Marine Sgt. Albert “Bert” Winschel was on a plane this morning headed from Afghanistan to a military hospital in Germany, his father said the family was told this morning.

Winschel was wounded while on patrol in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, shot in the pelvis and lower right leg, said his mother, Therese Evans Winschel.

Bert Winschel’s father, Terry Winschel, said they received a call from the Casualty Branch Office in Quantico, Va., that Bert, 23, had been boarded on a plane headed out of the war-torn country.

The father of a 2-year-old and 2004 graduate of St. Aloysius High School, Bert Winschel was to have undergone surgery Wednesday and then airlifted to Germany before being flown back to the States, Mrs. Winschel said early that day.

However, his father, the historian of the Vicksburg National Military Park, said no further information was received until this morning. They did not know today if the surgery had been completed, Terry Winschel said.

“At least we know finally that he is out of the war zone,” he said.

Bert Winschel is a member of the 3rd Force Reconnaissance with Marine Special Forces. He previously was deployed to Iraq.