Posted: 10/1/03

Chilson recovering from battle wounds

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Mark Chilsonís family had hoped their sonís stay in Iraq with an Army engineering company would be nondescript.

Most of the fighting in the effort to topple the government of Saddam Hussein was winding down when Chilson reached Baghdad in mid-April.

For Pat and Bob Chilson of Lino Lakes, the aftermath of the U.S.-led war in Iraq has proved as equally heart wrenching as the actual war.

The familyís worst fears became real on July 9 when Staff Sgt. Mark Chilson, 41, was wounded in a July 9 nighttime attack as his convoy was returning to its camp near Baghdad. The attack with a rocket-propelled grenade claimed the life of Sgt. 1st Class Dan Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic, WI.

The ambush took aim at the final Humvee in the column. Chilson was driving and Gabrielson was next to him in the front compartment.

Now back in Wisconsin at Camp McCoy, Chilson continues to heal.

A surgical procedure was completed Monday to restore hearing in his right ear.

The shrapnel wounds he suffered to his hands and legs are on the mend.

22-year veteran

Chilson is a 22-year member of the Army Reserves and National Guard. A Forest Lake High School graduate of 1980, he joined the National Guard while attending the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

His National Guard duty continued while he was living in Antigo, WI. Five years ago he joined the Army Reserves and is with the 652nd Engineer Company in Ellsworth, WI.

Chilson and his wife Michele and their children Matthew, 19, Laura, 16, Ben, 15, and David, 9, have lived in Durand since 1991. He is a loan officer specializing in farm loans for Security National Bank of Durand.

Chilsonís engineer company was activated on Feb. 19 and sent to Iraq on April 15. The unitís main duty in Iraq has been bridge building.

After being wounded in the July 9 ambush, Chilson received medical treatment in Iraq and Germany before being sent to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 1.

Chilson is now based at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin where he is slated to remain until his active duty period is up. Family members say Chilson has no plans to continue in the Reserves once his current enlistment period is up.

But that may not be until early next year. For Chilsonís parents, there is the uncertainty of what duty their son may face once he is again 100 percent healthy.

ìWe have a fear he may still have to go back (to Iraq),î Pat Chilson said.

The 652nd Engineer Company is not slated to return home to Wisconsin until some time early next year, she said.

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