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January 4, 2007

Soldier hurt in Iraq is now recuperating at Covington home

By Robert Barron Staff Writer

A Covington Marine is visiting family and old friends after being wounded in Iraq in December.

Lance Cpl. Matt Slemp, 20, was wounded Dec. 11 in a helicopter crash. He suffered a broken hip and shoulder, second-degree burns on his arm and facial contusions. He was taken to Baghdad for initial treatment, then to Germany and finally to San Diego Naval Hospital.

The crash occurred in Anbar province, Slemp said, where he worked as a member of a mobile assault platoon, performing security patrols. Anbar province, in western Iraq, is the heartland of the Sunni insurgency and is the deadliest region for U.S. troops in Iraq.

After his hospitalization, he returned home to Covington on Dec. 22. Slemp said he will return to his duty station in Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif., Jan. 27. He will not return to Iraq this year because his platoon returns in March. His unit is expected to return to Iraq in January 2008. He is with the 4th Battalion, 3rd Marines Division.

Slemp said he has been in the Marine Corps for two years and had been in Iraq four months before he was wounded.

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