Marine Winschel still in Afghanistan
Published 12:00 am Thursday, March 4, 2010
U.S. Marine Sgt. Albert “Bert” Winschel of Vicksburg, who was wounded in combat in Afghanistan Tuesday, was believed to still be in that war-torn country this morning, said his father, Terry Winschel.
“We’re in limbo,” Terry Winschel said this morning. “I called the military last night and could get no confirmation that the plan for the day had been carried through.”
Winschel and his wife, Therese Evans Winschel, were called Tuesday evening and told that Bert, their son who has been a Marine since soon after his graduation from St. Aloysius High School in 2004, would undergo surgery Wednesday at a medical camp in Afghanistan before being airlifted to Germany and then Bethesda, Md.
“We were supposed to be notified, but we haven’t heard a thing,” said Terry Winschel, historian for the Vicksburg National Military Park.
Winschel said he told his wife, “I want to tell Bert, ‘I’ve been on the front page of The Vicksburg Post many times, and there are easier ways to do it than getting shot in Afghanistan.’”
Therese Winschel, a nurse in Vicksburg, said early Wednesday that Bert’s injuries were serious but “miraculously didn’t go through any arteries or fracture any bones.”
Terry Winschel said he and his wife talked with their son Tuesday night by satellite phone.