U. S. Marine Cpl. Clifton Trotter, son of Raymond and Bonnie Trotter of Patsburg, was wounded in a gun battle in Iraq last Friday.

Sources say Trotter went out to rescue a fellow marine and was carrying him to safety, when he was shot in the neck.

Trotter was transported to Germany for treatment and arrived in Bethesda Naval Hospital in Baltimore Maryland on Sunday. His parents, wife Stephanie, and Stephanie’s mother, Rita Smith of Luverne, arrived in Maryland to meet Trotter.

His condition was listed as critical at the hospital but has since been downgraded to serious and he has been moved to a private room. His family is awaiting test results to determine the severity of the injury.

Trotter is based in Jacksonville, N.C. where he and Stephanie live. He has had several tours of duty with the Marines.

Trotter recently re-enlisted in the Marines on Oct. 11, 2005, during his deployment in Fallujah, Iraq.

He was assigned as a bodyguard with a security force from Camp Lejeune, N.C.