Area soldier wounded in Iraq battle (D.J. Palm - picture unavailable)

The deployment ceremony for Palm's unit took place shortly before deployment on August 9. Palm was wounded three weeks later.

A former Port Huron resident was injured in Iraq early Monday while helping another wounded soldier.

D.J. Palm, 20, was in eastern Baghdad helping another soldier who had shrapnel in his leg when he was shot in the shoulder, said his mother, Stephanie Lopiccolo of Macomb Township.

Palm is a specialist E4 with the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion 77th Armored Division of Schweinfurt, Germany.

The bullet, Lopiccolo said, passed through her son's right shoulder. Palm was not critically injured and is expected to fully recover in about two months.

"I'm in a numb stage," Lopiccolo said. "I know a lot of kids get hurt worse and don't make it home."

Palm, who graduated from Macomb Township's Dakota High School in 2004, attended Port Huron schools until his final year.

He lived most of his life in Port Huron and still has family in the area.

Palm joined the Army after graduation and spent the past 18 months in Germany. He had just started his first one-year tour of Iraq about three weeks ago, Lopiccolo said.

Read the rest at the Times Herald

Note: Due to problems with blogger we were unable to post news of the wounded for the last 10 days. This post is part of the update from that period.