By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Marine Lance Cpl. Louie Stamatelos greets friends after riding in the Candia Old Home Day parade. The weekend marked Stamatelos’ first return home since being shot by a sniper while serving in Iraq. (The Hooksett Banner/Nicholas Brown)

At this year’s Candia Old Home Day, serendipitously titled “Hometown Heroes,” scores of people welcomed home a soldier recently injured in Iraq.

For days leading up to the Saturday, Sept. 23, event, many of Candia’s streets were lined “Welcome Home” signs intended for Marine Lance Cpl. Louis “Louie” Stamatelos Jr.

Stamatelos, 21, was shot once through the right shoulder while standing guard in the Iraqi city of Kharma.

At least 50 people greeted Stamatelos, who was coming from a Florida hospital, at the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport on the evening before Old Home Day.

“I’m surprised about seeing this many people,” he said. “It’s nice to see.”

Stamatelos, a graduate of Jesse Remington High School, was shot in July, and hasn’t had use of his right arm since then.

He was hospitalized in Fallujah, Iraq, before eventually coming to a naval hospital in Bethesda, Md. He’s expected back in Bethesda for more surgery in October. Doctors told Stamatelos he may regain most of the movement in his arm.

“Right now he can flex his triceps and biceps, but he can’t lift his arm,” said Stamatelos’ mother, Candice, who’s been staying with her son since he’s been in American hospitals.

Stamatelos enlisted in April 2005, and has been deployed in Iraq since January. He was expected to return home in August, but his return was delayed by the shooting.

“I’m feeling a little more relaxed being home,” Stamatelos said after he was featured in the Old Home Day parade. “I’ve gotten time out of the hospital on weekends, but I haven’t felt relaxed.”

For Stamatelos, who had two grandfathers serve in the military, the prospect of losing mobility in his arm doesn’t dampen his perception of military service.

“Since I was a kid, I always wanted to join the armed forces,” he said. “My dream came true.”

Candice Stamatelos said she’s very proud of her son.

“They grow up and take their own path,” she said, “and you have to let them do it.”

Stamatelos’ 6-year-old sister, Audrey, proudly sat with her brother in a Candia fire engine as they passed by the swarms of people lining High Street during the parade.

“She was very excited to see him,” Candice Stamatelos said.

The Congregational Church, to which the Stamatelos family belongs, organized a welcome home celebration for the day following the parade.

Candia Fire Chief Rudy Cartier, who supervised Stamatelos for several months when he became a volunteer firefighter before his enlistment, said he knows Louie Stamatelos as a dedicated worker.

“He’s one of those young adults you see who want to make a good difference,” Cartier said.

Cartier said that, knowing Stamatelos, the soldier’s recovery is a good bet.

“He’s a fighter,” Cartier said. “He’s not the kind of guy who’s just going to sit around.”

Stamatelos, who’s on convalescent leave, said he’s of two minds when it comes to returning to Iraq.

“I’d like to go back and lead troops,” he said. “But it’s such a hostile environment over there.”

For now, said Stamatelos, “It’s just nice to be home.”