Terry and Jerry Huth of Mount Carmel knew their son Eric was with the Army's Third Infantry Division in Iraq, but hadn't spoken to him since Feb. 25 until they got a surprise telephone call Monday.

Twenty-two-year-old Eric, who operates a Bradley fighting vehicle, called to tell his parents he had been wounded in Baghdad, but that he was OK.

"He said he took some shrapnel in his upper left thigh," Terry Huth said Tuesday. "He had just stepped out of his Bradley and an artillery shell had blown up about 3 feet away."

Her son's body armor prevented another piece of shrapnel from piercing his abdomen, his mother said.

Eric said he immediately got back in the armored vehicle and moved. Moments later, another shell exploded where the Bradley had been parked.

"If they hadn't moved, they would have been goners," Terry Huth said.

Eric was treated for his wound and was back behind the wheel of his Bradley in a short time, she said.

Eric graduated from Live Oaks Career Development Campus in Milford in 1999. His parents said he hopes to be home in May or June.

William A. Weathers