Flight delays were expected to scrub homecoming festivities Monday night for a Bakersfield soldier wounded in Afghanistan.
Lt. Samuel Van Kopp recovered nicely, despite receiving a near-fatal head wound on September 26. Doctors initially weren't sure Van Kopp would survive the suicide bomb attack that killed two other American soldiers.
He was set to fly into Meadows Field around 9:30 p.m. Monday to a hero's welcome. But in an email to supporters, Van Kopp's father said his son's flight had been delayed by at least an hour in Washington D.C. And a connecting flight in Phoenix, AZ was not expected to depart until 9:00 p.m.
"At this time it looks like they will be overnighting in Phoenix and rebooking sometime Tuesday," Cliff Van Kopp wrote in the message. "A HUGE number of folks have expressed an interest in welcoming Sam home and I don't want them to drive out to the airport only to find that he's not on the flight."
Van Kopp, 24, was a 2006 graduate of Bakersfield High School who went to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point before being deployed for combat.
Van Kopp was on patrol near Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan when a suicide bomber detonated a vest full of explosives and ball bearings near him. One ball bearing ripped through Van Kopp's head. Staff Sgt. Orion N. Sparks, 29 of Tuscon, Arizona, and Sgt. Jonathan A. Gollnitz 28, of Lakehurst, New Jersey, were killed in the attack.
Van Kopp was taken to a hospital in Germany and then to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Lt. Samuel Van Kopp recovered nicely, despite receiving a near-fatal head wound on September 26. Doctors initially weren't sure Van Kopp would survive the suicide bomb attack that killed two other American soldiers.
He was set to fly into Meadows Field around 9:30 p.m. Monday to a hero's welcome. But in an email to supporters, Van Kopp's father said his son's flight had been delayed by at least an hour in Washington D.C. And a connecting flight in Phoenix, AZ was not expected to depart until 9:00 p.m.
"At this time it looks like they will be overnighting in Phoenix and rebooking sometime Tuesday," Cliff Van Kopp wrote in the message. "A HUGE number of folks have expressed an interest in welcoming Sam home and I don't want them to drive out to the airport only to find that he's not on the flight."
Van Kopp, 24, was a 2006 graduate of Bakersfield High School who went to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point before being deployed for combat.
Van Kopp was on patrol near Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan when a suicide bomber detonated a vest full of explosives and ball bearings near him. One ball bearing ripped through Van Kopp's head. Staff Sgt. Orion N. Sparks, 29 of Tuscon, Arizona, and Sgt. Jonathan A. Gollnitz 28, of Lakehurst, New Jersey, were killed in the attack.
Van Kopp was taken to a hospital in Germany and then to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.