U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Albert “Bert” Winschel of Vicksburg was in serious but stable condition at a hospital in southern Afghanistan today after being wounded Tuesday by small arms fire in the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand, his family said.

Winschel, the son of Terry and Therese Evans Winschel of Vicksburg and a 2004 graduate of St. Aloysius High School, was hit late in the afternoon while patrolling with his unit during combat operations, his mother said in Vicksburg this morning.

He received wounds to his pelvis and lower right leg and was to undergo surgery today at Camp Bastion, the British military base near U.S. Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan, Mrs. Winschel said. She said he is expected to be airlifted to Germany and then Bethesda, Md., later today.

“The wounds are serious, but miraculously didn’t go through any arteries or fracture any bones,” said Mrs. Winschel, who is a nurse. She said the family received a telephone call with the news from her son’s staff sergeant Tuesday.

Therese Winschel said she spoke late Tuesday with her son, who completed a tour of military duty in Iraq in 2007. She said they talked by satellite phone from outside the camp.

Winschel, 23, and his fiancee, Melissa Garrett, have one son, Donovan, 2, his mother said.

Bert Winschel is a member of the 3rd Force Reconnaissance with Marine Special Forces.

Winschel’s father is the historian at Vicksburg National Military Park.

The Winschels also have a son-in-law, U.S. Army Capt. Patrick Surbeck, who is deployed overseas, in Yemen, she said.

Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com