HAZLETON - A member of the Iowa Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry was wounded Sunday after a roadside bomb detonated near his convoy in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.

Sgt. Justin Abernathy, 24, of Hazleton, was hospitalized at a U.S. medical facility following the detonation, spokesman Lt. Col. Gregory Hapgood said.

Dawn Abernathy-Fassbinder, the soldier's mother, said her son left for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany Monday night.

'We know in Germany they've got great doctors and a great facility," she added.

Abernathy received burns and a compound fracture to his arm, Abernathy-Fassbinder said. Doctors believe he will need surgery on his arm to deal with an infection, she added. He will also have a plate and pins inserted in his arm.

The news of his injuries first hit the family Sunday after Abernathy's wife, Amber, received a call from a member of the military, Abernathy-Fassbinder said.

"I was upset and concerned that he was OK," she said. "Then I was worried, is anybody else hurt?"

Abernathy arrived in Iraq in April with the National Guard's 133rd Infantry Company B, which is headquartered in Oelwein, Hapgood said. Abernathy's company left for Camp Shelby, Miss., in late October for training before going overseas.

Abernathy enlisted in the guard when he was 17 just before graduating from high school, his mother said . He signed up again for a six-year stint shortly after his first year in the guard.

He and Amber married in 2003 and have one child, Sebastian, who is 2 years old. Abernathy-Fassbinder said Amber is handling the news as best she can.

"She's doing OK," Abernathy-Fassbinder said. "The thing is, we know he's safe and he's doing OK. She's pretty powerful."

Whether Abernathy will come home after he's released from the hospital is not clear.

Abernathy is the second member of the 1-133rd wounded in Iraq since deployment. Spc. Joshua Reece, 25, of Eldora, was injured in a similar blast from a roadside bomb near Ramadi. He was not seriously hurt and was expected to return to active duty.

The 1-133rd, based out of Waterloo, traces its origins to the Civil War. Its nickname, the Ironman Battalion, was earned for the unit's consecutive days of combat in World War II. The battalion has units in Waterloo, Oelwein, Charles City, Iowa Falls and Dubuque.

Contact Josh Nelson at (319) 291-1565 or josh.nelson@wcfcourier.com.