Green Beret Family Reflects

Judy Mensch remembers when she heard the first American soldier had been injured by enemy fire in Afghanistan, she was hoping it wasn´t her son.

Later that night she got a call from her son, US Army Green Beret Wes McGirr. He told her yes, in fact, he was the one shot, but that he was being treated.

Twenty-five-year-old McGirr was wounded while fighting with anti-Taliban forces north of Kandahar, the last Taliban stronghold, in early December. The gunshot wound entered his neck and caused damage to his shoulder and back.

McGirr was a 1994 graduate of Modoc High School in Alturas.

Because of the injury, McGirr was given leave to visit his parents for the holidays. He has been splitting time between Mensch in Alturas and his father, Wesley McGirr, in Yountville.