SAN DIEGO, Calif. - A Waddington native serving in the Marine Corps was stabbed in the neck Sunday in California, just days before he was scheduled to be redeployed to Afghanistan.

Marine Cpl. Jonathan C. Woodard, 23, of Waddington, is being treated for a severed carotid artery and neck wounds after he was stabbed early Sunday morning in El Centro, Calif., his father, Charles W. Woodard said.

Mr. Woodard said his son and a fellow Marine were walking back to their hotel after attending a fair in the area.

“After waiting for over 40 minutes for a taxi cab, the two Marines decided to walk back to the hotel,” he said. “Jon decided to walk ahead and that’s when a group of people came out from behind an alley and attacked him.”

His fellow Marine came to his aid and was able to break up the fight, but not before Mr. Woodard sustained multiple stab wounds.

Cpl. Woodard was taken to a nearby hospital before he was airlifted to a University of California at San Diego Trauma Center. He is currently being treated in the Intensive Care Unit and considered in “critical, but stable condition,” his father said.

His girlfriend, Sharon Kim of Potsdam, mother, Sandra L. Ladoceour, and father, both of Waddington, flew to San Diego shortly afterward to be with him.

“The doctors were really surprised that he survived the attack,” Mr. Woodard said. “He is very strong, and he is doing good. We’re in with him right now. He is resting. He can’t speak. But he is doing the best he can. He can communicate right now with eye blinks.”

Cpl. Woodard graduated Madrid-Waddington Central School in 2008. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2009, after briefly attending SUNY Canton.

He is stationed in Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif, and was scheduled to redeploy to Afghanistan March 25. He was first deployed to Afghanistan for nine months in 2011.

Mr. Woodard said his fiancée, Kimberly Brabant, has been updating family and friends about Cpl. Woodard’s condition daily on her Facebook page.

“His fellow Marines have been right by his side the whole time,” Mr. Woodard said. “He is a fighter ,and he is doing the best he can. He is going to be all right. He should come out of this. He is strong.”

Officials from the City El Centro Police Department could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

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