
"I just want to hit the road and see him," said Walter, who will travel with her husband, Doug, to meet her son.
In a telephone interview from Landstuhl Friday night, Herron said he was in a group of eight Marines on foot patrol in Anah, northwest of Baghdad, when the explosion happened.
"It was like a flash," Herron said, adding, "It took me a minute to realize what happened, for it all to register."
A corpsman on the scene was able to stabilize Herron, which he said saved his left leg, and he was flown to Germany the next day. At Landstuhl, doctors placed two tubes in Herron's leg to relieve swelling from the shrapnel wound in an effort to prevent an infection. Herron also has lost the feeling in some of his fingers, but said he's confident he'll make a full recovery.
Herron said the Anah area where he's assigned is "pretty quiet, really," compared to other parts of Iraq.
"It was just one of those unlucky days," Herron said of the incident.
Walter, who retired in 2000 after 21 years in the Navy, has been in phone contact with her son daily since learning of his injury from him early Monday morning, and said he's in good spirits.
"Naturally, it's total shock," said Walter. "You always assume he's going to be OK and he's going to come back in one piece. … But then you get that call, 'Mom, I'm in the hospital, and it's like, 'Oh my God.'"
Herron, who enlisted in the Marines in 2002, left for his second tour of duty in Iraq in September. After his rehab stint at either Camp Lejeune or Bethesda, Herron could return home to Sheboygan by Christmas to begin up to two months of convalescent leave before heading back to his unit in Iraq.
On Friday, Walter she provided her son with the news of the snowstorm that hit Sheboygan, and said, "He's just ecstatic."
"So now he's looking forward to coming back and having a brat and a beer … a taste of home."
By Bob Petrie
Sheboygan Press staff
Laurie Walter of Sheboygan says her son, Marine Cpl. Harley Herron, is "lucky to be alive."
Herron, 21, a gunner assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in Anah, a village in the Anbar Province in Iraq, suffered serious shrapnel wounds to his left leg, lower back, left arm and left hand the night of Nov. 25, when a roadside bomb exploded from about a foot away.
Herron is recuperating at a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, awaiting a flight to the United States for rehabilitation at Camp Lejeune, N.C., or Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. He may return to the states this weekend, his mother said.
"I'm going to leave immediately after they tell me where he's going," said Walter, 51, who works at Shorewest United Realtors in Sheboygan.
"I just want to hit the road and see him," said Walter, who will travel with her husband, Doug, to meet her son.
In a telephone interview from Landstuhl Friday night, Herron said he was in a group of eight Marines on foot patrol in Anah, northwest of Baghdad, when the explosion happened.
"It was like a flash," Herron said, adding, "It took me a minute to realize what happened, for it all to register."
A corpsman on the scene was able to stabilize Herron, which he said saved his left leg, and he was flown to Germany the next day. At Landstuhl, doctors placed two tubes in Herron's leg to relieve swelling from the shrapnel wound in an effort to prevent an infection. Herron also has lost the feeling in some of his fingers, but said he's confident he'll make a full recovery.
Herron said the Anah area where he's assigned is "pretty quiet, really," compared to other parts of Iraq.
"It was just one of those unlucky days," Herron said of the incident.
Walter, who retired in 2000 after 21 years in the Navy, has been in phone contact with her son daily since learning of his injury from him early Monday morning, and said he's in good spirits.
"Naturally, it's total shock," said Walter. "You always assume he's going to be OK and he's going to come back in one piece. … But then you get that call, 'Mom, I'm in the hospital, and it's like, 'Oh my God.'"
Herron, who enlisted in the Marines in 2002, left for his second tour of duty in Iraq in September. After his rehab stint at either Camp Lejeune or Bethesda, Herron could return home to Sheboygan by Christmas to begin up to two months of convalescent leave before heading back to his unit in Iraq.
On Friday, Walter she provided her son with the news of the snowstorm that hit Sheboygan, and said, "He's just ecstatic."
"So now he's looking forward to coming back and having a brat and a beer … a taste of home."