Wounded Marine returns to AV

Family, neighbors, news media turn out to welcome native son

By RICH BREAULT
Valley Press Senior Staff Writer

When Wintterle saw the dozens of cars and several news vans parked near the house Monday night, he pleaded with his grandmother, Jeannie Olsen, to turn right and keep going.

Instead, she turned left and a drove through the crowd of cheering well-wishers.

"Welcome home Aaron!" was just one of the many signs, painted in red, white and blue that were held tightly despite the cold early evening wind.

Wintterle slumped down in his seat and covered his lower face Ð where two weeks earlier a bullet knocked out four of his front teeth, damaged his upper palate and jaw and peppered his tongue and mouth with bullet fragments.

He opened the car door and stood, larger than life, with a smile that enveloped his face despite his injuries.

He walked through the assemblage of relatives, friends, neighbors and media, thanking them for being there.

The neighborhood children craned their necks to look up at him, but they, like the adults there, looked up to him as a neighborhood and American hero.

"I just hope that all the troops over there get this type of treatment, a welcome home, whether they've been wounded or not," Wintterle said. "I'm glad to be home, but I wish I was with them.

"I'd go back over there (Iraq) in a heartbeat."

The 22-year-old, who turns 23 Wednesday, is a member of a scout-sniper platoon with the 1st Marine Division, 7th Regiment, 3rd Battalion. He was wounded the morning of April 7.

"We were controlling and blocking an intersection in our sector of Baghdad," Wintterle said. "We had vehicles coming at us in what we believed to be suicide missions, spaced about an hour apart.

"With the third vehicle that came at us, we also took fire from both side of the street. I was spotting through binoculars when there were some explosions nearby, and I was shot in the mouth. I crawled at first and thought my face had been blown off. I got to cover and the other guys took care of me."

Wintterle was evacuated to Kuwait, then flown to Germany for treatment at a military hospital in Landstuhl. He was flown to Bethesda, Md., and eventually to California. He arrived Friday at the U.S. Navy hospital at Camp Pendleton.

He underwent minor surgery Saturday.

Easter Sunday, he was allowed to leave with his parents, Aaron and Karen Wintterle, to go to his grandmother's house for Easter dinner.

"He had Easter dinner with us, but the ham, the potatoes and the rest of the stuff was pureed in a blender for him. He didn't really eat it. He just placed it in his mouth at the back of his tongue," Wintterle's dad said. "For dessert, he had a puree of ice, milk and a cupcake."

Wintterle's upper lip was swollen, but the scar on the left side of his upper lip, the exit wound, appeared to be healing well.

The bullet apparently came from the side, striking his teeth and tearing through the jaw and palate before exiting the lip.

Asked what he was most concerned with about his injury, Wintterle said, "I'm worried about my tongue."

That response drew laughter from Robert Haynes, a longtime friend of Wintterle's.

"You're not worried about your tongue," Haynes quipped. "You're worried about not eating."

The pair laughed heartily.

"Yeah, you're right," Wintterle said.

Wintterle, who is on a 30-day leave, said he wants to "drive my truck, start eating, rest and go watch a movie."

While Wintterle talked with friends inside the house, Karen Wintterle stood on the front walk, a blanket wrapped around her, warding off the evening chill.

"The trip back to the Valley was hard because Aaron wanted to me to assure him that nothing big was planned for him. He just wanted to get home," Karen Wintterle said. "I lied through my teeth. I just couldn't spoil the surprise. I'm going to have to go to church now and repent.

"Yesterday (at the hospital) he puts his arms around me, gave me a big hug and said, 'Hi, Mom!' Those were the two words I wanted so much to hear."

© 2009 Antelope Valley Press, Palmdale, California (661) 273-2700