Ft. Hood Hero Returns Home to Wilmington

Hometown hero Kim Munley will return home to Wilmington to serve as grand marshal of Saturday's Azalea Festival parade.

Munley garnered national attention after she was wounded while trying to stop the deadly shooting at a Fort Hood, Texas Army base in November. Since then she has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and was a guest of the first lady Michelle Obama for the 2010 State of the Union address.

Munley was born in Wilmington and grew up in Carolina Beach. After graduating from Wilmington's John T. Hoggard High School in 1993, she studied law enforcement at Cape Fear Community College. Before she became a police officer in Ft. Hood, Texas, Munley worked as a law enforcement officer in Wrightsville Beach, at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and for New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

Munley says she is doing some soul searching while she recovers from gun shot wounds to her wrist and both legs. She told the Wilmington Star News that she might even return to the Wilmington area. "It's my roots. Eventually I think we might be coming back," Munley said. "There's something pulling me that way."