Within 30 seconds of learning his 36-year-old son Anthony “Tony” Shattuck had been hit by a bullet and gravely injured last week in Afghanistan, Dennis Shattuck was at peace.

“It’s one of those things that Christians can experience in a tough situation,” Shattuck said.

Dennis learned about the injury a few hours after his wife, Sue. She had waited 400 miles and six hours to tell him, until he was at a stopping point on his journey to pick up his mother, Violet, a New Iberia native visiting her brother-in-law and Tony’s great-uncle, local military veteran Walter Latiolais, in Loreauville.

From left, Walter Latiolais, Violet Shattuck and Dennis Shattuck look at a photo of Anthony Shattuck and his family. - Lee Ball / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

Dennis said he was shocked “for a few seconds,” repeating what his wife was saying. But within minutes of learning of Tony’s injury, Sue and other family members had begun contacting prayer chains, who were praying for Dennis and Tony.

Dennis believes it helped.

Since that initial phone call, the family’s knowledge of the events in Afghanistan has evolved.

At first, they were hearing reports that Tony had had many different damaged organs removed, but the one thing they know removed for sure, said Dennis, is a section of his large intestines.

“I don’t know how he was hit,” said Dennis. “We know he was hit in the chest. He had body armor on, I’m sure.”

The bullet just missed Tony’s heart and hit his lungs, spleen and large intestines, his father said.

One man was killed in the battle. Dennis said it’s possible Tony, who is an advanced trained medic and a battlefield surgeon serving as Chief Petty Officer corpsman attached to a Marine Reconnaissance Unit, was leaning down to help him when he was shot, given the path the bullet took through his son’s body.

Tony, who served one tour in Iraq and has been in the Navy for more than a decade, had been in Afghanistan since March, his father said.

“We didn’t know where he was until he got injured,” he said.

Dennis hadn’t received e-mails from his son for about a month, “so I knew he was out in the field and some serious stuff had to be taking place.”

Initially moved to a hospital in Farah, Afghanistan, Tony is now at the Navy hospital in Bethesda, Md., emerging from a medically induced coma.

Tony’s wife, Tabitha Shattuck, who lives with their children in North Carolina, and his mother, Cathy Scranton, are at the hospital. Dennis and his wife are waiting for word on what Tabitha would like them to do before they begin traveling to Bethesda.

Tony is, said his father, “one-fourth Cajun.” His grandmother, Violet Shattuck, 82, was born and raised in New Iberia. She moved to Pennsylvania soon after marrying, but continued to visit every year for the past 60 years, for six months at a time after retirement allowed. They have extensive family ties in the area.

Violet said Tony came down one Thanksgiving and “he just loved it over here. And the food, and the people. He wants to come back. Someday he might.”

“He told me, ‘Grandma, I can’t understand, with a family like you have down there, what are you doing over here?’ ” she said. “He just couldn’t get over that.”

His father said he’d told him “Dad, if I were you, I’d move out of Pennsylvania and go down there.”

He is also not the first in his family to serve in the military.

Tony’s grandfather served in World War II.  

Tony’s great-uncle, Walter Latiolais, served in World War II as an Army medic. Walter’s grandfather, Walter Toffier, served in World War I.

“Tony always wanted to be in the military,” Dennis said.

Although no one yet knows how his recovery will go, Tony is “a very strong individual. He’ll do what he needs to do,” said his father, adding Tony will most likely be more distraught over the death of a team-member and buddy than over his own injuries.

Tony, said his father, is an ideal role model and modest about his own accomplishments.

“He wouldn’t want all this attention, but he has literally thousands of people praying for him,” Dennis said.

He requested that readers pray for Tony, too.